Why anti-war?...Part 2

So why is the anti-war voice so loud? First, let me throw a few of their arguments out the window.

Argument #1: War is bad. No one disagrees that war is a bad thing or that it's tragic for so many people to die because things can't be worked out in a civilized manner. I predict that if you polled America more than 90% of the country would agree with this. Unfortunately, war is sometimes necessary and there are enemies who simply don’t want to work things out…how else can we deal with those individuals? So the anti-war folks can't rest their argument with this.

Argument #2: The reasons for going to war are wrong. I feel this is a moot point. We can debate the reasons prior to the war, but why continue that debate while the war is going on? If we're at war, doesn't that mean you've lost the debate? And if we're at war, shouldn't you want America to be victorious? IF you continue arguing against the war, then the only logical conclusion is that you are arguing for our defeat? How can this be denied? Why not say 'I disagreed with Bush's reasons for war, but we're at war nonetheless and America must emerge victorious no matter the cost'? What's so hard about that? After all, the debate can resume once we ARE victorious and our troops are home safely. So if you rationalize your argument on reason #2 and continue opposing our efforts, you have clearly sided with our enemy. There simply is no other way to see it.

Argument #3: This war is unjust. This is where people say America is the bad guy. Once again, 35 million people are now free. An evil human being has been imprisoned. He can no longer threaten us or anyone else with WMDs (before you say ‘there were no WMDs’, understand that this is another post and will be refuted at a later time). He can no longer invade or persecute his neighbors. No, Saddam never attacked us…but neither did Hitler. However, if left unattended, both of them would have attacked us eventually. I challenge anyone to dispute that. The President was given authority by Congress to act accordingly. The US and UK were enforcing the terms of the cease-fire agreement signed by Saddam in the ‘90s that he failed to live up to, so the UN had no grounds for dispute. This war was both legal and just.

Argument #4: The world is a more dangerous place because of the war. A murderer who possessed and pursued WMDs while consorting with terrorists and demanding violence against the US was removed from power and replaced with a free-elected democratic government. How is this possibly more dangerous than before? Are we supposed to say ‘no war lest it make the friends of our enemies angry’?

Argument #5: We are losing. This is contradictory and makes the least sense. We are losing, so we should just go ahead and quit? Where I come from, this is called cowardice. What if Washington or Lincoln or Roosevelt took the same attitude? Their wars didn't exactly start off with good news. And who says we're losing? The press? A few senators? It surely isn't the troops or their commanders. The military has made it clear that progress is being made. We haven't lost a single conflict in this war. Just because the enemy continues fighting doesn't mean we are losing. Freedom's enemies have kept up the fight since the dawn of history. America has the most powerful military in the world and we can't be defeated...unless we CHOOSE to quit. Our enemies know that and have made this a key component of their strategy.

So why anti-war? Because war is inconvenient. Let's face it. Our society has become self-involved. We have forgotten how to serve. We are focused on ourselves...how to climb the corporate ladder, how to acquire more possessions, how to indulge our every desire. What could possibly hinder our drive for self-gratification more than our country asking us to serve and possibly die for her? We have forgotten how much freedom is hated by a select few who wish to control others. We have forgotten the price of freedom. And so, we have taken our freedom for granted. And when you take something for granted you forget how to defend against losing it. Look at 9/11. We were ALL united in the war against the Taliban, because for a brief moment the ENTIRE country saw an imminent threat to our freedom. But that insight quickly faded for half of us. It wasn't long before we were back on the corporate ladder, driving our SUV's, looking for more self-gratitification. But the threat is still there. Half of us see it and choose to fight against it, the other half choose to ignore it. Yes, the Left will fight a terrorist if he's knocking on their front door, but the Right (myself included) chooses to go into his neighborhood and kill him before he ever gets the chance, because once he's on the doorstep you never know what may happen. So as long as the threat remains distant, the Left will NOT interrupt their selfish lives to stand against it. THAT'S why they oppose this war. They want it to end now, before their number is called to serve. Just like Vietnam. It's not worth the sacrifice if the enemy isn't knocking on their door. There's simply too much to do for themselves.

Does this mean I always support war? No. I don’t support wars of conquest. I don’t support wars that yield no direct benefit for America. But, if we WERE in such a conflict, my opposition would cease until our troops were out of harm’s way, because I only risk endangering American lives by voicing opposition that the enemy could exploit. For example, I disagreed with our involvement in Bosnia. I spoke out against it before we got involved, but never spoke out against it again until it was over. Our troops had a job to do and I supported them in doing that job. After all, their lives and safety trump my personal feelings about their cause. And contrary to the opinion of the Left, opposing the war doesn’t save lives…it just encourages our enemy to keep fighting. If we learned anything from Vietnam, that should have been it. Like I said, 50,000 soldiers died in Vietnam…for what? Thanks to the anti-war folks, they died in defeat. So I supported their victory in Bosnia. I supported them while they killed and destroyed the enemy. Should we have been there? No. But we were and I’m glad our troops succeeded in their cause.

If anyone disagrees with me, I'll be glad to listen to their reasons. And just in case you're wondering...I HAVE served my country, proudly. I do so because I want my freedom to be passed down to the following generations. I don't want my children to fight the fight that my generation was tasked with. I dare say that if my grandfather's generation didn't have this attitude, then we would surely still be fighting the Nazis today.