Why I Am A Patriot for Peace
Mar 23 '03 (Updated Jun 26 '04)
The Bottom Line -----------------------------------------------------
I've been debating writing about my feelings about our current situation for some time now. It's sure to cause some controversy, but then what's life without a little spice?
My basic feeling is that we should not be in Iraq at this time. Yes, I know, it's over and done with now, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. My feeling is that our actions taken without an international consensus is wrong. Had we waited and formed an international coalition like was done for the Gulf War, I would have been behind the action even if I didn't like it (who really likes a war?) If the issue is weapons of mass destruction, the inspectors likely would have found them sooner or later and then there would be the international consensus to go in, even if France wouldn't bring themselves to vote for a resolution.
I feel that in no way will this action make us safer. The United States is going to end up taking the worst of the backlash on this. And there will be backlash. The people with a desire for revenge are not dumb. They know they cannot come here and invade us, so they will try to hurt us in whatever way they can. This will mean more problems with terrorist plots, whether those with a desire for revenge join up with Bin Laden or form their own terrorist networks. Would this have happened had we gone in with more international support? Possibly. However, during the Gulf War we had the backing of other Arab states which did not make us look like infidels to the Arab people, although the fanatics like Bin Laden still interpreted it that way. There are many more people quite angry with us right now.
Following September 11th, there was an outpouring of sympathy toward this country from across the globe. There were also those who in later months began to state things such as the whole thing was staged by our government (I don't believe that) or that our government had some knowledge that something was going to happen in advance (what exactly they knew is debatable) and allowed it to happen to gather public support for their agenda. I don't entirely believe this position, but since I have heard from many sources that FDR had advanced knowledge of Pearl Harbor and allowed it to happen for the exact same reason, I can believe that it could happen.
What does that all mean? Hans Blix was on television stating that Hussein probably did have weapons of mass destruction and his word is one I will take for sure. However, since the inspectors did not find the weapons, there will be people in the world who will state that anything found there is a plant by our government to justify our invasion. There will be plenty of people who will believe this as well.
Why is Hussein a greater threat than North Korea? Or Iran? Or Pakistan and India who have been on the brink of nuclear exchanges several times now? The plans were in place to do this was formulated by Rumsfeld long before Bush was elected, which leads me to believe that there is much more to it than the bites we've been given in the media. Colin Powell admitted that there were no ties between Hussein and September 11th, so that is not the motivation. I do not understand why it was so important for us to go against this man, at this time, when there was so little international support for it. The damage this is doing to our reputation internationally might be irreparable.
One night a few weeks ago when I had insomnia, I saw an interview of various people throughout the Middle East on CNN. They spoke with one young woman in Jordan who had some very insightful words. When asked about the possibility of a democracy in Iraq, she stated that democracy has to come from the people - they have to want it. You cannot force it on them. Could these people's culture be so different from us that a democracy won't work in their country? Jordan has fared very well under a king - should we now force them to be a democracy as well?
People have spoken of boycotting France because of their stand. While I don't agree with their plan to veto any resolution no matter what, I think those sentiments are wrong. Turnabout is fair play, and if everyone in the world who thinks we're wrong right now starts boycotting American products, our economy is really going to tank. If you've thought the last few years were bad, an internationally organized boycott of everything American would cripple us.
None of my feelings about the war translates into thinking anything less of our troops, however. I have friends in the military. One of my lab partners in high school is a career Navy man who is over there right now. I have friends online who's spouses are over fighting right now. It was my idea to send the leftover boxes of Girl Scout cookies from our open boxes to someone from my daughter's school who's over there. They deserve our total support, no matter what I think about why they are over there. I hope and pray that the deaths for them and for all the innocent caught in the middle end soon.
What prompted me to do this was something that happened to me today. I took a break in preparing my taxes and cruised through some of my camping groups. This was posted in one of them:
***** With all of this talk of impending war, many of us will encounter "Peace Activists" who will try and convince us that we must refrain from engaging in war with Iraq. These activists may be alone or in a gathering...most of us don't know how to react to them. When you come upon one of these people, or one of their rallies, here are the proper rules of etiquette:
1. Listen politely while this person explains their views. Strike up a conversation if necessary and look very interested in their ideas. They will tell you how revenge is immoral, and that by attacking the people Who did this to us, we will only bring on more violence. They will probably use many arguments, ranging from political to religious to humanitarian.
2. In the middle of their remarks, without any warning, punch them in the nose.
3. When the person gets up off of the ground, they will be very angry and they may try to hit you, so be careful.
4. Very quickly and calmly remind the person that violence only brings about more violence and remind them of their stand on this matter. Tell them if they are really committed to a non-violent approach to undeserved attacks, they will turn the other cheek and negotiate a solution. Tell them they must lead by example if they really believe what they are saying.
5. Most of them will think for a moment and then agree that you are correct.
6. As soon as they do that, hit them again. Only this time hit them much harder. Square in the nose.
7. Repeat steps 2-5 until the desired results are obtained and the idiot realizes how moronic an argument he/she is making. *****
And this was the response from someone else in that group:
***** here here,, I like that, I wish I had saw this before I went to the cruise in Friday nite,, there was 2 "boys" in there teens walking around the parking lot with "NO WAR " signs.. I wish I had thought of that. (by the way, we "the car group" ran the punks off from our side of the parking lot) *****
What is happening in our own country? We run people off the road who don't agree with us? We advocate punching people until they agree with out opinions? This to me puts the pro-war argument in a much poorer light if this is what is being advocated. This sounds like the way the Nazi party operated before it came into power in Germany where it brutalized and intimidated people who would speak up against it. Is that what is happening here?
I was in tears after reading that and shaking. I was planning on camping with these people in May and bringing my kids around them. Would I have been run off the road? Beaten up? Otherwise harassed? I commended a few people today from our epinions community who I have "sparred" with but we've always been respectful of each other and basically agreed to disagree. That is what this country is about - everyone's right to an opinion. We should never be afraid of expressing any opinion for fear of physical harm. Well, except when you talk about someone's mother ;-)
While I think we rushed into something that is going to haunt us for many years to come, I love the men and women over there for volunteering to protect us. I want to say a big thank you to them. They signed on to blindly follow whatever orders they receive from our government - something that I know I could never do. Regardless of what anyone thinks of the action we're taking, these men and women deserve out utmost respect when they come back - let's make sure that no matter what happens, they never come home feeling like the Vietnam Veterans did.
© 2003 Patti Aliventi
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Member: Patti Aliventi
Location: Mount Washington Valley, New Hampshire
Reviews written: 2078
Trusted by: 687 members
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Now writing reviews to pay for the "out of network" costs of our health insurance...
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