Demonstrations of Idiocy...
All over the country today, demonstrations will be held to protest the occupation of Iraq. The majority of the people involved in these demonstrations will be the seriously retarded denizens of the colleges, the aging hippies, those that will use the events to advance unrelated agendas (I expect the homosexuals to be out in force), the Bush haters, the slackers and the truly-disintertested-but-there-to-hook-up-with-hippie-chicks.

The organizers of these protests claim that he war in Iraq was illegal and immoral, and cite the same, tired reasons for their disconnected logic. Knocking them down one at a time:

a) We went to war for oil: considering the price of oil hit near $60 a barrel this week, I'm wondering where all this free, illegally-gained oil actually is. Californians are now paying above $3 for a gallon of gas, and the rest of us are approaching $2.50. Congress has allowed for the exploration of and drilling for oil in the ANWR. World energy prices are skyrocketing due to increased demand and lower supplies, mainly caused by OPEC's continued manipulation of the market. if the United States is now swimming in oil, I have yet to see it.

b) Saddam Hussein posed no threat to the United States - Well, neither did Slobodan Milosevic. Neither did General Aidid in Somalia. Neither did the genocide in Rwanda, the sectarian turmoil in Northern Ireland, the slaughter of innocents in the Ivory Coast. Yet, the same people who now claim qualifications to assess threats to national security, where protesting then that the United States either did nothing or should have done more to solve those problems where no clear national interest actually lay. Apparently, we should only use power in the interests of France, not in our own. Saddam Hussein was a threat to national security here: he, himself, might not have launched a missle at us or personally highjacked an airliner, but he was capable of funneling arms, money and WMD's to surrogates. In fact, he was. Palesinian terrosists were receiving cash payments from him. European intelligence agencies recorded meetings between Iraqi agents and terrorist groups. Saddam had used WMD on several occasions: ask the Iranians and Kurds, and had the means to deliver them outside of his borders: ask the Saudis, Kuwaitis and Israelis, all once on the receiving end of Scuds.

c) There were no WMD's in Iraq - Au contraire, but there were --- UN Weapons inspectors found them. The UN helped destroy some of them. There was no way of knowing if they were all destroyed, however, and the subsequent actions of the the Iraqi government, it's scientists, the United Nations Inspectors and intelligence services all over the planet, made it clear that until it could be positively ascertained that Iraq was WMD-free that no one should sleep soundly. In the aftermath of the invasion two years ago, coalition forces were still finding artillery shells, rockets and remote-controlled airplanes that contained, or were designed to deliver, WMD's. The fact that, up until this time, no missile, bomb, or other contrivance of war has been found loaded to the gills with VX, for example, it doesn't automatically follow that such things do not still exist somewhere. They just haven't been found yet.

d) the War is Illegal: Again, there were 17 seperate UN resolutions authroizing the United Sates to act militarily in Iraq. Iraq was in violation of all 17. Several members of the Security Council were, in fact, themselves, complicit in helping the former regime circumvent or violate the UN's own resolutions. The United States Congress authorized the use of force against Iraq and appropriated funds for the invasion and subsequent rebuilding effort. Thirty-plus nations initially joined the United States in Iraq, which was more than twice the number that fought under UN colors in Korea. I gather that thirty-plus nations are also acting illegally, but it seems none of them will be mentioned during the protests.

So march all you want. Make up all the bullshit excuses you want for not doing your part to protect the country. Contrive and spread all the propaganda your tiny minds can conceive. The fcat is that no one is really listening to you and you're preaching to the choir anyway: the same people who will join you are the same people who would ask "What did I do to cause this?" when the next airliner hits the Sears Tower or when they get anthrax in the mail. In other words, you're preaching to those who would expect to be given all the fruits of Western Civilization without lifting a finger to get it for themselves or even to make any sort of positive contribution. You know, the kind of people who are responsible for having instructions put on shampoo bottles or directions on a can of soup for it's proper use -- in other words, the braindead, the lazy and the folks who want to be mollycoddled from cradle to grave.

Ffteen hundred Americans have given their lives in Iraq to do three, extraodrinary things: travel half-way around the world in order to provide a shield behind which you exercise your right to bleat like sheep, created conditions where fledgling democracies in Iraq and Afghanistan may incubate, and finally, brought something resembling actual civilization to an area of the world where such things were typically considered bad because they had a Western taint.

You are really marching for selfish reasons (i.e. you don't want to have to actually go to war to foster these things, only reap the benefits).

As for the calls that the money being spent in the Middle East can easily be of more use here, I remind you that if given $80 billion, the Department of Education will promptly lose it. The Secretary for Housing and Urban Development would simply use it to create more "empowerment zones" which are simply ghettos with a different name. Just because the money would be put to "better uses" by your ilk does not guarentee that your ideas are any better.