It is hardly surprising, but the mother of one of the Blackwater contractors killed in Fallujah in March 2004 is reportedly willing to drive nine hours from Cleveland, Ohio to Norfolk, Virginia. Her purpose? To personally support the three Navy SEALs who captured the supposed perpetrator behind the death of her son among others, but are now facing assault charges brought about by her son’s supposed killer.
Donna Zovko’s son, Jerry, was one of the four contractors who were killed, mutilated and dragged across the streets of Iraq in March 2004. It took quite a bit of time and the expertise of Navy SEALs to capture the alleged mastermind behind the killings – Ahmed Hashim Abed – but he has since wreaked havoc by accusing his captors of punching him in the gut.
The charged Navy SEALs could have foregone having to appear before military court, but they opted out; that would have been an admission of guilt that they did not have to begin with.
If those of us who do not have a personal interest in Abed’s case reacted strongly to what the Navy SEALs are now being subjected to, we can perhaps only begin to imagine the frustration and disappointment that Donna Zovko is feeling. According to a feature on The Daily Press, Zovko reportedly realizes that “the arraignment may be a routine affair” and that she may not even get to view the proceedings in person as there will undoubtedly be a need to accommodate the family of the accused Navy SEALs as well as members of media who will there.
However, she is still determined to be there to lend support to those who captured her son’s alleged killer.
December 6th, 2009 - 8:19 am
When Obama entered office in January, he was presented with a situation in Afghanistan where thanks to the 2001 NATO invasion, the Taliban had been sidelined but not destroyed, and the Western-backed Karzai government was too weak to defeat them. The question that presented itself to the new president was how to effect the final defeat of the Taliban and a permanent victory for the US and its allies.
But that was not a question that Obama was interested in asking. And so he didn’t.
Instead of asking what was required for victory, like Olmert before him, Obama asked two questions. First, he asked what he needed to do to placate a public that views him as soft on defense. And second, just as Olmert did in Lebanon, (and later in Gaza), Obama asked what policy he should adopt in Afghanistan that would not hurt him too much with his anti-war political base.
And so he arrived at Tuesday’s announcement at West Point. The US will not pursue victory. It won’t even do much to strengthen the Afghan government’s ability to fight the Taliban on its own. Indeed, it views the Taliban as a legitimate force in Afghanistan.
What Obama agreed to do was lend his commander on the ground, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, 30,000 troops for 18 months. But the message he sent US forces is far from resolute. With the forces’ rules of engagement constrained by the Obama Justice Department’s penchant for prosecuting US servicemen and intelligence officials for aggressively pursuing their enemies, it isn’t clear how many risks those forces will be willing to take. Moreover, it is hard to imagine fighting with decisiveness under a commander-in-chief whose vocabulary does not include the word victory.
Then there is the message he sent the Afghans. Just as Barak and Olmert discouraged the Lebanese from cooperating with IDF operations against Hizbullah when they declared that the IDF would not remain in Lebanon, so by announcing a timeline for withdrawal at the same time he announced his force build-up, Obama told the Afghan people that they have no reason to collaborate with US and NATO forces on the ground.
For Obama personally, this is a win-win situation. If McChrystal is able to make headway, Obama will take the credit. If not, Obama will blame McChrystal, and the Afghans, and NATO, and the Republicans, and George W. Bush for his failure. Then he will withdraw all US forces from the country, and watch as a disinterested observer as the Taliban retake control of Afghanistan – all to the rousing applause of his anti-war political base.
On the other hand, for the American people and for the free world as a whole, this is a lose-lose situation. The sound and light show strategy Obama announced will enable al-Qaida and the Taliban to grow stronger as they wait out the American withdrawal. Likewise, just as Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon emboldened the Palestinians to initiate their terror war in September 2000, so the US retreat from Afghanistan will embolden terror forces and their state sponsors the world over to attack US and Western targets.
In Israel, the refusal of successive governments to fight our jihadist enemies to victory served to demoralize the public by making it believe that the IDF is incapable of truly protecting the country. The path that Obama has now embarked upon in Afghanistan will likely have the same impact on many Americans. This posture of weakness and helplessness will be sharply contrasted with the emboldened stance of America’s enemies.
From the time the Netanyahu government took office in late March until its recent moves to cut a shockingly dangerous deal with Hamas and prohibit Jewish building in Judea and Samaria, there was a sense that Israel had turned a corner. The public rejected the Barak-Olmert legacy of defeat and elected Netanyahu to change the course of the country. Depressingly, today it is less apparent that Netanyahu has in fact abandoned their legacy of defeat.
What is absolutely certain, however, is that until both Israel and the US change course and defeat our enemies, we will not be safe. Moreover, we must recognize the infuriating fact that even if both countries decide to defeat their enemies, their embrace of victory will come too late for the soldiers killed in futile and pointless battles and for civilians murdered in terror attacks that could have been prevented.
December 6th, 2009 - 8:25 am
The previous analysis of the facts in the middle East was written by Caroline Glick in a very insightful article. I merely included the most germane points in trying to explain the inexplicable: Obama’s West point speech and declared policy in Afghanistan, which essentially denies victory over the terrorists and risks our brave military’s lives for placating the anti-war left.
December 7th, 2009 - 8:50 pm
I knew Jerry Zovko well. He and I worked together at KMTB (Kir Kush Military Training Base) as contractors training the NEW Iraqi Army in 2003. He was an amazing guy who forced himself to speak Arabic rather than use a translator. He walked a little faster, thought a little clearer, and always did more than most of us. Jerry’s brother Tom read a eulogy at his funeral which I wrote. Donna, her husband Joe and I became close friends. (Joe came to America as a penniless immigrant from Croatia and lived the American Dream, by the way.)
Donna, understandably, was devestated by her son’s murder. She was, and remains inconsolable. She sought succor from friends, relatives and even had an audience with the Pope. It soon became apparent that she would never have the peace she so desperately sought. Spurred on by some shady forces motivated by less than lofty ideals, Donna, simply seeking an impossible closure, was sucked into an endless lawsuit against Blackwater. Again, there was no closure.
Now, one of the leaders of the murderers who so horribly stole her son away has been caught. And yet again, whatever solace Donna might be afforded is being diluted by forces with lkess than lofty ideals. The politically correct, holier-than-thou left is just the latest in a growing list of evil people standing between Donna and some potential ability for her to rest easier. It seems that the bad guys in Fallujah have some collabarators in the US military justice system. It just isn’t right.
December 8th, 2009 - 6:16 am
[...] the Norfolk Naval Station gate, several protesters held signs of support for the Navy SEALs. Donna Zovko, mother of slain contractor Jerry Zovko, was able to make the trip to Norfolk from Cleveland; she [...]
December 18th, 2009 - 7:54 am
[...] sons’ death in March this year. Even after all that time, there was still pain in the words of Donna Zovko and Katy Helvenston-Wettengel. Katy recounts how she did not immediately realize that her son was [...]