I visited a website which warned it would show these kidnapping videos. I watched about ten seconds of one video. That was enough.

I’m glad our media doesn’t show these videos. It’s surprising the videos aren’t shown, given our national obsession with gore of all types.

We like to think we are on a higher moral ground. Maybe we are. Maybe we’re not.

Watching these short few seconds of a man losing his head made me sick to my stomach. It’s also made me think deeply about our situation. It is impossible for those of us who’ve never been to war to comprehend what our troops face every day.

I have heard all the arguments for and against the war. I am certain there’s much more to the story than we know. I have never been to a war, but everyone I’ve met who’s been there says it’s uglier than anyone can describe. The general public tends to think of war as a football game, where rules and fair-play are in place. History seems to say there was a time when war was like this, though I’m not so sure this is really so.

It is clear that those we fight think differently than we do. This is not to say we are better than them, but simply to say we are fighting a people who do not go by our rules of fair-play. I am not the first to say this.

How can we possibly find common ground with men who saw another man’s head off with a butcher knife like they were carving a holiday ham? How can we hope to meet in the middle with people who witness this behavior on their nightly news?

How can we send our neighbors and kinfolks into battle with this kind of fighter while expecting our men and women to go by “gentlemen’s” rules? We expend a great deal of energy over the idiotic frat-boy pranks pulled by a few, and hamstring the rest who are trying to fight an enemy intent on killing them any way possible.

I have no solutions to propose. To me, the question boils down to this: “We are there, now what?”

War is a frighteningly ugly game even with the most honorable opponent. If you think a guard letting his dog frighten a prisoner is appalling, you should see the video of an American getting beheaded.

Either we need to bring our folks home, or we need to turn our folks loose to play ball.

We, as a people, need to decide: do we intend to fight, or come home? And if we’re going to fight, are we willing to fight by the enemy’s rules? It’s certain they won’t fight by ours.

However you feel about the war, say a prayer for our men and women in Iraq, and for their safe return from a tour in hell.

(Editor’s Note: Email David Clark at dclark@outofthesky.com, or write him at P.O. Box 148, Cochran, Ga. 31014.).