…who both died by the hand of the Taliban. One was a soldier Aaron Faibairn:
It appears that Aaron was one of the two soldiers killed in a large Taliban attack on a base in Paktika
This young man willing put his life on the line for his country and died on the 4th of July. Per his father’s request I will be using the tag thankyouaaron on this post.
The second person you likely haven’t heard of. His name was Piotr Stanczak and the Taliban beheaded him on film back in February. He wasn’t a soldier he was a geologist but died just as bravely:Piotr Stanczak did not exhibit the slightest hint of hesitation when the Pakistani Taliban asked him to choose between execution and conversion to Islam.
Whether the Polish geologist acted out of pride or religious conviction, he decided to pay through his blood to save his faith, a choice that bewildered his killers and keep them talking about him with respect after his murder.
I would very much like to consider myself a faithful Catholic but I honestly can’t say if in the same situation I would have the same courage.
Via Tim Blair who notes:
An earlier item on Stanczak’s murder:
The video is so horrifying that some news wire agencies chose not to distribute the images.
If they’d been from Abu Ghraib, however …
For our own sakes these men need to be remembered. Both died defending beliefs and principles dear to Americans. Keep this in mind when people try to explain why radical Islam in general and the Taliban in particular should not be resisted.