I had a conversation with an ant-war person. Conversations like this
seem to happen more often then I care to count anymore.
This individual believes that 90% of America is naive for believing in
the war, and that our soldiers are dying on a daily bases over there protecting
“our” oil reserves for which we fought.
“Where are those weapons of mass destruction?” he kept saying.
“The administration is now saying they are in Syria and Iran.”
“You really want to discuss this?” I asked.
“Yes, because it is people like you that pushed for this war, and
now you got it for what, a bunch of dead American soldiers,” he said.
“If you really want to discuss this, then calm down and let’s discuss
this with a clear mind and facts,” I said.
After a little while of repeating this, the man began to calm down.
“OK, let’s look at your view and then you inform me of the facts
that you have” I suggested.
“American soldiers are dying on a daily bases over there in Iraq,
they have not found these weapons of mass destruction that the war was
‘supposes’ to be about, and the Iraqi people do not want us there so we
have accomplished little and the loss of both Iraqi and American life
is wasted because of this administration. The administration can not find
these weapons of mass destruction and now says ‘conveniently’ that they
have been moved to Syria and Iran. What is next, a war with both Syria
and Iran?” he said.
“OK, those are your opinions, but I asked that we discuss this with
a clear mind and with facts” I said.
“First,” I said, “lets look at the facts before the war;
don’t worry I will get to the war in a minute. Fact, Saddam used weapons
of mass destruction on his own people in 1988. Fact, Saddam invaded both
Iran and Kuwait over the past two decades. Fact, his own people were killed
if they spoke up against his regime, something you do not have to worry
about here. Fact, Saddam refused to abide by U.N. resolutions, relying
on the past performance of the U.N. as a buffer for him to do just that.”
He interrupted, “What about this stuff about Iraq being involved
in terrorism, where are the facts there?”
“OK,” I went on, “Fact, Saddam before the war paid Palestinian
homicide bomber families each $25,000 when one of their own blew themselves
up killing Israeli civilians. Fact, the United States went to war on the
back of resolution 1441, which states not that Saddam had weapons of mass
destruction, but that if he did not comply with the U.N. sanctions that
he would face military action, which by the way the U.N. Security Council
unanimously passed. Now for the war; fact, the majority of Iraqis cheered
as Americans freed them from the oppression of Saddam. Fact, Most of the
Iraqi Army did not fight and chose to go home rather then fight. Fact,
Americans went out of their way to insure that loss of life was minimized.”
“Now,” I continued, “on to today. Fact, mass graves have
been found in various areas throughout Iraq with proof that many of the
victims in the graves were shot execution style. Fact, a terrorist training
camp was found in Iraq, just outside of Baghdad. Fact, papers have been
found linking Saddam with Al Qaida. Fact, this was the fastest war of
its size in history and American soldiers are not dying on a daily bases.
Fact, many of the top Iraqi’s that have been caught have said that Iraq
had weapons of mass destruction at least up to a few days before America
launched it’s attack on Iraq. Fact, the people of Iraq have been able
to do things now that they have not been able to do for 25 years, like
pilgrimages to cities for religious purposes and protests among other
things. Fact, the majority of American troops believe in what they are
doing. Fact, terrorism is down to its lowest level in the world since
the 1960’s. Fact, a large majority of Americans agree with this war; just
because they do not agree with you does not make them naïve. Fact,
evidence has been found showing that both France and Russia violated U.N.
sanctions in order to make a profit. This would explain why France and
Russia wanted to keep us from going into Iraq. If any countries are after
Iraqi oil or money, it is them. Fact, we gave the U.N. 12 years to find
and destroy the weapons of mass destruction and you are giving up on America
after less then a month, implying that there are none. Fact, weapons such
as the Scud missile and the Hussein II were banned by the U.N., yet found
during the war. The facts speak for themselves, I could go on if you would
like, but why don’t I stop and allow you to provide facts.”
“Remember,” I concluded, “I asked you at the beginning
of this conversation if you were sure you wanted to have this discussion.”
The individual got angry and stomped away. I actually received a round
of applause from the people who were listening to our “exchange of
facts.”
| Conversation with an Anti-War Protestor By Ed Hammond, OSOT Team Member |