[PRINT this page]
[E-MAIL a friend]
[send us feedback]
[home]
[link]
We Must Confront Them With The Truth
excerpts from a column by William Frey. November 17, 2005
To those who claim that we who oppose the war in Iraq are "anti-American", we must confront with the truth that we who oppose the occupation come from all points on the political spectrum - Democrats, Republicans, and independents - left, right and center - and include the majority of Americans.
To those who persist in challenging our patriotism, we must remind of the words of Theodore Roosevelt, "To announce that there should be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, it is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American people."
The issues that unite the growing American "antiwar majority" today are principles that since our founding have defined what it means to be an American. So ingrained have these core American values become in our national psyche that even those who seek entirely opposing goals routinely give them rhetorical lip service:
excerpts from a column by William Frey. November 17, 2005
To those who claim that we who oppose the war in Iraq are "anti-American", we must confront with the truth that we who oppose the occupation come from all points on the political spectrum - Democrats, Republicans, and independents - left, right and center - and include the majority of Americans.
To those who persist in challenging our patriotism, we must remind of the words of Theodore Roosevelt, "To announce that there should be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, it is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American people."
The issues that unite the growing American "antiwar majority" today are principles that since our founding have defined what it means to be an American. So ingrained have these core American values become in our national psyche that even those who seek entirely opposing goals routinely give them rhetorical lip service:
- War only with prior constitutional consent obtained for justifiable, non-aggressive, honesty-stated purposes.
- No ambition of empire, or desire to dominate, and rejection of the role of world policeman.
- Belief that only a society that both respects and actually practices individual freedom, rather than seeking the illusion of security through authoritarian measures, will succeed in preserving and spreading genuine liberty.
- The conviction that no man, including the president, is above the law.
- An uncompromising belief in the humane treatment of even our most despicable enemies.
