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Critics of Iraq war are not unpatriotic
The situation in Iraq brings to mind the words of an
American folk hero. Will Rogers, an American of the old school, once said,
“America has a great habit of always talking about protecting American interests
in some foreign country. Protect ‘em here at home! There is more American
interests right here than anywhere.”
Why can't we listen to the wise words of Ronald Reagan
concerning his experience with a mistaken military intervention and occupation
of Lebanon in the 1980s? Lebanon was occupied by American, French, and Israeli
troops between 1982 and 1986, and there were 41 suicide attacks by insurgents in
that country during that time. In the horrific attack of October 1983, America
lost 241 of our soldiers when a suicide bomber in a truck full of explosives
destroyed the U.S. Marine compound.
While sending our troops to occupy Lebanon had seemed
like a good idea at the time, President Reagan had this to say in his 1990
memoirs: “We did not appreciate fully enough the depth of the hatred and
complexity of the problems that made the Middle East such a jungle ... In the
weeks immediately after the bombing, I believed the last thing we should do was
turn tail and leave ... yet, the irrationality of Middle Eastern politics forced
us to rethink our policy there.”
What should be instructive for the United States in all
this is the fact that once our troops were removed, the terrorist attacks
literally ended. This is why we must rethink our policy in Iraq of today.
And Congress critters like Jean Schmidt must understand
that critics of the war are not unpatriotic and definitely not cowards. What
were George Washington, Patrick Henry, Samuel Adams and Thomas Jefferson but
profound critics of the colonial status quo?
Stephen C. Brueggemann, Union
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