David J. Babineau was 25 years old, a loving husband and devoted father to his 8-year-old stepdaughter and his two sons ages 2 and 4. He died in a firefight as his two Brothers-in-Arms were taken prisoner by the Islamic terrorists who attacked their checkpoint on June 16^th of this year.

            Thomas L. Tucker was also 25 years old when he and Kristian Menchaca, just 23 years of age, were dragged away from that checkpoint and spent the last few hours of their young lives being brutally tortured and then savagely murdered. Kistian left behind a grieving young widow and an infant son.

            Now you might ask why I would expect you to remember these three out of the more than 2800 young men and women who have given their lives for us in Iraq and Afghanistan? Let me first explain that it is not my intent by offering this apology to raise these three above the rest who have sacrificed so much for our country. By all intent this apology is being humbly offered to all of our young men and women who now serve, or have served in our Armed Forces since World War Two. Yet I have singled out these men, particularly Thomas and Kristian, because of the way they had to die and because of the events that followed so closely after their untimely and brutal killings.

The fact that so many Americans can not recite the names of say ten, five or even one Soldier, Marine, Sailor or Airman who have given their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan is the first part of my apology. I understand that we cannot nor should we be required to recite the names of the 2800 plus Heroes who have died in these wars, but we should have taken more notice of those who have. Most Americans are just too busy in their daily lives to remember, pause and give thanks for, or in too many cases, to even pray for those who have fallen while protecting our Freedoms. For that I apologize to our servicemen and women.

It saddens me that our country can send our children into harms way yet we cannot unite in support of them. With the evil, callous methods used in the torturing and killings of Kristian and Thomas this country should be enraged. Yes, there was anger, mostly among Veterans. Many other Americans did express some anger at these sadistic murders, but that anger seemed almost tempered by the barbaric acts that have already been committed and video taped by these Jihadist murderers. Meanwhile, too many Americans simply shake their heads and blame our government for being there in the first place, and others, the worst of our lot, have no pity for the fallen and say, “Those boys signed up for it, they should have known what they were getting in to.”

            But in my way of thinking, the names Kristian and Thomas should be on the lips of every American. Their names should be a new battle cry to end this Islamic terrorism that has held our world in a grip of fear for over thirty years. As in the cry of “Remember Pearl Harbor” we should by now, somehow, someway, be united as a people with one ultimate goal set before us, to end the spread of Islamic terrorism throughout our world. But then I must admit that I expect too much from modern Americans. For if the Iranian hostage situation, the bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut, the attack on the United States’ warship USS Cole and even the fading memory of 9-11 cannot rally us as a whole, and motivate and unite our politicians, then why should I expect the inhumane brutal death of two young American boys to bring us together? The sad fact is that we as a nation are complacent. As long as something does not affect the individual or their families in their daily lives, and the danger is not personal or intimate, then their anger is sedated. It seems all to clear that until these butchers have nuked us and shows the American people that they, and their hometowns are not safe, this country will stand divided. Sadly, for many Americans not directly involved, 9-11 seems as distant as December 7^th, 1941. For that, all my brave warriors, I apologize.

Incredibly just ten days after Thomas and Kristian’s booby trapped, dismembered bodies were found on a trash heap, the United States Supreme Court upheld a ruling that, if captured, their murderers and their like must be treated as prisoners of war under the Geneva Convention. It is a ruling that defies all logic and common sense. A ruling that ignores the basic premise of the Geneva Convention itself. In that the Rules of the Geneva Convention only applies to soldiers of opposing sovereign States who are captured while dressed in their nations’ uniform. Even in prior wars if a soldier was captured out of his country’s uniform his captors were not bound by the Geneva Convention in regards to his treatment. To say that the criminal terrorists whom our forces now fight are to be treated within the rules of this Treaty is a crime in itself. Their terrorist leaders hold no seat of authority in any sovereign state. They wear no uniform of any nation or answer to any flag. They are terrorists, murderers, and criminals not soldiers. They are religious fanatics who target civilians even more than they target the legitimate soldiers of other nations. Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, and Mujahedeen Shura are names of criminal, terrorist organizations not nations. If we give the members of these criminal organizations the same rights as a soldier of a sovereign nation then why not the members of the Mafia? Our military also aids in the war against drugs, does that now mean the members of a drug cartel are also entitled to POW status?