As American men and women are valiantly fighting toward Baghdad, many civilians here at home continue to raise shrill voices in protest against this war. This past week, the ugly specter of Anti-Americanism has emerged in all of its hateful glory.
Cities were disrupted, pro-America protesters assaulted, and roving bands of leftist loons hurled vicious insults and vile epithets at anyone who had the audacity of being a proud, patriotic American. Protesters along Mill Avenue chanted in unison and brayed in glee at the sight of a burning American flag. Even celebrities flashed pithy peace signs as they basked in opulence.
The moral idiocy of these people was best put into words by Pat Mortenson as he tore into Old Glory: "Bush's goal in the war is not to spread democracy and peace, but to spread corporate America to the Middle East so he can make money." Perhaps the new glossy slogan should be "No Blood For Strip-mall Contractors."
He and the rest of the cookie-cutter protesters saw no contradictions in their show of cynical opposition to the very country that has given them the freedom to live their lives as they wish. Who can blame such shortsighted idiocy when tenured Marxists reign over campus academic life?
Many parallels have been drawn between the "peace" protesters of today and those of Vietnam, but one significant difference remains: While the Vietnam-era protesters truly believed that they were supporting the Northern Vietnamese and their hope of a more perfect form of government, today's protesters have no claim of idealism.
Instead, most of the protests are simply thinly veiled demonstrations of anti-Americanism. In San Francisco, signs read "We Support Our Troops When They Shoot Their Officers" and "Bush is the disease, death is the cure," while people vomited on the street to say they were "sick" of war. At asuwebdevil.com, you can see video shots of people ripping the signs out of the hands of pro-America activists. Click here to see the video and article about the protests: http://www.asuwebdevil.com/main.cfm?include=detail&storyid=396747.
When these John Walker acolytes think that they are doing their duty by defaming all that is good in this nation, maybe they should keep in mind the American servicemen captured and tortured by the Iraqi barbarians. Maybe they should realize that the blood of the brave American soldiers, who were executed with a callous shot in the face, is enough proof for the necessity of this war.
Instead, on the eve of their deaths, leftist darlings like Michael Moore stood up at the Oscars to degrade Bush as a "fictitious" president who is taking us to war for fictitious reasons. These reasons must include the fictitious chemical weapons Iraqi forces have now promised to use against us. Or maybe it is just the fictitious way our American boys were murdered in cold blood.
As one American human shield returned home, he wrote a simple letter explaining his change of mind from one of protest to support of the war. He spoke of the many Iraqis he talked with who expressed great surprise at his "Bush bad, war bad" refrain. As cities are liberated, pictures of Iraqis beating Saddam's smiling poster face with their shoes as they rip him down have flashed all across the news, while others happily shake soldiers' hands.
Smoke and mirrors cannot stop this war. The "Peace Please" bumper sticker slogan protesters don on their cars is finally coming true through necessary force. Our soldiers are not dying in vain, and to trivialize this war is not only aiding and abetting the enemy, it's pure treason.
Shanna Bowman is an industrial engineering senior. Reach her at snb@asu.edu.
