ISSUE: Going to war

OUR VIEW: Connor's actions show strength of his convictions

Bill Connor is no stranger to readers of The Times and Democrat in recent years. His columns about the state of the world and the threat posed by Islamic extremism make strong and valid points about the threat the United States faces. He is equally passionate about the necessity for America's response in two ways: fighting the radicals on the battlefield and fighting them by strengthening American society with a focus on Christian principles.

Connor did more than write about the threat America faces: He volunteered for a return to active military duty and is today a infantry major in the South Carolina National Guard on active duty in Afghanistan. He continues to write, detailing for T&D readers both the dangers faced by the S.C. forces in Southern Afghanistan and the continued need to hold fast in the battle. He is a man of strong convictions, telling his young children he volunteered because America must not back away from the challenge of the Islamists.

In Orangeburg for a two-week leave from Afghanistan, Connor has been telling the story of his deployment. During a speech to Orangeburg Rotarians, he made the case for necessity of the fight, citing words from the late Iranian cleric Ayatollah Khomeini and other radical Muslim leaders about the ultimate mission being wiping the world clean of anyone rejecting Islam. "That is the key to what we are facing," he said.

America made possible the Islamic radicalism of the 21st century with its failure to see and respond to what was taking place with the Iranian revolution in the late 1970s and the subsequent creation of terror organizations such as Hezbollah. Today, we face millions of people looking to destroy the United States.

Connor says this nation must hold the line, as Europe and others are proving increasingly unwilling to fight radical Islam. He's wiling to fight now, saying that if American does not hold the line, U.S. forces will be returning to fight another day. Every time the nation backs away, the Islamists are emboldened all the more.

Connor says he fights to make the world a safer place for his 7-year-old son, so, hopefully, he won't have to.

As for his Afghanistan experience, Connor has high praise for S.C. forces, taking special note of two deaths. The Guard force, the largest S.C. deployment since World War II, volunteered for duty in Southern Afghanistan, the most dangerous place in a country that is really more a collection of independent peoples and places than a unified state. Regular firefights, explosive devices, suicide bombers: Connor and others have been there.

They have established among many that Americans are not a force of evil, citing a firefight in which Taliban shooters hid behind women and children in hopes the Americans would fire. They didn't despite being under attack.

The South Carolinians have tried to change attitudes and actions. "We're trying to show them a different way," Connor said.

In America, Connor says, the ongoing debates about gay marriage, abortion and other social issues are used as weapons by the Islamists, who tell the people of American decadence. He advocates a return to emphasis on the nation's Christian roots.

Connor says laugh about the assessment of fighting radical Islam here or there if you will, but it's a fact. If the fight is not in Afghanistan and Iraq, it very well could be in America. "We've got to face up to it."

It cannot be disputed that Connor is knowledgeable of the world situation and committed to doing something to stop what he sees as a great threat to this nation. And he is not alone, calling the young people with whom he serves "the next Greatest Generation." They are committed to the cause of protecting the homeland.

Connor and these men and women are fighting battles that Americans on the whole are not willing to undertake. We are proud of him and them. They are owed our active support no matter the level of political debate among Americans. They are fighting for us all.

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