Return of the Fossils

I did not see any of the anti-war rally this last weekend. That being said I have heard some sound bytes from it. It occurs to me listening to these people that I had teleported back to 1970. Jane Fonda, Jesse Jackson, Dennis Kucinich (Although in 1970 he was preparing for his mayoral term where he bankrupted Cleveland later in the Seventies). These people have no relevance to today's problems. A satire piece at scrappleFace.com illustrates this beautifully (See it here), better celebrities may help them.

They spoke from the bytes I heard of learning the lessons of Viet Nam. Well, which lessons should we learn. We have a direct example of what they want us to do. After Nixon resigned and the Democrats enlarged their margin in Congress they did indeed cut off funds to our ally and our troops. What followed was a mass evacuation of our personnel and troops. After we left thousands of people that we abandoned went to re-education camps, and thousands of others were killed outright. Cambodia felt comfortable creating the killing fields of the Khmer Rouge. Why would we believe that if we left Iraq would be any different? Jane Fonda talks of Hubris in regard to the Bush administration. Looking at similar historical events and believing they would turn out different for no other reason that we have 'Good Intentions' to me is the height of hubris.

How can they get a following considering how wrong they are? I think partially because of the goodness of the American people. A good percentage of our society seems young men and women, both American and Iraqi dying and just want it to stop. While this is certainly compassionate, it is naive and immature. I also believe the abject failure of our schools to teach history and civics contributes. If young people understood the connection between Congressional action and the death of our past allies, they could make the connection and say to their representatives not again!

We have brave men and women that have given their lives to make Iraq free. They do this because if we don't fight terror in the middle east we will fight it here. Iran and Al-Queda have verified this over and over in their communiques. If we don't take our government's word for it, can we at least believe the butchers fighting in Iraq? To cut off their funds now would be to have those brave dead men and women to have die in vain.

In closing I am entertained by the fossils of the seventies. Let me pray that society as a whole regards them what they are, fossils of a bygone era, and not to be considered relevant today. We need to have real conversations about Iraq, benchmarks, troop levels, security are issues that should, and need to be talked about. Recycled speeches from the seventies aren't helpful. Since they expected 100, 000 and got much less to show up bodes positive, but we as voters and citizens need to be informed, whether you agree or disagree with the fossils.