Such an interesting juxtaposition. Our troops, many of them based here in San Diego, have been providing relief aid to the people of Pakistan who are suffering horribly from the worst flooding in a century.
Helicopter crews from a San Diego-based ship and Marines from Camp Pendleton have helped bring aid to monsoon-struck Pakistan.
Nineteen cargo-carrying helicopters came to help from the amphibious assault ship Peleliu and other ships in a strike group in international waters off Pakistan, according to the Pentagon.
Marines from the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit are also involved.
At the same time this is happening, of course, we know that we have a multitude of enemies in Pakistan, that they are likely still harboring Osama bin Laden in some remote region, and that allegedly some of our aid money to the country has actually gone to help the insurgents fighting us in Afghanistan.
This just shows what the American military is all about. Doing the right thing, willing to lend a helping hand, but also prepared at any moment to fight. Helping these poor Pakistanis is of course purely and simply the right thing to do, it is a disaster of epic proportion. But in addition, the hope is that this humanitarian assistance will show them that we are not the enemy of the people of Pakistan, just the insurgents and those who would help them.
