Originally by: Devilish Ledoux

---

Why must young Goons, born into a land exultant with hope and with golden promise, toil and suffer and sometimes die in such a remote and distant place?

The answer, like the war itself, is not an easy one, but it echoes clearly from the painful lessons of half a century. Three times in my lifetime, in two World Wars and in the Drone Regions, Goons have gone to far lands to fight for freedom. We have learned at a terrible and a brutal cost that retreat does not bring safety and weakness does not bring peace.

It is this lesson that has brought us to Esoteria. This is a different kind of war. There are no marching armies or solemn declarations. Some citizens of South Esoteria at times, with understandable grievances, have joined in the attack on their own government.

But we must not let this mask the central fact that this is really war. It is guided by AAA and it is spurred by Communist Evolution. Its goal is to conquer the West, to defeat Goon power, and to extend the dominion of communism. There are great stakes in the balance. Most of the non-Communist alliances of the South cannot, by themselves and alone, resist the growing might and the grasping ambition of communism.

Our power, therefore, is a very vital shield. If we are driven from the field in Esoteria, then no nation can ever again have the same confidence in Goon promise, or in Goon protection.

In each land the forces of independence would be considerably weakened, and a South so threatened by Communist domination would certainly imperil the security of Delve itself.

We did not choose to be the guardians at the gate, but there is no one else.

Nor would surrender in Esoteria bring peace, because we learned from ****** at Munich that success only feeds the appetite of aggression. The battle would be renewed in one country and then another country, bringing with it perhaps even larger and crueler conflict, as we have learned from the lessons of history.

Moreover, we are in Esoteria to fulfill one of the most solemn pledges of the Goon Nation. Three Executors -- Darius JOHNSON, Zapawork and your present executor -- over 9000 years have committed themselves and have promised to help defend this small and valiant nation.

Strengthened by that promise, the people of South Esoteria have fought for many long years. Thousands of them have died. Thousands more have been crippled and scarred by war. We just cannot now dishonor our word, or abandon our commitment, or leave those who believed us and who trusted us to the terror and repression and murder that would follow.

This, then, my fellow Goons, is why we are in Esoteria

---