Ombre Ga’chong: How can any American support the terrorists?

By Lee Webber

The ongoing coverage of the carnage related to the vicious, terrible terrorists attack on Israel by Hamas and the ensuing response in the Gaza strip are a grim reminder of the potential for cruelty and volatility of terrorists.

So many of the responses by people from around the world to the entire situation brought to mind my coming home to the U.S. mainland following my combat service in Vietnam with the 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion.  

The Vietnam war was really the first war that the U.S. population ever had brought into their living rooms near real time via embedded news people. The first time people actually saw for themselves what it was like for their sons and daughters at war.

Actual war footage has a way of initiating bizarre physiological reactions from those not actually involved in what they see happening and experiencing the human cost of it all.

It had a recoiling emotional effect on the hearts and minds of those people who had never before actually seen, firsthand, the human impact, brutality and results of war in near real time.

[There were P]eople who were never prepared to deal mentally with the realities of war. Or as Van Barbre so accurately said, “the blood, the mud, too many dead… and to yourself you whispered hallelujah.”

Upon returning home I recall people calling those of us who fought in the Vietnam War baby killers, yelling obscenities at us and even spitting on us if given the chance. They did this even though they had no idea of the realities with which we were faced.

It was a difficult time in my life and the primary reason I spent less than one month in the U.S. mainland before returning to Guam where I had been stationed and welcomed home.

Now, 56 years after my return from war we are once again witnessing the insane comments coming out of so-called educational institutions such as Harvard University where students were encouraged to attend pro-Hamas/anti-Israel gatherings. Along with west coast professors who were reportedly offering extra credit for their students for doing the same.

These institutions are said to be losing significant financial support from donors who do not share their sentiments.

These professors may well be some of the children of the same folks who opposed the Vietnam War and called us baby killers and spit on us when given the chance. They in turn appear to be sharing their ideology with their students.

What I find so difficult to understand is how anyone can mentally justify and show support for the cruelty of members of Hamas flying and driving across the border between Israel and Gaza killing men, women and children while simultaneously launching hundreds and likely thousands of missiles into Israel.

People who forcibly crossed the border, by land, sea and air, went on shooting, blasting and burning rampages randomly killing men, women and even infant children and taking hostages back to Gaza.

I cannot imagine, given history, not to expect the families, neighbors and their fellow citizens in Israel not to move deliberately and aggressively to put a final stop to this type of butchery once and for all.

Unfortunately, the only way to resolve such issues is through force and to rid their land of terrorists.

Esta.

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Lee P. Webber is a businessman and civic advocate, the former publisher of the Pacific Daily News, a former president and publisher of the Honolulu Advertiser, and a former director of operations for USA Today International/Asia