Freedom is not free, seldom remains free without eternal vigilance, and freedom requires sacrifice, leadership, courage, wisdom, and bravery in order to remain free. Some of us are fortunate enough in being born into this country, a land known as the land of freedom, others came here as legitimate immigrants, others arrive in that gray-area of immigration, and still others are clearly illegal upon their immigration to America, but all come in appreciation of freedom and opportunity.
I have a very good friend, who was born in Laos, who aided and abetted the American cause during the proxy and civil war in Laos, and was ultimately on the losing side of that war in which reprisals for those that fought on the American side were severe and often deadly. He decided to pursue his freedom by making his way to Thailand, no doubt with the awareness that a successful escape to Thailand offered real hope that he would ultimately be re-located to America, a country that he had never seen, but only heard about.
There probably aren't any easy escapes and his was not one of the easy ones. Years later he told me, with obvious meaningful emotion, that he was placed into a position in which it was "kill or be killed", as simple as that. To me, in those types of situations, you must have already made up your mind as to what you will or will not do before you face that actual situation in the real. The other man would not back down, nor would my friend, the choice was clear, and his choice was final, as he shot and killed another man all for the sake of his freedom.
Killing for freedom, does this make sense? Yes, it does. While there are lots of reasons for war, as there are conscripted wars, wrong wars, wars in which neither side is right, and perhaps wars in which both sides are right, there are times in which there are wars that are clearly justified. You have a right to live, in which you are judged by the merits of your character, and not by the color, creed, or your heritage. In circumstances in which your freedom or livelihood is going to be severely curtailed or wrongly taken from you, you must consider other options. The decision by my friend was clear and he also felt that America had a moral obligation to lend him a hand since in their war in his country he had assisted them. America kept its promise to my friend and my friend did what he felt he had to do in order to obtain this promise.
Even many years later the death of another man haunts him, he clearly didn't like talking about it, or thinking about it, or discussing it. That is a good thing, as to take a life of another human being, an enemy, but a man nevertheless in which circumstances may have forced him to face you down, in which under other conditions you may have been friends is a difficult thing to do.
My friend killed to be free, as have others, most notably our citizen soldiers during the time of our revolutionary war. That is reality that is history that is the way that it really is.