Anti-War Protests In Gainesville -- My Thoughts

So, I attended the "anti-war" protests in Gainesville to see what it was all about. Those of you that know me know that I'm like most level-headed Americans and dislike the general idea of war but understand that war is sometimes necessary, such as when we forced Milosevic from power in Yugoslavia. We did not have U.N. support then, either, but few would argue that we did the right thing there. Anyway, I wanted to see what kinds of people would be out there protesting and if it accurately represented the general community. It did not. Unfortunately, the crowd represented mostly the types of people you would see following Phish or The Grateful Dead -- seemingly unwashed and shabbily clothed. They were smacking pie plates together and screaming in unison chants such as "Whose streets? Our streets!". Not quite sure what that meant. I heard another guy wearing camo pants shout "Close down the schools! Close down the federal building!"

Amongst the "Anti War, Anti Bush" people, there were a few "pro war" people. They were positioned closest to the street with aggressive signs that said "Bomb Saddam!" and "Tree Huggers, Go Home". (For the record, I don't agree with those slogans.) The latter poster bothered one guy that carried the French flag on a long PVC pole. I asked him if he was French and he said yes and that he mumbled that he was "pretty proud to be French at this point" with no trace of a French (or any other) accent. He then turned to the guy with the "tree hugger" sign and told him that he was "un-American" for being negative towards the protesters. And that pissed me off, mainly because this guy is French complaining that someone is un-American. I'm sure he knows that the French can be fined for criticizing Chirac in their own country... or maybe not. Anyway, I told him that the guy had a right to "protest the protesters" and if he didn't like it, he could find another corner. Freedom of speech, Frenchy!

What a jerk.

Anyway, I've decided that this is a debate of emotion versus pragmatism and the two arguments have problems meeting. Most of these people would never agree that there is such a thing as a just war. Even though war was responsible for creating this country, defeating nazism and communism, etc... The sad thing is... I hate the idea of war. I just found out that a friend of mine is in Kuwait, facing fear and death, and that makes me very sad. I just understand that it's important to the safety of the U.S. as well as the safety of the region that we disarm Hussein before he is allowed more time to strengthen his arsenal. A lot of people aren't aware that in the first hours of war, he's ALREADY used missles (the Al Samoud II and the Scud) that he claimed he didn't have, thereby proving that he's been lying all along to the U.N. He never had any intention of disarming. I just hope these particular short-sided peace protesters appreciate our efforts when we uncover the mass graves of his own people and the chemical weapons he's been hiding.

I guess one of the things that really bothers me is the "No War For Oil" signs. If you go up to these people and ask them why we didn't take over the Iraqi oil fields during the first Gulf War, you can literally watch the gears in their brain grind to a halt. The truth is that once Saddam Hussein loses control of those oil fields, more money can go to help the Iraqi people from the proceeds. Right now, Iraqi oil does nothing but pay for the production of WoMD (Weapons of Mass Destruction) and to fill Hussein's pockets. Just ask Forbes magazine, which lists his wealth at around $7 billion. His coffers fill while his people starve. He's a monster that takes money from the citizens and naturally, we try and control this behavior through sanctions and we're blamed for starving the Iraqi people. UGH!?!!

Ok... I'm going to stop ranting now before I blow an "O ring".