Showing their true colors
The war in Iraq has shifted the grounds for protest

By Melanie C. Smith
11:47 PM, 4/11/2003

Everybody has a motive. In the current situation, the pro-war contingent's motive is clear: to remove from power a ruthless dictator whose heart knows no mercy or compassion, and to liberate an oppressed people. By the looks of most anti-war protests, it would seem that the anti-war side's motive is nothing but blind hope for unconditional peace reminiscent of the hippie movement of the 1960s. In all honesty, this is still true for many protestors-peace for peace's sake, regardless of the fact that war is sometimes a necessary evil. Last Saturday, however, protestors who convened on Lower Sproul Plaza and marched to the Oakland civic center, revealed their true reasons for opposing this war.

The purpose of the protest was to demand that money being used to fund the war be diverted to social programs within the United States. Or, to put it another way, they want to spend more money on Americans, who enjoy more freedoms than the Iraqi people have ever dreamed of, while the Iraqis are starved and systematically killed by their own government. This concept is amazing to me. Aren't these the same people who complain that Americans are wealthy and privileged while the rest of the world lives in poverty and oppression? Aren't these the same people whose "compassion" stems from their desire to help the rest of the world attain our standard of living? Did I miss something?

In the words of one such compassionate liberal at Saturday's protest, "There are so many things we could be spending money on that are better, are positive, and would enrich people's lives." Oh, really? What about enriching the lives of millions of Iraqis? Another protestor was kind enough to elaborate: "I think the U.S. can take the role of global police once everyone in our country is guaranteed health care, quality education, access to living-wage jobs, child care and other social support." The people of Iraq live in fear that any minute the government will break down their doors to torture children, rape women, and kidnap family members. Yet apparently the self-righteous leftists care less about remedying this problem and more about instating socialism in America-far from demonstrating the "compassion" they purport.

So one minute America is oppressing the rest of the world because it enjoys freedom prosperity, and the next minute we should use our money for domestic programs instead of liberating one of these oppressed countries? Will the liberals please make up their minds? Their arguments tell all; for them, this is all about money...money for more government programs, yet they accuse war supporters of having financial motives. In their world, the U.S. is sending thousands of troops to Iraq to save a few cents at the gas pump...yeah, folks, it's about oil.

The truth is that the anti-war activists are no longer able to protest the war on the sole basis that "war is bad." The left is having a temper tantrum because the war is going so well for the coalition forces. The allies have suffered relatively few casualties, are taking every possible measure to minimize civilian deaths, are even humanely taking Iraqi troops prisoner or sending them home instead of killing them, and on top of that, thousands of relief packages have been distributed to the Iraqi people. The war is right on track. And the left can't stand it.

What amuses me is that, to advance their flawed arguments, they claim to speak for all American citizens, the Iraqi people, and the armed forces. One sign at the protest read, "Californians oppose the war on Iraq!" While such a statement is quite interesting, they seem to have left many Californians out of their calculations. They do not speak for me, they do not speak for California, and they certainly do not speak for the over 70 percent of Americans who support the war. They've also conveniently overlooked the fact that the Iraqis support the war as well, and that Iraqi civilians cheered American troops as they approached Baghdad. And while the protestors would have you believe that our troops are being sent to Iraq against their will, the men and women I know who serve in the armed forces would be proud to fight in this war.

The anti-war movement is clinging to its last few shreds of hope that it will eventually make any sense. As they watch their arguments being destroyed as the war is played out, they frantically throw out more ridiculous lies knowing very well that they are wrong. The image of a chicken running around with its head cut off comes to mind. And as much as I lament the fact that some people are eating up this nonsensical rhetoric, I have to commend the protestors for doing something even I can't do-convincing the rest of America to become more conservative. President Bush's approval ratings show, much to the liberals' dismay, that the American public sees past their misguidance and lies.