The saddest thing about all the anti-war protesters is not that they're wrong or wasting their time; it's not even that they - like the Vietnam protesters - are doing their damndest to divide the country in a time when our military requires strong support from their families at home.
The saddest thing is that they're full of it. They're lying to the media, to our men in uniform and, most importantly, to themselves.
Where was their moral outrage in the later '90s when President Clinton bombed anything that was at least 3,000 miles away from his sex scandals? Where were the picketers when he blew up a Sudanese "pharmaceutical plant" which, whoops, really turned out to be a pharmaceutical plant and not a weapons factory?
You didn't see any marches down the streets of New York when he deployed our troops to waste time with Slobodan Milosevic. And it's amazing that his four-day bombing campaign in Iraq, launched only to divert attention from his upcoming impeachment trial, went virtually unnoticed.
The liberal outrage was nowhere to be found. It was gone, absent, missing in action, late for class, etc. Like my chances with Kirsten Dunst, the liberal opposition was not there.
In case I haven't made it clear enough yet, the anti-war movement of today had a slight case of complete radio silence whenever Bill Clinton decided to use the U.S. military as his own personal way of saying, "I did not have sexual... What the hell is that?!"
But unlike Bush's suggested actions in Iraq, not one of Billy Boy's military escapades was done in the service of protecting American interests. Unlike Bush, Clinton did not go around seeking approval or cooperation from Congress and the United Nations (who eventually brokered a deal to end his air raids). Not to mention that Clinton's strategies were carried out overnight instead of deliberated throughout the course of an entire year.
And now that I think about it, it just so happens that the anti-war crowd of today is made up almost entirely of the political left. But that's not important, right? All the rhetoric I've heard from the anti-war protesters has been completely philosophical and of "genuine" concern for military casualties and collateral damage to Iraqi civilians.
Baloney. The anti-war crowd is highly principled...except when a Democrat's doing the bombing. For liberals, humanitarianism is a cherished value only when it's useful in undermining a Republican leader. For the political left, morality is purely partisan - always has been.
Now, am I saying that every protester is a willing, leftist stooge, out to advance political ideas and attack America? Of course not - I was in Patriots' Square last Saturday and had the opportunity (in between shouting sessions) to have several calm, meaningful and polite dialogues with a number of earnest and (sometimes) intelligent people.
What I'm saying is that these strident pacifists needs to look deep inside their souls and genuinely ask why they're opposed to war in Iraq. And this time, a pat answer like "Make Love, Not War" won't cut it, because these folks supported Bill Clinton, and he made a mockery of both.
Eric Spratling is a journalism junior. Reach him at eric.spratling@asu.edu.
