What a pleasure it is to see free speech in action. Thousands of
Americans have crowded the streets recently to protest the imminent
war on Iraq. Flocking toward popular areas and government buildings
they bare signs such as “Do you want to die for Exxon?”
or “War is not the answer” or the ever popular
“Down with George Bush.”
It is this latter sign that has always caught my attention
because it illuminates the true reason behind the current plague of
anti-war protests.
These people are not anti-war. They are anti-Bush. They have
been brainwashed by the divisive hatred machine of leftist politics
that preaches that those who do not believe in the
“progressive cause” are evil, racist or deserving of
public downfall.
Where were all of these so-called war-haters when their
demagogue Bill Clinton misused the military time and time again in
a wag-the-dog strategy to avert media attention from his other
failings? Where was the protest when loss of life, both American
and foreign needlessly occurred?
During the first year of his presidency, Clinton decided to
withdraw some 4,000 U.S. troops from Somalia who were acting as
part of a U.N. peacekeeping force.
The politically motivated move weakened the United
Nations’ role, and they quickly suffered losses at the hands
of Somalian warlords. Efforts led by Clinton to destroy weapons and
infrastructure after certain losses resulted in the deaths of
Americans and Somalian civilians. But this did not deter Clinton
from sending more troops and leading more military campaigns. It
all came to a head on Oct. 3, 1993, when a firefight in South
Mogadishu ended in the deaths of 18 soldiers and the capture of one
helicopter pilot.
But there was no anti-war outcry then. Clinton used the military
to cover his own mistake and took it personally when he continually
failed as commander-in-chief.
He also retaliated for the attempted assassination on former
President George Bush by firing cruise missiles at Baghdad. And he
acted without permission of Congress. Although the act itself was
justified, Clinton displayed gross power grubbing by failing to
consult Congress in the attack. Once again, Clinton acted only to
further his own narcissistic agenda without consideration for the
American people. And there was no protest.
Almost all of the military action under the Clinton
administration, including action in Yugoslavia, Haiti, Bosnia and
Iraq, needlessly put soldiers and civilians in harm’s way and
quite possibly brought about much of the anti-American sentiment
that is seen world-wide today. Yet there were no Vietnam-esque
anti-war movements or protests to these questionable
activities.
It is not the desire for peace that is spurring the recent
anti-war movement; it is a blind hatred of Republicans and the Bush
administration that is constantly being preached by leftist groups
and organizations. These groups idly stood by when Clinton was
war-mongering and causing the deaths of innocent people.
However, this is hardly new behavior from the witch-hunting
left.
Republicans are always getting criticized for things that the
left equally engages in. The Clinton family and Gray Davis were
both part of corporate scandals, yet George Bush, who is merely
implicated, gets all the negative media attention.
Also, during eight years of the Clinton administration, arsenic
levels in the water remained the same. During his last days in
office, Clinton changed the standard, lowering the allowed levels
of arsenic to an amount that would cost billions of dollars to
meet. Upon arrival in the White House, Bush reversed the decision
in order to do more research on arsenic levels. When Bush set the
levels of arsenic to one equal to the level during the Clinton
administration, he became the victim of an environmentalist
campaign that tried to paint him as a killer. The bill was sitting
with the Clinton administration for years, yet it somehow was
immune.
The double standard of the left is truly disheartening. I am not
a Republican, and I wholeheartedly disagree with about half of
Bush’s actions so far. I am in favor of war with Iraq, but
have some reservations about the Bush administration handling it.
Yet I refuse to spread hate speech about our president.
The left doesn’t seem to realize that actions are more
important to a person’s character than thought. As a result,
Clinton and other liberals can get away with atrocities because
they “feel our pain.” And Bush, a man who so far has
shown integrity and leadership, and who will be responsible for
protecting the lives of all American citizens, is vilified.