The Anti-War Legacy

There is a line in the movie "Patton" that I think applies today. The general is standing before troops who will soon be sent into battle and he says, "Thirty years from now, when you're sitting around your fireside with your grandson on your knee and he asks you, "What did you do in the great World War II," you won't have to say, "Well... I shoveled sh__ in Louisiana."

On September 11, 2001 the adults in our government finally recognized that we were at war with radical elements of the religion of Islam. There were indications of this fact in the '90s, but it took the attacks and deaths of 9/11 to stir the U.S. Government into action.

Since then our military has removed the Taliban government in Afghanistan, destroyed Alqada's base of operations, and given that country back to its people. It has removed a mass murderer from power in Iraq and is in the process of protecting the seeds of democracy there.

Because of America's resolve in the face of this threat, Islamic governments no longer see us as a "paper tiger" and are not so anxious to harbor groups intent upon terrorism. And although recent fretful overtures from leading Democrats have diluted their fears, none of these nations wish to risk being the next target of the U.S. military. And with every bomb from Zarqawi and every vote by the Iraqi and Afghan people, Middle East attitudes are slowly being transformed.

These amazing accomplishments of George Bush and the American Military have transpired in a domestic atmosphere of personal attacks and media-manufactured negativity. President Bush has been lampooned on network television, viciously attacked by Democrats, and undercut by feckless cowards in his own party. The military has heard elected representatives say that they have gone to war for a lie and that they can't win.

But some day this war on terror will be over. The Middle East will look different with a democratic Iraq... and maybe a democratic Iran. The history will be written about how George Bush saved this country by standing firm and taking the fight to the terrorists and the countries that harbored them.

And when we are asked what role the Democrats, mainstream media, and other members of the anti-war movement played in the struggle, we will recount the attacks on the Commander-in-Chief in a time of war for political gain... the questioning of our morality that saddened the families of soldiers while their loved ones fought so far from home... the way they encouraged our enemies by dividing our country, weakening the resolve of so many... or maybe we will just smile and say, "They shoveled sh__ in Washington."