It boggles the mind, how liberalism transforms virtue into vice and sullies heroic deeds only to advance a political narrative. Our nation's special forces are composed of individuals who have distinguished themselves by performing deeds of endurance and courage beyond the comprehension of most men. Petty Officer First Class, SEAL, Charles Keating IV was that kind of man.
Americans yearn for the heroic and flock to Hollywood productions that feature comic book superheroes whose acts of self-sacrifice are always performed in the face of great personal risk or seemingly certain death. But, those gods of film and fantasy are always shielded from mortality by some super human capability. The truly noble, the heroic, is always found in close proximity to peril and the deeds most highly esteemed are those performed close to the snapping jaws of death.
"The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated." Thomas Paine
Perhaps this is why military acts of heroism are so lightly esteemed by the liberal mind, since it is disposed to an ignoble passivity that bows before the imposing monolith of statist power. Liberals are pale creatures that meekly carry out the edicts of a central power, living a colorless life in servitude to dogma, conformity, and bureaucracy. Rugged men of achievement that venture boldly forward and conquer are their antithesis. That spirit is the inheritance of every American while liberals, democratic socialists, and statists only offer the sodden tatters of an ancient European obsequiousness.
The story of Charles Keating IV ends in death, but his death is hallowed by the shedding of his patriot blood. Though mortality must sometimes claim its prize, death only intensifies the brilliance of the hero's laurel.
The intensity of operations in Iraq has been steadily increasing, a record of the Obama administration ineffectiveness written in American, Kurdish, and Peshmerga blood. Obama's noncommittal "whack-a-mole" military policy has proven wholly ineffective. Former Navy SEAL and FBI Special Agent Johnathan T. Gilliam told Townhall that "we have no strategic plan..they [the Obama administration] wants to make it sound like this is a small group of radicals that can be dealt with by fighting..little battles. These are the same people that killed a million Armenians in 1915. The same ones that Thomas Jefferson came up against during the Barbary Wars." The battle in which Keating lost his life was described by military spokesperson Colonel Steve Warren as "a big fight, one of the largest we've seen recently."
While the Obama administration has been playing games in the Middle East, ISIS has continued to recruit, organize, train, and assume an offensive strategic posture.
Keating was a member of a "Quick Reaction Force" (QRF) with the responsibility of providing back up and extraction for members of the U.S. military functioning as advisors to Kurdish forces in the region. Last Tuesday, ISIS forces launched a major attack composed of approximately 125 infantry and 20 vehicles. ISIS obliterated a Peshmerga checkpoint and proceeded toward their objective--the capture of Telskof, a small Iraqi town. A twelve hour battle ensued involving Kurdish forces. Keating's QRF was deployed and at approximately 9:32 a.m. local time Keating was mortally wounded. All other American forces were successfully evacuated from the battlefield. Defense Secretary Ash Carter was quick to describe Keating's actions as "heroic."
However, the leftwing, statist media was quick to besmirch Keating's reputation and heroism. In an obvious attempt to cast a shadow on Keating's memory, The Associated Press produced this headline on Twitter: "BREAKING: Navy Seal killed in Iraq identified as Charles Keating IV, grandson of Arizona financier involved in savings and loan scandal." And, The New York Post scrambled aboard the character assassination bandwagon with this spurious headline: "Navy SEAL killed by ISIS was grandson of disgraced financier Keating." Both headlines are purposeful attempts to lead readers to believe that Keating's act of heroism and sacrifice are somehow diminished by his grandfather's indiscretions. As former Secret Service Agent Dan Bongino put it so brilliantly during his recent podcast, "How you tell the story is the story." Whatever the rationale, nothing excuses using a fallen hero's honor as "click bait."
But, salacious headlines and character assassination are nothing new. The mainstream media is populated by leftists who subscribe to political theories that idolize central control and massive bureaucracy. Military ruggedness and acts of individual heroism are the antithesis of the conformity required by the liberal mind. They pine for a benevolent dictator who will wield the power of ubiquitous government and usher in the utopia of perfectly balanced outcomes. The result of this experimentation the world over has been equality in poverty, misery, and oppression. Men like Keating are shining examples of traditional American virtues like daring, skill at arms, and a resolute passion for liberty. Therefore, his story must be maligned.
All of this is an object lesson in the ruthlessly opportunistic and dogmatic nature of liberalism--it is simply detestable. Any facts that contradict Obama's claims of victory in Iraq must be denied, history rewritten. Dear Leader must be defended at all costs. Unfortunately, for men like Charles Keating IV, their honor and stories of self-sacrifice are nothing but political fodder to liberals bent on preserving power.