God save us from the intellectuals. I find Ronald Reagans quote that “it isnt that our liberal friends are ignorant, its just that they know so much that isnt so.” to be appropriate when discussing the trend amongst the intellectual, and especially the young intellectual community concerning the war on terror.
First of all, I doubt that any of these young protestors could tell you much about Iraq, counter-insurgency, the history of guerrilla warfare etc. Theirs is an argument above reason or facts. It exists in the realm of feelings and emotion. If, for a moment, they were able to trade blind rage and fanaticism for reasoned debate, they would be faced with the inevitable truth that the type of civil unrest that they espouse is exactly what terrorists are betting on in Iraq. When we speak of the battle for hearts and minds? we are referring to the most valuable asset in confronting an insurgency. And it goes both ways.
It is obvious to me that there is a very small, yet vocal and well organized group of people in this country that are always willing to have their heart and especially their mind won over, if the cause is anti-American. Reasonable people can argue about the strategy of going into Iraq, but there should be no debate between our enemies as to our resolve. As we speak men and women are desperately trying to win the hearts and minds of Iraqis for democracy, unfortunately there is a powerful minority in this country that refused to be won over. And as a result they provide the support which the Iraqi population is inclined to deny the insurgency.
As support for the war diminishes in the US support for the coalition forces in country is diminished amongst the local population. This is purely natural for them. Their very lives could depend on who they choose to support. If it appears that the US will pull out without leaving the Iraqi government in a position to support and defend its population, they will be forced to side with the insurgents at worst or remain unsupportive of the coalition at best. In short, the current tone of the anti-war movement is helping to accomplish what the terrorist insurgents could not possibly hope to achieve through force of arms.
This tone eventually contributed to a dishonorable withdraw that led to the massacre of over 2 million South Vietnamese in the name of Marxist, Leninist socialism. I sincerely hope that it will not result in the massacre and enslavement of the Iraqi people in the name of radical Islam. Dale.”