Protesting The Protesters

Are we all terrorists?

From Demonstration Targets Anti-War Protesters by Nyier Abdou:

When peace activist Medea Benjamin stepped to the podium at the annual New Jersey Peace Action dinner yesterday, she already was known as co-founder of the human rights organization Global Exchange and the women’s anti-war group CODEPINK.Yesterday, Benjamin received another title: terrorist.

“The original Medea murdered her children,” read one protest sign outside The Regency House hotel on Route 23 in Pompton Plains, where the dinner was held. “Medea Benjamin is murdering ours.”

Some 18 people from groups that oppose anti-war protests as “anti-American” hoisted signs condemning CODEPINK as supporting terrorism.

“I’m here to support our soldiers,” said Beverly Perlson, founder of the group Band of Mothers. Perlson, whose son served four tours in Afghanistan and Iraq, flew in from Chicago to attend the rally in Morris County. She said CODEPINK protesters, who have agitated for the closure of a military recruitment center in Berkeley, Calif., are not just “anti-victory,” they are “pro-defeat.”

“They want to see us lose. I don’t understand this,” Perlson said, after a heated exchange with CODEPINK supporters. “I’ve been referred to as the mother of a terrorist. … My son isn’t a terrorist.”

“My son isn’t a terrorist.” After all, he is only following orders. He can’t possibly think for himself, or can he? He can’t possibly act as an individual, or can he?

What does America stand for? Liberty, freedom, equality, independence? Why do we allow government institutions, such as the Pentagon and the armed forces, to take these rights away from our citizens. Aren’t soldiers citizens first? American soldiers cannot think for themselves without fear of harsh punishment. Where are their freedoms that they are supposedly fighting for?

“Support the troops” is bullshit! What the troops are doing is wrong and the system that is in place that tells us that it is wrong to criticize them is wrong as well. This system is just a twisted mechanism that uses twisted logic to get United States citizens to support something that they don’t want to support. It is the same twisted logic that is keeping George W. Bush from being impeached. An immoral action by a moral person is an oxymoron. A moral person cannot commit an immoral action. As soon as the action is committed the person is no longer moral. The reverse is impossible. In other words, a moral person cannot make an immoral action into a moral one. This is what we are trying to do by “supporting our troops.” The United States is conducting unjust, illegal acts in Iraq and Afghanistan and every American soldier is a part of this. They are all responsible. As individuals they are making a conscious choice to place their own careers above what is right. Either that or they have been misled or are morally bankrupt. They should all stand up to George W. Bush and stand up for what is right, and stop being pawns in Bush’s war games. A truly courageous soldier would not stay in Iraq or Afghanistan.