I write this even though the ardent counter-Americans (that is, American “citizens” who don’t support defending America) on this campus will never admit their position is intellectually flawed and pragmatically incorrect. I write this even though the counter-American students and faculty have demonstrated they could not care less for the safety and security of the United States. This piece is to the rest of the student body, those who care about the United States’ well-being.

It is said “actions are louder than words” and, as of yet, the actions between the Taliban, Afghanistan, al Qaeda and the United States all show the United States is not simply rushing into hasty action. In the month of September, the only action taken by the United States has been supplying humanitarian aid to the people of Afghanistan.

After the attack on the United States in the midst of a war declared by the al Qaeda group, we have moved ships closer and have frozen assets inside the United States. The Taliban have taken over its offices in Kandahar, Afghanistan, and are preventing staff from using communication facilities in other parts of the country.

The poverty and horrid conditions within Afghanistan over the past few years were exacerbated by the Taliban forbidding women to work outside of the house. This eliminated a large part of their workforce and made many of the families that are headed by widows unable to provide for themselves. Despite the actions of the Taliban, the counter-Americans on campus will say all of this is the fault of the United States and our nation deserved what we got.

Don’t let the counter-Americans on campus and within the Daily editorial board fool you with their lies, mistruths and half-truths – inaccuracies such as the editorial board stating the Taliban “controls so little of Afghanistan that only four nations recognize it as the ruling sect” (“American efforts must rebuild Afghanistan,” Sept. 24). The truth is there are three nations that recognize the Taliban and this is only because of the method the Taliban used to come to power. The truth is estimates show the Taliban control about 90 percent of the country and have support from over 75 percent of the population.

Among the leading plea from the counter-Americans and their co-conspirators in the Daily editorial board is that armed attacks and ground troops would be contrary to “international law.” International law allows for self-defense by the United States, and the majority of the developed nations have acknowledged armed attacks in this case are warranted. The allowance calls for the members of NATO to similarly join the attack.

The member nations of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization have acknowledged the attack on the America was grounds for the United States to retaliate. Furthermore the NATO nations voted unanimously to invoke Article 5 which says “an armed attack against one … shall be considered an attack against them all,” if the attacks are in accordance with United Nations Article 51. It also acknowledges the degree of retaliation by “including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.” Admittedly, NATO is not international law, but it defers to the definitions and requirements of international law.

So does international law forbid America from defending herself as the counter-Americans would have you believe? Does international law forbid attacking in defense as the counter-Americans imply? No. In fact international law allows for “self-defence if an armed attack occurs against a Member of the United Nations.”

Americans support armed retaliation, and counter-Americans continue to offer platitudes why America should remain defenseless. They will paint the picture the hijackers were misguided – and in a few years they will describe the hijackers and the Taliban as misunderstood. I guarantee the counter-Americans will continue their lies, shield the truth and continue their assault on the American way of life.

The counter-Americans will continue to justify why the attacks on America were deserved. An example of this was a column written by Scott Laderman, “Make no mistake: America is far from innocent” (Sept. 20). I cannot believe anyone in their right mind would allow the publication of such a mentality as this, arguing the victim of an attack brought it on themselves through unrelated reasons.

What the people who are saying “America is far from innocent” are truly saying is “America is close to guilty.” In other words, these people are saying the United States is to blame for the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. That is as asinine and ignorant as someone saying any other victim is to blame for his or her own unrelated actions.

We don’t allow a person to say someone who was murdered deserved it because they were selling drugs, which is blaming a victim for unrelated reasons. We don’t accept someone saying a rape victim was asking for it because of how she or he was dressed, which is blaming a victim for unrelated reasons. We should not allow people to say the United States was to blame for the brutal and demonic attacks because of its policies, which is blaming the victim for unrelated reasons.

They are trying to undermine the defense of the United States, its people and its freedom. They would like us to respond only to the actual actors, a course of action that would instigate, not prevent future attacks. They would like only token attacks, at the most; for example, the response after the U.S.S. Cole attack or after the embassy attacks. We all see how effective those slaps on the wrist were. We can see how effective it has been trying to minimize any casualties.

What counter-Americans do not want the public to understand is that the only thing the Taliban, terrorists and their supporters know is bloodshed. That is the only language the terrorists speak. We have already tried everything else and each of those attempts have failed. The counter-Americans would rather we continue to be pacifist, a policy which has already shown the only blood that will fall will be that of Americans.

The counter-Americans tacitly support those who attack the United States; they directly oppose intervention at all costs, and the world they would have us create is scary. They and their kind would have opposed retaliation to Pearl Harbor and would have undermined the world cause. If the counter-American’s absolute resistance to defend the United States were alive in the 1940’s, we would now all be screaming “Heil” to Hitler. The counter-Americans continued resistance to the defense of America today will lead us to a world where women must entirely cover themselves in public and owning a television will be an offense punishable by imprisonment.

So the bottom line is to seek out these counter-Americans and shun them. They have a right to free speech in our nation, the greatest country on the planet. But they don’t have a right to be heard; so we just seek them out and actively ignore their ignorance. The counter-Americans and their message are a detriment to the country.

And who are they again? They are the American “citizens” and residents who are trying to undermine the United States’ defense of itself. They are the American “citizens” and residents who say “America is far from innocent” and America had it coming. They are the American “citizens” and residents who refuse to accept that there are times for armed conflict and there are times for armed defense, and this is one of those times. They are, to be perfectly honest, terrorist sympathizers. They are counter-Americans.

Anthony Reel is a senior in political science.
He welcomes comments at [email protected]. Send letters to the editor to [email protected]