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The anti-war left has it all wrong. Peace is not simply the absence of war, but rather a state of existence in which all nations govern and act to a civilized set of norms.
Let me start by offering my disclaimer to the anti-war peace demonstrators of the left and liberal establishment. I want to make clear that I am not nor have I ever served in the military. Nor will I pretend to be an expert on military tactics. I also have no connections with any oil companies; I am not a member of the C.I.A., F.B.I., Freemasons or any other secret society, with the exception perhaps of my unofficial membership in a recreational vehicle club. Secondly, I am as much against aggressive war as anyone claiming to be "anti-war." I do not condone the use of military aggression in any way, shape or form. Having stated my disclaimer, I now want to state my thoughts and opinion on the entire issue of the so-called "peace movement" and the usual culprits advocating it.
I believe the liberal left, peaceniks and pacifists, as well as an entire cadre of intellectuals, Frenchmen and celebrities have only one driving ideology. The ideology is blatant anti-Americanism. We often hear this crowd called the "Blame America First" club. To the members of this group, any policy that is even slightly advocated by a Republican-led United States government is an "evil" that stands in the way of the left's utopian vision of a world governed under the United Nations. In the view of liberals, it appears that the American hegemony is power that is not deserved and properly used. To these radicals, leftists, "internationalists," celebrities, (and the French), the American government, in upholding and protecting it's own Constitution rather than a U.N. Charter, is the evil that must be done away with.
This warped concept brings about the complete ignorance in the left's definition of peace. To these intellectual elitists, peace is defined as nothing more than the "absence of armed conflict" of any kind. To these ignoramuses, there is no such thing as justifiable warfare. To the "enlightened" intellectual, there is no such thing as evil, except America. Everything and everyone can and should be accommodated so as to avoid war at all costs.
In the case of a tyrant such as Saddam, these "peaceniks" are a valuable tool in the defense of their dictatorships. Saddam himself is rumored to be using the anti-war crowd as a first line of defense for his regime. Just this past Thursday, an Associated Press report appeared quoting Jim Wilkinson, Director of Strategic Communication at the U.S. Central Command based in Tampa, Florida, as indicating growing evidence of Saddam ordering U.S. and British military uniforms to spread havoc on his own people in the event of an invasion. The purpose is simply to stoke the "peace-at-all-costs" crowd by blaming the atrocities on the American and British soldiers. I am certain the left will believe these "reliable" reports on Baghdad's six o'clock news.
"Saddam intends to issue these uniforms to Fedayeen Saddam troops who would wear them when conducting reprisals against the Iraqi people so that they could pass the atrocities off as the work of the United States and the United Kingdom," Wilkinson said (A.P. 2003)
According to the AP report, The Fedayeen Saddam is a paramilitary force of more than 15,000 founded by Saddam's son Odai in 1994, Wilkinson said. The unit's members are recruited from areas noted for loyalty to Saddam. (A.P. 2003) You can bet that these types of atrocities are to play on the "anti-war" left to create further divisions and hamper the effort to rid the world of yet another tyrant.
It always amazes me how the left will legitimize someone of Saddam Hussein's stature to simply defy the United States. This man is an astute student and admirer of Joseph Stalin, the 20th century's most brutal mass murderer. If this "enlightened intellectual" crowd were forced to live under Saddam's regime, they would find themselves living in a dungeon in the bunkers of one of Saddam's many "palaces." And these would be the "lucky" ones, as most of the dissenting types in the anti-war crowd would be looking down the barrel of an executioner's Kalashnikov. Saddam's Ba'athist regime has very little patience for these types of intellectuals. Yet these very elitist and leftist types can protest with straight faces that the evil is not Saddam Hussein and his 12 years of violations to the U.N. cease fire conditions of disarmament that "ended" the first Gulf War. To the elitists, it is President Bush and the United States that represent the highest danger.
In yet a further act of liberal (and Franco-German) hypocrisy, we hear continual calls for letting weapons inspectors have more time. Our "allies" the French and Germans argue that the U.S. is too impatient and eager to start a war rather than allow inspections to run their course. However, with all due respect for chief U.N. appeasers French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin and German Foreign Minister Joshka Fischer, the only reason there are inspectors back in the first place is the fact that Saddam is facing down 300,000 U.S. and British troops, naval armadas and a U.S. President that will actually make good on enforcing the original U.N. cease fire conditions from 12 years ago. De Villepin's and Fischer's threats to veto any military moves to give inspectors more time and to stop war is nothing but French arrogance and an aloof German Chancellor and Foreign Minister. The United States has been more than patient in allowing this dictator to get away with one violation after another during the past decade. With Iraq able to concoct, if not an actual nuclear bomb, at least radioactive "dirty" bombs, biological and poison gas, and other weapons of mass destruction, it is only a matter of time before either Saddam has the means to deter the western democracies while taking Kuwait as his "19th" province or worse yet, selling these weapons to Al-Qaeda for their agenda of murdering Americans, Westerners, and generally anyone not in line with their warped Islamic view of the world.
The anti-war left refers to those of us who support military action to rid the world of a very dangerous tyrant as "pro-war". However, there is a fine balance between what can be considered anti-war and common sense. If the leftists of today's "peace movement" really believe that everything American is sadistic and everything Iraq, Saddam and radical fascist Islamism is sacred, then it must be said that these same "enlightened" elitists advocating peace at any cost are no better than the fascism they serve and the tyrant they legitimize and defend.
Sources 1. ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer. AP World-General News; U.S. says Iraqi soldiers ordered to commit atrocities wearing American-like uniforms. Thu Mar 6, 5:36 PM ET.
About the Author
Robert Ditmar is the founder and Editor of The Conservative Camp. He is also the author of this site's editorial column called IN MY OPINION. Robert's interest in politics, foreign policy, military and political history, Western religion, reading and writing is the seed that led to the development of The Conservative Camp. He has a conservative perspective on the events of the world that we live in and has an interest in helping to advance this perspective. A freelance editorial columnist who writes about historical and current political and foreign policy issues, Mr. Ditmar's articles have appeared in various conservative and occasionally liberal political and foreign policy websites and e-zines. Sites where his work has or currently appears includes American Daily.com, Anti-Subversion, Inc., Conservative Forum, Enter Stage Right, The Freedom Institute, Free Britannia, G.O.P. Central, The Intellectual Conservative, The Junto Society, The Starr Journal, and Political Pundit dot Com. As there tends to be a liberal monopoly on most media outlets, Robert saw a need for giving other fledgling conservative writers a forum to post their work to publicize the issues from a conservative worldview. He is optimistic that The Conservative Camp will succeed in this endeavor.