Over the weekend, anti-war protesters filled the streets of San Francisco chanting their new anti-war mantra, Support the Troops--End the War! These are the same folks who have been calling our troops baby killers, accusing them of raping, torturing and murdering innocent women and children around the world since Woodstock, free sex, homegrown marijuana and Jimmy Hendrix... You think they really support our troops?
They represent themselves as the
real supporters of our troops, those brave patriots willing to retreat in defeat,
in support of the troops they have spent a lifetime maligning, of course. Can you imagine a Bin Laden video to his soldiers, "
I support you boys, now quit fighting, retreat and let's wait to be attacked by the infidels?" You buy this? Some do...
Support the Troops--End the War? Isn't that akin to saying, "
Support the Dallas Cowboys--Forfeit their Game?" I mean, we love the Cowboys so much that we wouldn't want any of them injured or God forbid, killed in some silly game of football. It happens you know... good men die and receive injuries playing football and for what, our entertainment? For God's sake people,
Support the Cowboys--Forfeit their Games, all of them. The players will understand... Won't they?
Support the Troops--de-Fund their Mission!
This is another common mantra of the modern anti-American left. Of course, this one is akin to saying "
support your home--stop paying your mortgage!"
These are the same people who elected Bill Clinton to de-fund the military and intelligence communities in the 90s, then asked why we were not able to see 9/11 coming ahead of time or do anything about it? The same people who wanted the military budget shifted to domestic social spending in the 90s, then wondered why our troops were sent into battle after 9/11 without benefit of the best possible tools of their trade?
As someone who talks with soldiers stationed overseas every day, I can assure you, this kind of "support" they don't need or want.
Support the Troops--re-deploy to Okinawa?
Support the Troops--tie their hands and blindfold them on the battle field?
This is the insane logic of the anti-American anti-war left and now a few foolish libertarians have joined the parade of useful idiots. How many times do we have to listen to Bin Laden, Chavez or Ahmadinejad, as they read from DNC, Code Pink, MoveON.org or Ron Paul talking points, before we come to the realization that all of these people are
aiding and abetting the enemy?
On the other hand, these are the same folks who read the founding documents and see a mother's right to kill her children; read the First Amendment and see a right to the most offensive pornography anywhere anytime, but no right to free religious speech or expression in the public square.
Momma said that the children of drug addicts would grow up to behave this way and now look, here they are! This is what happens when a nation loses its moral foundation. Right and wrong no longer exist and people are free to believe and express anything they want, without any regard for what is true or right.
Stop the next 9/11--but don't spy on or in any way infringe upon terrorists rights?
No wonder the pharmaceutical companies are getting rich serving up drugs to a nation full of insane people. No wonder our children are killing each other in the school cafeteria.
Are all ideas really equal?
First, NO! All ideas are NOT equal. Some are no good at all. Others sound good until you look farther ahead.
Here's a news flash--NOBODY is "pro-war."
Out of nearly 300 million Americans, you won't find more than a few hundred skin-heads and gang members that are "pro-war." Nobody in America likes war. Nobody likes the cost of war. Nobody wants to send their kid or anyone else's into battle knowing that some won't come back. The first sign of insanity in the anti-war movement is the fact that they actually believe that some Americans like war.
But as has been proven literally thousands of times throughout history, the price of peace is sometimes war. This is something the average person learns by the second or third grade, when the school yard bully won't stop until he is stopped, by force. As most any fourth grader can tell you, there is NO peace in fear, no peace in running, no peace in tolerating a daily beating or even the threat thereof. Too many Americans missed this lesson growing up.
America spends huge sums of money trying to buy peace with our enemies. We work around the clock searching for peaceful ways to make friends with those who mean us harm. We have one military and countless diplomatic agencies. We stand less than 2 million soldiers, but more than 10 million members of the diplomatic services, just to exhaust all peaceful means of resolving conflict before resorting to force.
Hussein had more chances than most to comply with international demands and American cease fire conditions and chose not to. The current Iranian leadership seems hell-bent on the same path to war; no matter how many times numerous international diplomatic agencies try to bring them to peaceful co-existence via peaceful means.
Sometimes, force is all that's left and no American likes it.
After twelve years of failed diplomatic efforts to bring Hussein into peaceful compliance, more than twenty years of murdering his own people, his neighbors and funding terrorism, and more than thirty years of Islamic terrorism on the rise, force is what was left after 9/11. Anyone claiming that we deposed Hussein too soon is ignoring history. Anyone claiming that a Hussein Iraq was better than a free Iraq is not looking at the past or the future.
I talk with our troops daily. They know why they are there, what they are doing and what it means to the future security of this and many other nations. Sadly, after six years of steady anti-war rhetoric in the 24/7 press, few Americans do and politicians now seek to exploit that ignorance for personal political gain.
If you believe you are supporting the troops by acting or speaking out against the troops and their mission, you are sadly misguided. If you think you can support them by de-funding their missions, then you understand nothing about what it means to support anything.
If you think you are supporting troops by demanding they retreat in defeat, leaving their job half finished so that they will return again someday in worse conditions to complete that task, you know nothing about completing tasks or supporting those who must complete them.
Support the troops--End the War?
The only way to support the troops is to provide the kind of support that the troop's want, not what you want. The vast majority want to complete their mission. The vast majority don't want to have to fight Americans back home every step of the way. Supporting them means supporting their desire to win and providing them with all necessary tools to help them achieve their goals.
Unfortunately, if the anti-American anti-war movement had any sense, this column would not be necessary. Because it is necessary, I have little faith that any mountain of reality will change how this group of self-indulgent self-proclaimed cut-n-run patriots behaves.
I have had the displeasure of countless discussions with the anti-war left, both Democrats and Ron Paul supporters, and very few are interested in history, facts or reality. Both believe what they want and neither is likely to let the facts get in the way of those beliefs.
This means the rest of us must do the heavy lifting.
Those of us, who really do support the troops, by standing with them in the successful completion of their missions, must find a way to become louder than those only pretending to support them, while undermining their every effort.
This begins by speaking up. Never let the lie stand unchallenged. The lie becomes the perceived truth only when it goes unchallenged. While our troops fight for us, we must fight for them. That's our duty and our obligation to the soldiers who provide our freedom.
Never let the lies stand unchallenged. Not from your family, your friends, your local, state or federal representatives, or news media. Force them all to confront reality. Real support for the troops and their missions must be stronger and louder than the voice of those who undermine their missions.
This is our duty and we must not be weary! The other side won't quit. We can't either!
For our soldiers--defending America means putting their lives on the front lines against foreign enemies. For the rest of us, it means defending our troops against their enemy within... It's the least we can do! May God have mercy on those who refuse to do it.
