Ciao!

Anti-war?

LT Smash, an Iraq war veteran attended a recent anti-war protest and posted his observations. Excerpt:

Someone had arranged 571 pairs of shoes in neat little rows, to represent all of the American soldiers who have died in Iraq. I know a couple of those people, I thought. I don't think they would have found common cause with these protestors – they believed in what they were fighting for ...

The mother of Jesús Suárez del Solar, a US Marine who died near Umm Qasr, was up first. I felt deep sympathy for this woman, but also some disappointment that she were allowing others to exploit her pain for political purposes.

Jesús, I knew, had joined the Marine Corps against his parents' wishes. They were, of course, heartbroken when he died. But they had failed to honor his memory by respecting the cause for which he gave his life. Instead his father, Fernando, has turned this young Marine into a martyr for the anti-war movement, a cause to which young Jesús clearly did not subscribe.

Smash's overall observations of the protest are interesting. Whatever you think of the war (I've always admitted there are good reasons to oppose it) it's hard to avoid the fact that much of the anti-war movement is somewhat misguided. Then again, you can't expect rich, white Americans to really understand, can you?

When you make speeches calling on people to support the so-called Iraqi resistance (I use "so-called" because 90% of the fighters are non-Iraqis) you're not anti-war — you're just on the other side. And it's OK to be on the other side. But don't describe rousing cries for "resistance" fighters to "drive" (i.e. kill) coalition soldiers from Iraq as anti-war.

-----
UPDATE: Winds of Change has similar observations, w/ links to essays on how to fix the anti-war movement for the better. Perhaps making it effective, even (anti-war demonstrations tend to increase support for the war).

Posted by Miguel at 05:08 PM

Comments