The anti-war left and their minions have sunk to a new low in their hypocrisy and the disgrace they are bringing to this nation and the soldiers who fight to keep them safe. The last week there were a number of attacks on the morale and the mission of American troops, and most attacks were under the guise of “supporting” the troops. Let me give you a rundown:
Pax Christi
Pax Christi had a “die-in” on campus on Tuesday. I attempted several times to contact Megan Heeney, who helped organize the event, to ask her some questions regarding the group’s intentions, but I was unable to reach her for comment. According to a letter sent to The University News by a participant in the demonstration the expressed purposes, were both a memorial to the dead and a way to help bring about an end to the war. This combination alone presents a problem.
To the organizers at Pax Christi:
How dare you bastardize the sacrifices of these soldiers by using their names to protest a cause that most of them and their families support? Did you ask their permission? I am assuming you did not, because it would have likely been denied. Most soldiers still support the war, and most Gold Star Families still support the cause for which their loved ones gave their lives. A memorial to the dead would have been one thing, but a demonstration to protest a war is political, and using the names of my fallen comrades as fodder for your political cause is unacceptable and disgusting.
Anti-War Movement
Anti-war protesters across the country held their demonstrations and received massive media coverage. Groups of Gold Star Families in support of the war, along with the Patriot Guard, were not given much coverage, and The New York Times dismissed them as “a bunch of bikers.” These protesters stand up and talk about how they want the soldiers to come home now. They arrogantly assume that they know what’s best for the men and women who have volunteered to serve their nation.
To the anti-war movement:
Recent polls show that most soldiers still support the war. We believe that we are fighting for justice and for the lives of not only our fellow soldiers, but also for the lives of our fellow Americans and for our Iraqi allies. We want to finish the job.
Most Iraqis also feel that this is winnable. According to a recent poll conducted by a British polling company and reported in The Sunday Times showed that only 27 percent of Iraqis think that there is a civil war, 49 percent of Iraqis feel that life is better now than under Saddam Hussein (compared to only 26 percent who preferred life before) and Iraqis feel, by a majority of two to one, that “military operations now under way will disarm all militias.”
So, anti-war protester, who are you to speak on the behalf of the soldiers and the Iraqis? You have a much smaller stake in this than either group, yet you come across with this holier-than-thou attitude and preach about peace and human rights, completely ignoring the desires of those you claim to support, and you ignore the lives that will be lost if we leave Iraq right now. Iraqis are being killed by insurgents from neighboring Middle-Eastern countries. Most of the civilians who have been killed, who you cite when you march for “peace,” have been murdered in cold blood by Iranians, Syrians, Jordanians and the like. If we leave, the number of civilian deaths will skyrocket.
You can have your marches, but understand that your actions are not “supporting” the troops, and your goals, if achieved, would condemn thousands to death and make the lives already lost be for naught.
Politicians
Democrats in the newly elected congress have recently approved a war spending bill that buys votes to end the war and sells the safety of the American soldiers. Unable to get enough votes to defund the war, the Democrats have employed a diabolical ruse to end the war and endanger the soldiers. They have boasted that they gave Bush more than he was asking for in their $124 billion bill, but the “more” they are giving has nothing to do with the war.
Included in the bill is $25 million for California spinach growers, $15 million for rice farmers, $75 million for peanut storage in Georgia and $120 million for shrimp and Atlantic menhaden fishermen. The total pork unrelated to the war is more than $28 billion. The total amount of unfunded military requests is about $10 billion, including $2.2 billion that the Army did not get for the Mine Resistant Ambush Protective vehicle, which has a specially designed hull that can substantially increase survivability in attacks with improvised explosive devices and rockets. The unfunded amount also includes $152 million for counter-IED systems.
Why would politicians do this? Well, the Democrats have waged their political future on failure in Iraq. The new surge is working, and improvements have been visible – by most accounts. If we start to succeed in the broader war, the Democrats will lose there one and only platform: The Iraq war was wrong. So, to prevent this from happening, the Dems want us out before we can succeed, and since they cannot get support to blatantly defund the war, they have decided to buy support with legislative bribes to various congressmen.
They spew rhetoric about “changing course” when they know that we already have and that it is working, and they play political games with the lives of soldiers. They do not care what happens to the Iraqi people, they do not care what General Petraeus wants, and they do not care what the American soldiers want. They care only about their political futures.
To these traitorous politicians:
You claim to support the troops, and then you stab us in the back. You mislead the public about the war and undermine morale of the fighting men and women you are supposed to serve, while making comments that give hope to the enemy. Your job is to make the laws that govern the nation, the president’s job is to utilize the military to keep Americans safe when necessary and our job is to fight the enemies of freedom and protect the innocent and defenseless. Innocent and defenseless people like the 3,000-plus people who died on September 11th and like the thousands of Iraqis who are killed by Muslim extremists from other nations.
Let us do our job and stop undermining the war that we are trying to fight. We saw what happened when the Democrats were in charge of national security, when the Bin Laden threat emerged for eight years under Bill Clinton and he did little to stop it. Quit trying to micro-manage the war, stop denying us the resources we need to win the war and stop playing politics with our lives. And please, please stop patronizing us with your pompous statements spoken through your evil little smiles, with your lies to us about “supporting” us, all the while reaching your little hands around to try to plunge your knife further into our backs.
Fellow Americans, I beseech you, wake up. Like it or not, we are in Iraq, and we cannot just leave. Read what happened to our supporters when we left Vietnam and understand how hard it is to drum up more regional support when our elected officials are itching to abandon our allies. Read about the failures of the Clinton administration to snuff out the emerging terrorists threats as they were gathering strength, and understand how dangerous it is to appear that weak and passive now, with the enemies that we face.
Finally, and most importantly, please understand that anti-war protests do not constitute supporting the troops. We sign up to serve our nation and risk our lives so that other people can live without worrying about their safety. It is not a “tragedy” that we are in harm’s way-it is our jobs.
While it is unfortunate when a soldier dies, it is far more tragic to lose the lives of innocent civilians. When innocent civilians are at risk, soldiers must fight. America needs its soldiers to protect our country from attack and deter enemy aggression with our strength, and American soldiers need their country to support them, believe in them and want them to win, not surrender.
Working against the troops to end the war prematurely will not have the peaceful effects most of you want, because a premature peace would be a violent peace where evildoers would continue to slaughter the innocent. To strive for such a peace is na’ve at best and selfish at worst. To have a good peace, you must work for victory and the vanquishing of the evil-doers so that justice can prevail. “If you want peace, work for justice,” said Pope John Paul II, and justice cannot survive if we do not work together for victory.
Shawn McCarthy is a senior in the College of Arts & Sciences.
