For all of their incoherent ranting, distortions, lies and contradictory, irrelevant arguments, the anti-war movement in America has been remarkably consistent in insisting on one thing: Anti-war protestors are the real patriots.

 

Now, I don’t want to lump everybody against the war in one bag – there are some genuine patriots who simply think that America made a mistake in Iraq (and/or Afghanistan.)  But I am here to seriously question the unquestionable.  I say that the majority of the anti-war movement is motivated not by patriotism or nationalism, but by a belief that America is not a champion of liberty, but an imperialist aggressor that picks on defenseless countries.  I say that the majority of anti-war protestors are not patriots.  For those who disagree, I ask,

 

·        Is it patriotic to fly to Iraq and tie yourself to an American target to try to obstruct our war efforts?

·        Is it patriotic to accuse your country of lying about Iraq when you have no evidence to back up your claims?

·        Is it patriotic for the media to report on the accidental killing of Iraqi civilians and leave out the fact that in Iraq, the hospitals are working for the first time in decades, Iraqis have running water for the first time in decades and Shiites and Christians have religious freedom for the first time in <i>centuries</i>?

·        Is it patriotic to say that Saddam can have WMDs and at the same time support a nuclear freeze for America?

·        Is it patriotic to claim that America is trying to start a world empire because we have troops in South Korea and Iraq?

·        Is it patriotic for leading politicians to oppose the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and lie openly about them to garner support for the elections?

·        Is it patriotic to refuse to sing the national anthem in protest of America engaging in a defensive war?

·        Is it patriotic to distort and lie about the USA Patriot Act, which allows the government to spy on potential terrorists and get them off the streets?

·        Is it patriotic to say we should forgive the attackers of 9/11 and ignore the possibility of future attacks?

·        Is it patriotic for the media to blast pictures of a Red Cross building hit by an American missile in Afghanistan all over the world, and neglect to mention that it was empty when it was hit?

·        Is it patriotic for the media to mention every day that we have not found WMD stockpiles in Iraq, and leave out the fact that we have found production lines that can produce anthrax, factories that can produce chemical weapons, a nuclear weapons program and research into ricin, horrible diseases and other weapons?

·        Is it patriotic for the media to mention every day that we have not found WMD stockpiles in Iraq, and devote a single article to the fact that, just a few weeks ago, the Jordanian police terrorists found some of Saddam’s former terrorist lackeys in Amman with a large-scale chemical bomb?

·        Is it patriotic to viciously lie about and demonize a wartime president, and then accuse him of being a “divider, not a uniter”?

·        Is it patriotic to say that the war in Iraq was based on lies when it was in fact based on UN weapons inspections, dozens of independent defectors, intercepted communications and satellite photos?

·        Is it patriotic for Michael Moore to say that Al-Qaeda is a “men’s club” and say that the war on terror is ridiculous?

·        Is it patriotic to say that Bush is just out for personal revenge when he attacks a man who passionately yearns for the destruction of the United States?

·        Is it patriotic for John Kerry to say, “We’ll fight the good fight, and on January 20, we’ll stand together and proclaim, ‘Mission Accomplished’”?

·        Is it patriotic for John Kerry to accuse Bush of taking America to Iraq “alone” when we have 32 nations on the ground with us?

·        Is it patriotic for John Kerry to say he’ll reach out to the nations who hate our guts, and then call the nations who actually support us “window dressing?”

·        Is it patriotic to demand that China, Russia and French approve of all our national security decisions?

·        Is it patriotic for Alec Baldwin to tell a cheering crowd at Florida A&M, “I believe that what happened in 2000 [the eminently fair Supreme Court ruling on Bush v. Gore] did as much damage to the pillars of democracy as terrorists did to the pillars of commerce in New York City"?

·        Is it patriotic for Sandra Bernhard to say “it was very convenient that September eleventh came along to deflect the fact that they should never have been in the White House in the first place,” when Bush won the electoral college fair and square?

·        Is it patriotic for Dennis Kucinich to say, “The trappings of a state of siege trap us in a state of fear, ill-equipped to deal with the Patriot Games, the Mind Games, the War Games of an unelected president and his unelected vice president.  Let us pray that this country will stop this war. [The war in Afghanistan.]”?

·        Is it patriotic for Dennis Kucinich to, in the same speech, bald-facedly lie about America’s fight for freedom in Afghanistan in order to undermine his political enemy in the White House?  Is it patriotic for him to say that we are bombing innocent villagers in Afghanistan and killing civilians with assassination squads, when we were doing no such things?

·        Is it patriotic for Bill Clinton to say about the 9/11 attackers, “They have good reason to hate us.  After all, we sent the Crusaders to conquer them in the Middle Ages,”?

·        Is it patriotic for Robert Byrd to threaten the Pentagon with funding cuts during wartime?

·        Is it patriotic for Senator Kent Conrad to accuse the Republicans of starting the war in Afghanistan to get their defense budget proposals through?

·        Is it patriotic to boo and hiss our wartime president as he puts a wreath of flowers of Martin Luther King Jr.’s Grave?

·        Is it patriotic to throw rocks at our wartime president, and obstruct his way so badly that riot police have to use tear gas and rubber bullets to stop the mob?

·        Is it patriotic to trespass on National Guard property, and when you are justly arrested, claim that Bush is trying to scare you into stop your protesting?

·        Is it patriotic for www.iraqbodycount.net to count the civilian deaths in Iraq caused by the Iraqi military or insurgency, and pin them on American forces who had nothing to do with it?

·        Is it patriotic to say that we should give up on the reconstruction of Iraq because it’s too hard?

 

I suppose all of this really boils down to just one thing: Is it patriotic to viciously oppose America defending herself?

 

In case you’re having trouble with this, I’ll answer the above question for you – NO!  Opposing your country’s efforts to defend itself is not patriotic.  Never has been, and never will be.  In fact, I dare call it treason.

To conclude, I want to quote an excerpt from Sean Hannity’s book, Let Freedom Ring:

 

In March of 2002, for example, I interviewed Bernie Ward, a left-wing radio talk-show host on KGO in San Francisco, about whether it made sense for teachers to lead children in saying the Pledge of Allegiance. “Do you know what they understand, Bernie?” I asked him. “That this is the greatest best country God ever gave man.  You don’t disagree with that, do you Bernie?” “God, you are so full of it,” he shot back.  So I asked him one more time: “Is this the greatest, freest, best country God gave man, Bernie?” “No,” Ward finally announced. “Absolutely not.” “There you go,” I said. “I want everybody in America to look at you.  This is what’s wrong with liberal America today.”