I point to this story on "US Regime Change" below. Now, in another op-ed piece on MSNBC that uses the MoveonPAC.org campaign against Bush as a jumping off point, I find out that there is no pro-war, pro-Bush voice on the internet.
The author of this piece, Rachel Elbaum, doesn't believe that there is any organized voice advocating regime change in Iraq on the internet. By "organized voice", I can only guess she means an organized campaign to fill people's e-mail inboxes with spam like that I received below.
Sayeth Rachel:
The anti-administration, anti-war presence on the Web is overwhelming. Type in any term dealing with Saddam Hussein, Iraq or regime change, and hundreds of listings will pop up � on message boards and Web sites and in news stories.
There is a pro-invasion presence on the Net, but it is much smaller and exists mainly on message boards and in chat rooms.
�It�s about getting a damn tyrant out of Iraq, a guy who sponsors terrorism and produces weapons of mass destruction,� said one posting on a current events bulletin board. �We need to [get] rid of him because he�s just a few events away from using those weapons.�
However, unlike the sophisticated mobilization of the anti-war organizations, the Internet lacks a distinct pro-Bush administration presence.
Perhaps we do need a more organized presence on the web. Since Rachel apparently discounts blogs as having any validity, we need a flashy "War Now" website, with downloadable placards and catchy slogans.
Posted by Neal (Nukevet) at October 31, 2002 05:56 PM | TrackBackConsidering that the anti-war movement has largely resulted in colossal "so what". I think you're doing fine. The anti-war crowd can continue to be shrill, and wrong on the facts, they can't seem to preach beyond the choir.
Posted by: puggs on October 31, 2002 09:08 PMTHANK YOU!
The following is an email I've been sending to 'peace' activists all over the world this last week. Over three hundred served!
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To those who organize 'Peace Rally's'
There is a movement that is slowly but steadily growing among veterans. It is a grass roots movement. A few Marines here, a couple of soldiers there, several sailors somewhere else, two or three airmen at a bar.
It is a movement of frustration born of failed policies and horrible mistreatment by both our government and civilians during and after wars and conflicts past. It is a movement whose heart and soul cries out, with determination,"This shall not happen to another veteran again."
It is a formless movement at this time, and it is essentially leaderless. But it will grow. It cannot be otherwise. Many civilians do not know what sacrifices have been made for them. They cannot comprehend the pain, the horror, the unbelievable long hours and constant wear and tear on bodies, families, friendships, and even sacrificed careers that have been made by these people. These Veterans. They cannot begin to understand the isolation most feel after years of honorable and good service only to return to a nation and home wherein they are incomprehensively spit upon, lied to, lied about, ignored, or threatened, abused and shouted down by those whom they gave so much to protect. They only want to go back to work, to live in peace and freedom once again as any other American citizen justly demands and expects.
In time, wherever there are peace protesters, there will be a Veteran offering another point of view. Our freedoms do not come cheap. The freedoms of others do not come cheap. Let there be peace. We, as veterans will gladly welcome it. Let there be no man or woman ready to defend freedom, there will be no freedom. Peace will thence disappear.
Any who will not support the men and women of our armed forces in their time of need neither deserve, nor apparently value, the freedom that has allowed them to abuse the Veterans who served, fought and died to ensure freedom and liberty for all of us. Protest. It is your right. Protest in front of 'city hall'. Protest in the town square. Do not bring a peace protest to a monument that was built to honor a Veteran. You have defiled the Veterans and the monument raised to honor them. This is a slap in the face to all Veterans. It is the equivalent of going to a graveyard to protest lethal injection. It is like going to a maternity ward to protest abortion. It is like going to Martin Luther King's gravesite to protest equal rights. It is a senseless, vile and inappropriate use of freedom. It is irresponsible, reprehensible, and shows your ignorance of what has been given for you. It is, quite frankly, childishly irresponsible to do so.
Protest any war. You have the right to do so. But do not be surprised when you see a Veteran opposite you who watches and waits.
Be responsible in what you do. Your protests have a negative impact on the morale of many who serve. When they should be otherwise concerned with the life and death job at hand, they might be thinking of you...and wondering why you do not consider what they have done honorable or important. In the past so called peace protests have physically, mentally and emotionally harmed Veterans. If the people of the United States do not support the Marine, the Sailor, the Soldier, the Airman or even the Coastie, in the times that they need you most...in time, there may not be a man or a woman to protect you when it counts. The future of any army, at any time, has depended solely upon the treatment of it's veterans after a war or conflict. I'm sorry to say that our world is not perfect nor safe. Our nation's armed forces are a necessity of life.
Several enemies have delcared war upon us from several places and at several times over the last twenty years. Many of them have called it 'Jihad'. This is an eternal feud to those who have declared it. They will not stop until we are dead as individuals and as a nation. Yet another enemy has ignored sanctions and given it's own people over to terror, starvation and death by it's own chemical weaponry in order to live off the 'fat of the land'.This government has attacked our men and women in uniform on an almost daily basis since 1991, ignoring peace protcols imposed by the UN and the rest of the world. Another enemy has killed several thousand men, women and children on our on lands, in our own nation. We are at war already. Other nations and organizations have declared war against us and openly attacked us. No other nation is able, even if willing, to defend us. We must defend ourselves.
Sadly, peace is no longer an option. This is the choice of those who have named us enemy. Peace protests in this environment are illogical and irrational, and in my own opinion, treasonous.
signed,
Warren R. Bonesteel
Sgt USMC 1976-1983
55 Crestview Drive Rapid City SD 57701 USA
(605) 721-6872
wrbones@rushmore.com
Warren R Bonesteel is telling it like it is. When the peacenics quit urinating into the wind and stop to ponder why their t-shirts are all turning yellow...a vet will be there to give them the BIG PICTURE.God bless them.
Posted by: Dan Fadness on January 13, 2004 04:18 PM