Posted on 04/15/2003 8:51:52 PM PDT by TLBSHOW
Not in Your Name
For the better part of the last six months, Cornell University has been besieged with students, faculty, and townies marching around campus, wearing black armbands, and chanting “Not in Our Name.” (Not in Our Name is a reference to a radical antiwar organization affiliated with Communist organizer Leslie Cagan.) These folks have been screaming at the top of their lungs about how America’s war against Saddam Hussein is “not in their name.”
Let’s review.
A few weeks back, former U.N. weapons inspector and child sex offender Scott Ritter came to campus and informed Cornell students that President George W. Bush’s military strategy “would not work.” To thunderous applause, he said that the Iraqi people did not want to be liberated. Following the speech, Cornell student Elizabeth Paddock ’03 told the Cornell Daily Sun:
“I thought [Ritter] was amazing…He really addressed the ignorance of the American people and the bias in the media portrayal of Iraq well.”
Has Mr. Ritter or Ms. Paddock watched the Iraqi people celebrating in Baghdad, Basra, and An Najaf? Does anyone believe that the Iraqi people do not want to be liberated? The human spirit never prefers barbarism to freedom. Shame on Cornell students for applauding Ritter’s evil words. Thanks to the leadership of President Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair, Iraqi citizens have gotten their first taste of liberty, free from the totalitarian rule of Saddam Hussein. We now know that it wasn’t the American people who were ignorant, but rather those who preferred to appease a tyrant.
Just days ago, Cornell alumnus Michael Mancuso ’98 wrote a piece for the Cornell Daily Sun in which he claimed:
“Morally, we are in the stone age.”
He compared the 77% of Americans who support war with Iraq to Nazis by outrageously stating:
“To oppose an administration waging an illegitimate war is not unpatriotic—the inverse is true. What about the brave dissidents who opposed Hitler and his plans?”
On the very day that our military liberated the city of Baghdad, Mr. Mancuso deliriously argued:
“It is also possible that the present dismal state of this war will somehow be reversed…I believe the antiwar movement has a critical mandate to end this war, save the lives of all participants and bring our leaders back to some semblance of sanity and reality.”
I guess it takes a special kind of “sanity and reality” to believe that the antiwar movement has been vindicated.
Chaplain Philip Fiadino, of the Cornell Catholic Community, echoed the anti-liberty sentiments of the 1930s-era Catholic Church by arguing:
“The churches, the synagogues, the mosques, and the people of faith are against this war.”
The people of faith are against bringing liberty to the oppressed? Really? I have always considered myself a religious Catholic, but if this is the new definition of “faith,” perhaps atheism really is the way to go.
Susan Blumenthal, the author of the infamous Ithaca City Council antiwar resolution, stated:
“Most people in the city [of Ithaca] can see that the present situation relating to Iraq is ill-conceived and that they believe that our country isn't ready for the momentous decision to declare war.”
Her resolution passed the council unanimously.
Dr. John Weiss, an associate professor of history at Cornell, spoke at a university-sponsored antiwar teach-in and stated that as a veteran, he understands that "unilateral pre-emptive wars don't work." (Someone tell Saddam Hussein!) He further argued that the U.S. military secretly opposes its commander-in-chief, saying:
“Generals are very worried about this war crisis [in Iraq], very worried. They don't want to take this on."
I am not sure what Dr. Weiss thinks he knows, but those heroic Marines who took Baghdad—receiving flowers and kisses from newly liberated Iraqis—did not look too worried to me. They looked pretty darn proud to be Americans, serving their country and bringing freedom to the dark corners of the world.
Dr. Chip Gagnon, assistant professor of politics at Ithaca College, appeared at the same teach-in, and offered his view of a Jewish conspiracy.
"It's interesting to note that Israel is one of the only nations supporting this war...Sharon's government will use the war to accomplish a lot of its goals. He will do what he could not have done before, under the cover of the war in Iraq.”
All of us now know that the greatest beneficiaries of the war in Iraq were the Iraqi people. They are now—or soon will be—free. The Iraqi people have spoken. Free from oppression, they are telling the whole world what they truly believe: "Thank you very much, Mr. Boss." "We love you United States." "Saddam donkey." "Very happy. I love you George Bush." "Democracy, Whiskey. And sexy!" (HA!)
A few days ago, 150 Iraqi children were liberated from a Baghdad prison. Lieutenant Colonel Fred Padilla told the associated press, "Hundreds of kids were swarming us and kissing us. There were parents running up, so happy to have their kids back…The children had been imprisoned because they had not joined the youth branch of the Ba’ath party…Some of these kids had been in there for five years."
The United States of America is the most generous nation in the history of the world. We are a nation that uses our military might for good. We are true humanitarians. And, in the final analysis, this war was a very liberal war. Yes, we fought—most importantly—to make the United States safer by ending Hussein’s regime. But we also fought to finish the job we started in 1991, but sadly did not complete—to liberate an oppressed people.
The antiwar activists on this campus have to come to grips with an undeniable reality of their position—had we adopted their policies and allowed Saddam Hussein to remain in power, all of the liberated Iraqis would still be enslaved. The children would still be imprisoned. The Saddam statue would still be standing tall.
Now the people are free and the statue is no more. To Scott Ritter, Elizabeth Paddock, Michael Mancuso, Philip Fiadino, Susan Blumenthal, Dr. John Weiss, Dr. Chip Gagnon, and the entire Cornell Antiwar Coalition—you must live by your words. The liberation of the Iraqi people is not in your name.
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