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By demonizing pleasure, we set ourselves up for unfulfilling sex lives.
Opinion: Let’s talk about sex
Published March 27, 2024

Anti-war and still unpatrioticin my eyes

Our troops and a future free of radical Islamic terrorism are too valuable.

Noah Seligman of the University DFL would like readers to believe that it is possible to speak out against the war in Iraq and support your country (Sept. 30, “Anti-war and still patriotic”). Several exercises in common sense should have stopped this nonsense.

First, Seligman’s assertion that this war was only about weapons of mass destruction is the product of someone too in tune with mainstream media. Had Seligman listened to political and military leaders, he would know that the war is about the weapons of mass destruction we knew Saddam had because he used them on his own people. The war was about liberating the Iraqi people from a murderous madman and establishing democracy in the Middle East. 

This war is meant to strike a killing blow to the oppression, fear, hopelessness and hatred that fuels radical Islamic terrorism. It has done that and will continue to do so despite folks like Seligman. Al-Qaida knows it cannot defeat the U.S. military, but knows that it can – thanks to Vietnam – spoil the military’s efforts. Al-Qaida’s leaders are evil, but they are not stupid. They know that every suicide bomb and every American death gives legitimacy to pull-out arguments. Al-Qaida knows that if they kill enough innocent people, voices of defeat like Seligman’s will influence leaders to demand pullout. We will be right back where we were before the first bomb dropped on Iraq, except Abu Musab al-Zarqawi will be in Saddam Hussein’s old palaces.

Sadly, the anti-war left has succeeded in more than boosting the efforts of al-Qaida. Americans are dividing to fight themselves rather than uniting to confront a common evil. I would encourage everyone at the University and everyone who cares to see our country succeed to not only ignore the rotten smell of the anti-war left, but to also actively rebel against it. The lives of our troops in Iraq and a future free of radical Islamic terrorism are too valuable to have our efforts washed away by the irrational sect of political hatred. Our troops already suffered defeat in Vietnam at the hands of the “pacifists”; let’s make sure such a civil tragedy does not happen again.

Kevin Watterson is a Minneapolis resident. Please send comments to [email protected].

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