If war doesn’t affect you, don’t protest

I have been reading about all the anti-war rallies and the so-called funding cutoff by Congress on the front page of the Bangor Daily News. This is really disturbing.

First, as far as I am concerned, the general public is not negatively affected by what is going on in Iraq. The soldiers are, their families are, but the other 300 million people? Not so much. In fact, one can argue that things are better than ever. The economy is better than it has been in years. Loan interest rates are very low (remember 18 percent). Unemployment is at historic lows. We have not had a terrorist attack on our soil since Sept. 11. Is it possible we have killed some bad guys before they attacked us again? Is it possible that because we have taken the fight to them, they are staying on their side of the pond?

Why do people protest? It appears that there are some people who just need a cause, even if it is not directly affecting them, or it furthers their political agenda. Most people are not directly affected by the war. Sure, many people know soldiers and have empathy for them, but we also know people who are sick with cancer or get hurt in car crashes, and it may affect us, but nowhere to the extent that the families directly involved are affected.

Which brings me to my main point: If you don’t have a dog in the fight, why are you protesting? Cindy Sheehan certainly has the right to protest – she lost her son. I will never fault her for what she does or says. She has a grief issue which will never totally go away. Other parents and wives of the fallen heroes have that right too, but there is little indication that they are exercising that right.

I do have a dog in the fight. My son is one of the all-volunteer Army. My son has had three tours in Iraq. Tours is a nice way of saying that he had the opportunity to get shot or blown up on a moment’s notice. He had many close calls and several of his comrades were killed. He was one tent away from being killed in Camp Pennsylvania before the war even started. He was one of the first responders to that fragging incident. When I saw the announcement on TV, I was about in shock – I knew he was there. My wife and I were nervous wrecks all three times he was there (about a year each time). We could not get away from the worry. As a parent of a soldier, I do not want you to protest unless you have a really good reason. Not liking the war is not good enough. It is contrary to the best interests of my son and all who stand beside him. It ruins their morale. It emboldens the enemy so that my son has a better chance of getting killed should he go back to Iraq. Don’t tell me you support the troops, but not the war. Ask any soldier – they will tell you that is unacceptable.

I do not want Congress to cut off funding to the military. That means that the soldiers may run out of food, bullets, body armor and whatever else they need to keep themselves safe and well.

Hindsight is 20-20. Maybe we should not have gone into Iraq. But we can’t unring a bell. No one seems to have the answer, but instead of being against the war, let’s have people come up with ideas to solve it. Gen. David Petraeus, who has just been put in command, wrote the book on insurgency. If anyone can get the job done, it is him. And he needs the full support of our government officials and you.

David Sleeper is a resident of Hermon.