Protesters, be wary: Ignoring danger can jeopardize freedom
Published May 4, 2003
Editor: Re: Most veterans applaud toppling of Iraqi leader, April 10 letter to the editor:
Is Brian Moore so deluded he can't tell the difference between a group of people whose job it was to win a war (and who did so brilliantly) versus a group of people designated to locate weapons of mass destruction (and failed so miserably)? Or is he being motivated by association with groups like ANSWER, and Not In Our Name?
He crows about his fellow participants, veterans now against war. Even if they were combat veterans, many of them are now quite old with their vision clouded by some mistaken notion that all war is to be avoided. If we listened to the likes of them in 1941 we'd all be speaking Japanese or German. Or do these men fail to realize that, whereas their lives are almost over, we still have many parents in the U.S. who desire freedom for their children? To ignore the dangers of manipulative and sadistic dictators is to forfeit freedom. Have these older men forgotten this?
As for the WMD, Mr. Moore forgets that for years we've had the United Nations (that abject failure of an organization in New York run by Third World despots and dictators), and its huge teams of hundreds of scientists in Iraq looking for WMD, and they never located any.
Yet, he expects the U.S. and coalition military, while simultaneously avoiding rockets, bullets, mines, grenades, suicide bombers, militia dressed as civilians and armed children, while at the same time trying to stop looters, feed the hungry, provide water and shelter to the populace, to miraculously do in several weeks what all those scientists could not do for years?
To comment further, Mr. Moore obviously has not noted the virtual paucity of any terrorist activity in the U.S.; nor how North Korea is already changing its tune; nor how the rest of the Arab world sat up and took notice at the conviction of our president; nor has he seen how France now wants to make nice-nice with us and that the Arab world is in shock at how quickly Hussein's troops bolted. The lesson to the world here is simple: Action talks, BS walks. Prolonged diplomatic chit-chat just bolsters the bravado of cowardly dictators.
Why wasn't Mr. Moore's group protesting the human rights abuses perpetrated by the Iraqi regime on our captive soldiers? Better yet, was his band of protesters out on the corners in 1998 when President Clinton was lobbing missiles into that area of the world without - gasp! - U.N. approval? Somehow it was okay when we had a truth-challenged president doing the lobbing.
Mr. Moore, the path you desire us to take is one already well-worn in such lovely hot spots of democracy as Libya, Syria, Somalia, Yemen, Iran, North Korea, Cuba or China. I am sure they will wholeheartedly welcome your protestations against them once you are there and see what it is really like in the "people's democratic republics."
May I respectfully request you go there immediately and save yourself much aggravation here.
-- Vilmar Tavares, Spring Hill
A message to stonewalling senators
Editor: I found your Law Week series of guest columns very interesting, and the April 28 column by Steve Rushing, Stand up for the law: Stamp out unethical behavior, extremely so.
In fact, I'm going to send a copy to U.S. Sen. Bob Graham, who is among those senators unethically and unconstitutionally stonewalling President Bush's nominations to the federal bench, only because they want judges who will dance to their tunes.
Sadly, several of those blocking a floor vote want to be our next president.
-- Gerry Olesen, Spring Hill
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