United States Armed Forces

Blowing up women and children, beating baby seals and not washing their hands!

I'm pissed off at all of those peace-loving fruitcakes who take to the streets with their multi-colored banners and spout off about the military killing women and children whenever we start getting hostile toward some radical regime. I'm also pissed off at CNN and the rest of those liberal tit-sucking news agencies for all their fine support of organizations like PETA and Operation: Human Shield. People like me own animals. We own guns. And - perhaps most important - we own this country!

One of the unfortunate problems with such a wonderful country as the United States of America is that there's no admission price. There isn't any method in place to keep garbage from living - and breeding - here. This is a country founded on the idea that people should be free. But I think we've taken that idea a little too far. Some of our citizens feel that being free means being completely free. And that's where things start to become a bit unclear to a number of people. Our Bill of Rights will eventually become our Achilles' Heel. The right to free speech allows us to say (and now DO by matter of action as self-expression) virtually anything we want. Our laws, our police and our military can't do very much to intervene. Of course, if they try, insane lawsuits soon follow.

I would like the United States to be a free country - but I'd also like a few controls in place to keep it a clean and peaceful place to live. Plus, I'd like to see a renewed sense of patriotism. There are an overwhelming number of people - just like you and me - who have had just about enough of the bullshit going on around here from people who live and work in our country, but are most certainly NOT good citizens.

• "Stop the war - we're bombing innocent women and children!" Sure we are. In fact, during the operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, we went out of our way to avoid any potential military targets. Our operation was focussed solely on helpless women and children. I'm pretty sure that Saddam isn't dead. He's gone into hiding - ashamed that the U.S. military stomped into Iraq and somehow managed to kill - in three weeks - hundreds of times the number of women and children that his stupid regime has been murdering during the past thirty years. In fact, I've been watching the TV lately - there aren't any women and children in any of the pictures coming out of Iraq. Yes indeed - I think we got 'em all!
• "Iraq is not a threat to United States." Nope. Not at all. Neither is North Korea, Iran or Syria. None of those countries have any weapons at all. None of them support terrorists. In fact, there aren't any terrorists out there at all. But if there were, countries like Iraq and North Korea would certainly not sell or smuggle these weapons to them - if they had any. But they don't have any, so we're safe. I'm pretty sure that Osama Bin Laden would like to apologize for the September 11^th accident, too. That was just a misunderstanding, really. Most people in the world really like the United States - especially radical dictators and countries with a heavy Islamic population.

Before our peace activists go crazy over the next military confrontation, I'd like to invite them to spend a little time - call it a vacation - in whichever country it is that we're contemplating an engagement with. Look around. See if it's okay over there to toss up a few anti-government banners (after all, I'm pretty sure those governments are doing something that a normal, peace-loving liberal would like to protest...) See how nice it is to live in a country where the military controls everything - like whether or not you'll be waking up tomorrow.

Don't get me wrong - there's nothing wrong with peace. I wish I could live in a world where that's all there was. Everyone does. But unfortunately, we don't live in that world. There are countries who hate us - you and me both - for everything we are and for just being alive. So, our country is charged with the task of ensuring protection for its citizens. Sometimes, that means going to war - not just to protect us, but to defend us from preemptive attacks.

What if countries like Iraq wer left alone? Inspections didn't find Iraq's hidden weapons. Sanctions didn't keep Saddam from building billion-dollar palaces while his people starved. Surely he didn't spend ALL of his money on palaces! And where did all of that money come from in the first place? Let's say he constructed an arsenal of biological and chemical weapons, and helped supply terrorist networks with it. And then - maybe in 2006 or so - some of that garbage was used against us. Well, what then? I suppose we'd have to send in more inspectors - maybe wait another dozen years to try to figure out where it's all coming from?

I like living in the United States of America. I don't like war. But sometimes, it's the ONLY option available when dealing with rouge nations who just aren't going to let other people live peacefully. So, I trust our government. I support war when war becomes necessary, because I also support peace and freedom - here and everywhere.

Steven A. Tolbers - 2003