Last December 19th President Trump ordered the withdrawal of 2,000 American troops from Syria. The New York Times called the action “abrupt and chaotic” and reported:

The decision brought a storm of protest in Congress, even from Republican allies of Mr. Trump’s like Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who said he had been “blindsided.” The House Democratic leader, Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, suggested that the president had acted out of “personal or political objectives” rather than national security interests. … Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and other top national security officials argued that a withdrawal would, essentially, surrender Western influence in Syria to Russia and Iran. … Gen. Joseph Votel, the commander of United States Central Command, and Brett H. McGurk, the American envoy to the coalition fighting the Islamic State, fiercely protested the military withdrawal, administration officials said. … In a letter to Mr. Trump, Mr. Graham and five other senators, from both parties, implored him to reconsider his decision.

The next day, Dec. 20th, Defense Secretary Jim (Mad Dog) Mattis resigned. Various pundits from both the Left and Right spoke of the nation’s foreign and domestic policies “plunging into chaos.”

There is no joy in Mudville when Johnny comes marching home: no ticker-tape parades, no flag waving throngs, no soldiers kissing girls, no grateful nation breathing a sigh of relief.

It’s Christmas and our GI’s have returned from the combat zone, many without having lost their limbs, and no one from any part of the geo-political spectrum is happy about it.

A somber nation with a nearly comatose citizenry is baffled and saddened by this seeming end to the slaughter of our boys and girls, not to mention those evil ragheads, in the deserts of Syria. And at Christmas no less!

We are stunned mute. The Holiday Spirit wanes and evaporates.

And the night would be silent except for the slow and measured drumbeat of war, a rhythmic pattern pulsing “Christmas is dead, Christmas is dead, Christmas is dead.”

You see, I am anti-war, and have been since I was drafted back in the Nam days, when my life became threatened by bullets and bombs, when sudden death became a daily occurrence — in yet another useless slaughter and savagery from the Masters of War. The anti-war movement was co-opted by communists by 1970 or so, and has been moribund ever since. We have been at war continuously ever since, too. The dead and maimed keep rolling home. Nobody who is anybody cares though, as far as I can tell.

That darn Trump did the unthinkable by surprise. He actually removed American soldiers from a combat zone and at Christmas to boot. All the craven coward war mongers had a sh*t fit about it. How dare he!

Jesus was/is the Prince of Peace. Christians have forgotten that, mostly, but it wouldn’t hurt to recall that fact on the Lamb of God’s birthday.

I yearn for peace, and I think many of my fellow Americans do too. Our small voices are lost in the large cacophony of saber rattling by “leaders” who have never been in combat, who think the severing of limbs is heroic, who lust for the blood of their supposed enemies without having experienced the reality of it.

For one day, though, for one lousy day, I wish the hyenas would retire and let the Reason for the Season sink in.

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