Jewish World Review March 7, 2003 / 3 Adar II, 5763

Greg Crosby

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C'mon, let's make Osama and Saddam smile!

http://www.NewsAndOpinion.com | "I'm against arresting criminals, but I support our police officers." Does that statement make any sense to you? If it does, then you probably see nothing contradictory with the statement, "I'm against going to war, but I fully support our military service men and women," which is being said quite often lately by the anti-war demonstrators. The fact is, that statement is not only a contradiction, it's dishonest.

A soldier's job is to be a warrior. Fighting in a war is what they are trained to do. Since we have no draft, everyone in the military is there by their own choice, and most enlist, I assume, because they wish to be a part of America's fighting force not because they enjoy marching for the exercise.

When someone says he is against war then that individual must be, by definition, against the people who are specifically engaged in doing war. It is just that simple. You can't be against gardening and still support gardeners. You can't be against graffiti, and still support taggers. It's ludicrous. When the war protesters hedge their loyalties by attempting to have it both ways, they are being completely disingenuous.

Watching the Dan Rather interview of Saddam Hussein leaves no doubt that the Iraqi dictator interprets protests against the war as direct support for him and his regime. When protest marchers carry banners and signs that depict the American flag with a swastika painted on it and call President Bush Hitler, then it's no wonder Hussein draws strength and comfort from it.

Many of the so-called "peace" demonstrations have in fact been organized and orchestrated by American-hating and traditional left-wing socialist organizations like the American Communist Party. But not all who join the marches are card carrying pinkos. Many are college kids who genuinely believe they doing something to help bring peace to the world, but are simply misguided or ignorant of the facts.

Though some protesters in the crowd may really have the best of intentions, it matters little how noble their motives might be -- they are nevertheless giving aid and comfort to the enemy. An enemy who kills and tortures his own people and has vowed to destroy America. An enemy who would love nothing more than to supply terrorist groups like al Qaeda with the biological and nuclear weapons they seek to blow up more Americans.

Last Wednesday students on about 300 high school and college campuses stayed out of class to hold a one-day "student strike" against the war. The protest was organized and lead by Muslim student groups. As they chanted "books not bombs," other students who happen to be supportive of President Bush noted that if these anti-war protesters were really for "books and not bombs," they would be staying in class and actually learning something instead of holding a strike. The good news is, that evidently there are many college students who are very supportive of America and the war against terrorism -- the media just doesn't report on them as much as they do the "peaceniks."

The protesting that I see in these marches, both at home and abroad, appears to be less about peace than it is about anti-Americanism. And this crap about "we should be concentrating on the war against terror, and not on war with Iraq" shows a level of ignorance (or perhaps purposeful lying) that is incredible. Any clear thinking American who can't connect the dots between Hussein and al Qaeda needs to spend more time reading the news, and less time reading People Magazine or watching the latest television reality shows.

After the September 11th attack on America, when President Bush gave that stirring speech in which he said "you're either with us or you're with the terrorists" he defined a level of moral clarity that should be apparent to all. At the time he was speaking to the nations of the world, but those words can also apply to Americans here at home who take to the streets with their screeching hate-Bush rhetoric that only serves to bring a smile to the faces of the Saddams and the Osamas of the world.

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JWR contributor Greg Crosby, former creative head for Walt Disney publications, has written thousands of comics, hundreds of children's books, dozens of essays, and a letter to his congressman. A freelance writer in Southern California, you may contact him by clicking here.

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