Lenin was right after all, if you tell a lie long enough it becomes truth. It is not surprising then to see the left-wing of this country, particularly those located at Marquette University, living up to the aspirations of their idol in their vitriol of the right, specifically concerning the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
The very idea that someone's refusal to support the war should not equate that they do not support the troops is both asinine and flat-out hypocritical of the fact. The basic equivalent to this would be if I were to say that I supported the right of a woman to choose but rejected the brutal method of abortion. The left claims to support the brave men and women overseas but consistently falls short of embracing the job they must carry out in the service of their country, in defending the freedoms and liberties we take for granted.
Brian Koch's Feb. 17 Viewpoint seemed to advocate that the war in Iraq was not meant to defend the rights of Americans but rather the freedoms and opportunities of the Iraqi people. Correct me if I am wrong here, but is there seriously a problem with that scenario? Is it not the prerogative of the United States to help spread freedom and democracy throughout the world in order to ensure the hope of peace and prosperity in the future? And yes, my fellow College Republicans and I do believe thoroughly that the war in Iraq is warranting our protection here on the home front. As Donald Rumsfeld once said, "It is better to fight and capture terrorists in Baghdad than in Baltimore or Boise." In invading Afghanistan and Iraq and allowing democracy to take root within those respected countries, we are bringing the fight straight to the heart of the war on terror to make certain that another 9/11, or worse, does not take place.
For years the war on terror has been at our doorstep and only recently have we come to that realization. The original bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993 and the proposed Millennium bombings in 2000 should be evidence enough. Let those fanatical Muslims who wish to 'destroy the infidels' waste their precious time, money, resources and energy in combating the 'occupation' in Iraq' who happen to be more prepared for such events than white-collar workers in office high-rise buildings. In bringing the fight to them they are less likely, though certainly not outside the realm of possibility, to attack us on our own soil.
Koch went on to say that "Iraq was never a threat to our safety or our freedom." I do not know about you but someone has been a listening a little too much to a certain fat man with a vendetta against the president. The left would want you to believe that Saddam Hussein never posed a threat to the security of this nation but nothing could be further from the truth. In choosing to broker a deal for 'peace' prior to the invasion in 2003, you were choosing to side with Saddam Hussein, which is exactly what France and the rest of the U.N. scum had done through underhanded oil bribes.
It was during Hussein's reign of terror that he killed between roughly 300,000 and 1 million of his own people, went against the Geneva Conventions in using poison gas against the Iranians, invaded Kuwait in 1991 and seized upon their oil-fields, nearly wiped-out the Kurdish population in the southern region of his own country with poison gas, offered compensation to the families of Palestinian suicide bombers and harbored know terrorist leaders as Abu Abbas. And whether or not he had WMDs, of course no one would dare question Syria about such a thing, there should be no dispute in the fact that Hussein certainly had the technical know-how to provide to terrorist organizations such as al Qaeda in creating WMDs.
Was it not Edmund Burke who said "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing?" This is exactly what Koch's Viewpoint would suggest to the students of our campus. Freedom is prospering in Iraq and the left can't bear to stand for it.
Joseph Kastner is a freshman political science major.
This article appeared in The Marquette Tribune on Mar. 1 2005.