Our local set of papers can be a lively place to be for disparate folks to argue their given positions. Pretty much, I look forward to seeing who has written what in the Letters to the Editors sections, as often the Editors will allow “discussions” to span many days when two or more folks start to “get it on!”.
One liberal who is against the war issued brought up a few issues a while ago. The summarized statements were:
- Only bad things happen in a war – thus it must stop
- The press has not covered the war
- A question: for what end is this war; who loses; who profits?
So if you ask, I will make it possible for you to receive:
Only bad things happen in a war – thus it must stop
Bad things do happen in wars. My heart grieves for those families that have suffered losses. On this one point, I agreed with that liberal in that no matter which side of the discussion you are on, losing your son or daughter is a tragedy. Although he is no longer on active duty, while my son was in Iraq, I dreaded every day looking out into the driveway to see if a government car was parked and U.S. Marine Officers walking to our door to deliver some bad news. Even though I know that what he did kept him safer there than other positions and that the statistics show that he will be fine, there was still that ever constant parent’s trepidation and concern. God watch over them all!
Yet, wars do settle problems- someone wins and someone loses. And whoever wins gets to decide what it right (whether we like that notion or not). As of right now, I think our “right way to live” is a lot better than than their medieval Caliphate-style notions of life as normal.
The press has not covered the war
The claim that there had been no coverage in the media of this war was (and still is) absolutely ludicrous at best and at worst, self serving. The plain fact is that for ANY one to claim that “public discussion and debate of this war is missing”, after this person being one of the more prolific Letter writers, is more than amusing. To watch the litany of bad events on TV and the national news outlets is to see a constant stream of negative pieces against the war (some deserved, many not). A “public ignorance”? Only of the good things that are happening there as our troopsand efforts are trying to help small communities all over Iraq.
I can only sigh in disbelief.
And then the most important one:
A question: for what end is this war; who loses; who profits?
My answers were simple.
For what end? – simply to protect ourselves. The current action in Iraq is only but one front on a world wide war. There have been and will continue to be many fronts: Kenya, Tanzania, Sudan, Somalia, Saudia Arabia, Iraq, United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Malaysia, Thailand, India, the Phillipines, Chechnya, Russia, Egypt, and the United States. But only for starters. The fascists aims are to establish a world wide Caliphate ruled by Shar’ia law. Our aim, as a society and as a liberal democracy where individual rights are valued, should be to stay our way.
Who loses? If the end is to protect the Western way of life (our freedom of speech, the freedom of the press, our civil liberties, and the freedom to rule ourselves as democracies), we will lose if we do not defend ourselves. Since our freedoms are anathema to Shar’ia law and the Koran, the Islamofascists wish to take these from us (“they are not of God”). Eventually, there will be no gray areas – either they win, or we win. I believe that if they win, it will be a complete loss for us.
Who profits? For this liberal, the thoughts go directly to the evil capitalistic companies that supply goods and services to our military efforts. In their mind, this is not a good thing (“Halliburton!”) as it is funding that is not going to social programs.
In my mind, we in the West all profit but only if we win to keep our freedoms and keep the darkness of fascism away. For if the darkness wins (and one only has to look back at how the Taliban ruled Afgahnistan to see that darkness, and how the Islamic clerics are starting to rule in Somalia now), we lose and they profit everything.
