Because if you see a monster you must attack it. Even if it is really a windmill.
One thing it seems to accomplish is reinforcing Saddam’s notion that digging in and prolonging the war could benefit him.
An image comes to mind. You may have seen the following floating through your office: Have you seen that picture of a pelican swallowing a frog, but the frog’s hands are strangling the pelican? And, the picture’s caption says “Never give up!”
Well, it is the same with the war protestors. It’s called “Dogged Perseverance”. - Jinx
I protest because someday my children will ask me what I did during the war.
It might be worth noting that most evidence suggests that protests during the Vietnam War actually increased support for the war. One thing you can say about us Americans, we love to take sides.
More seriously, I believe that anti-war protest are a complete waste of time. I’d rather concern myself with what we plan to do when this one is finally over. I won’t be able to show my children video clips of myself marching around on the evening news; they’ll have to be bored by old letters I wrote …
I have enjoyed reading the posts. Thanks to the OP and thanks to those who responded.
I’ll admit that I wasn’t born until a couple of years after the draft ended, so my knowledge isn’t first hand, but weren’t these nice peace protesters the same people who made the returning vets- most of whom had been drafted instead of signing up for their own reasons - miserable by jeering, acusing them of terrible things, spitting and throwing things at them? Boy, being made to do something against your will, then being (psychologically) tortured once you got home… I realize that this wasn’t something every peace protester did, but enough of them did to keep me from even considering protesting a war, no matter which side of opinion I fell on (for the record I’ve reluctantly accepted we’ve gone to war.) Hopefully things like that won’t be on this crop of protesters list of goals.
elfkin477, I think I feel the same way as you. I hate it when someone uses something I think is good (peace demonstrations) to advocate something I think is bad (violence; animosity toward troops). Fortunately for me, both of the demonstrations I have attended were severely lacking in these two vices; I don’t know what I would have done if either of them had been violated. I didn’t hear anyone at all saying anything negative about soldiers themselves, like I’ve heard about Vietnam. And certainly, the people leading the chants were very pro-troop in their language.
We hope to show that not everyone packed up and went home when dubya sent in the troops. We still are many strong and we’re not giving up. If everyone just said “Oh well, we’re against the war but the bombs are dropping” there would be NO chance of anything changing.
Of course, Bush is probably not going to conceded to the protestors tomorrow and call off the war, but some of us are so outraged that we have to voice our opinion, and many have decided that public demonstration is the best means of doing that. Nobody at the protests actually expects their efforts to halt the invasion, but they’re doing the most they can do and if enough people speak they will be forced to listen.
If the protestors suddenly stopped protesting, their message would not be heard. Certainly the mainstream media aren’t going to express any anti-war opinions on their own, and the only way the anti-war movement can get them to even acknowledge that there is an anti-war sentiment is by voicing their opinion publicly like that. If people realize there are opponents to the war, even if they don’t agree with them, they might at least realize at some level that maybe they aren’t 100% right in doing what they’re doing, that maybe there are reasons the war is unjust. And don’t underestimate the power of that seed of doubt.
I wonder why people are so outraged when America does something, but barely anyone makes a peep about the human rights violations taking place in Iraq. I have’nt seen one person protesting all the human rights violations, the violations of soveriegnty and injustice that takes place in Africa. I guess it’s just popular to be anti-American these days. It’s interesting seeing how shocked and outraged people are over this thing when about a year from now they’ll all forget about it and protest whatever the new flavor-of-the-month is. I also don’t buy that whole “America does’nt care about the human rights violations, only oil” argument. If we cared about oil so much we would’ve just kissed Iraq’s ass and gotten it for super cheap much like another country has already done (maybe we should’ve given them reactor parts for oil). Remember, being cynical about things does’nt mean you’re right.
If we’re so mad that we only do things for oil then maybe people should be out blocking traffic and protesting the lack of funding for alternative sources of energy. Otherwise, making me late for work and blocking responding police and firemen is’nt really helping me take your side on the issue.
Sorry folks, I think the grand majority of the people out there protesting are just out there because they need something to feel passionate about and this just happens to be the popular thing to do. Now if someone wants to go out there and protest lack of UN involvement in Somalia or other warlord-run areas in the world, I’ll support them. Otherwise, stop comparing Bush to Hitler, that’s just stupid. It’s rediculous that the guy trying to topple a cutthroat dictator is Hitler, and we actually have people flying over to Iraq to be a human sheild for the guy who slaughters thousands of his own people.
I don’t think anyone is saying Saddam is anything but a brutal dictator. But I think the point is, you can’t just unilaterally decide to go into a foreign country and kick ass when you feel like it.
If that were the case, there would be a lot of countries going into a lot of countries. Pakistan and India. North and South Korea. China and Taiwan. Almost the entire Middle East vs. Israel. Half of Africa against the other half of Africa. Cyprus (Turkey and Greece).
But those countries are only refraining from doing “the Bush” because they know the rest of the world would not accept military aggression. I am terrified this is no longer going to be the case.
Getting back to the OP.
I will not allow the fact that simply because the war has started to stop me in vocally opposing this madness.
It is setting a horrible example and is only going to make the USA a target of hate for generations to come…not only from the Osama fringe element, but now from every fringe element, in every country in the world. Bush may slay his Saddam, but the price is going to be lethal.
I was actually glad to read recently that even in Middle Eastern countries that supposedly hate our guts, thanks to the anti-war protests, polls show the populace is aware that not every American is a war monger. With any luck, we might someday be able to us that to re-build a relationship not built upon whose army is bigger.
I don’t think anyone is saying Saddam is anything but a brutal dictator.
Of course that’s what people say when asked. The problem is, they have to be asked. The media worldwide are full of reports of protests against the war. They are devoid of reports of protests against Saddam. So there’s this constant loud chorus of voices against what the U.S. is doing, and only an occasional little peep against what Saddam is doing.
I honestly believe that this apparent pulse of world opinion gives comfort and encouragement to the Iraqi regime, and is a factor in their deciding to fight on. With so much clamor against the invasion, they have reason to believe that their defeat might not be inevitable.
So protest as you will if that makes you feel good. I won’t oppose anyone’s right to do so. But be aware that a by-product of doing so is greater loss of life for both the invasion coalition and the Iraqi citizenry.