Thoughts Before the Election

This is what I wrote before the election. I will preserve it on the site for people who are interested.

The rest of this essay consists of my opinions about the upcoming election, and of how President Bush has conducted the war. I support the President's re-election. If you will find it offensive, please stop reading now.

I wanted you to have a little of this eyewitness account for one critical reason. That is because the American people are, by and large, believing a lot of egregious lies about the war in Iraq and the situation there. This has caused many former supporters to turn against the reelection of President Bush. I am telling you that based on Victor's eyewitness account, and on my own extensive research, the American people are being lied to. Bigtime. And otherwise sane people who would have healthy skepticism are falling for these lies. Consider the following facts: Islam teaches that it is honorable to lie to an infidel (that's us). Sites run by Arabic Moslems are producing information which casts our country and our President in a bad light, and most of this information is false. But the media are picking up on this information and broadcasting it to the people. And people are believing it! What this means is that they are threatening to go to the polls and vote for President based on a pack of lies. The American people need to pull back from this pack of lies and be discerning. Voting for the wrong candidate on the basis of lies could put a traitor into the White House, a person who lacks the strength of character to stand up to tyrants. I am certain that President Bush knows a great deal more about what happened to the Weapons of Mass Destruction than he is talking about. This is a President who puts the safety and well being of the country ahead of his own personal political interests. You have to respect that. From my own extensive research, I can tell you that Saddam DID have WMD at the time we attacked, but that most of them had been smuggled out of the country just prior to the war, and that they weren't generally ready to be deployed, which means we took him out just in time. But they are very real, and they still exist. I even think I know where a good many of them went.

As for my own background, I majored in what was then called Oriental Studies (until that became Politically Incorrect; now it is called "Asian Studies"). I have also had significant contact with Asians over the years. I have studied an Asian martial art (taekwondo) for over a decade. We have had two Asian in-laws. We also have other significant contact with the cultures, and have had for several decades. I had such contact since I was a small child. My parents had befriended a Japanese college student who later married someone in the diplomatic corps, and became a well known children's author. I remember her coming into our home to visit. I was no more than six at the time. At this point, I can pretty much operate with impunity within the Asian cultural context, and I can accomplish pretty much what I want. Because of all of these experiences, I learned a great deal about the outlook of Asian people (with some minor differences, there are major similarities among all of them). Arabic cultures share some things in common with Asian cultures, and differ in other characteristics. But the one critical thing to remember is this: Moslems are taught it is honorable to lie to us, and they do. And the media pick up on the lies and present them as truth. So don't believe what you are being told. It could be disasterous for our country and for us personally.

The brave soldiers who are serving in Iraq deserve our respect. There are those who say they support the troops, and they want the troops to come home safely immediately. This is a contradictory statement. The troops are there to accomplish a specific purpose. As Victor told us before he left, "I have a job to do." That sentiment is widespread. Here is the important thing: the troops went to Iraq to protect YOUR right to say whatever you want, including your "right" to make treasonous statements. And in my opinion, it IS treason to say anything that will aid and comfort the terrorists who are coming into Iraq from other countries to undermine the development of a democracy. The bottom line is this: IF WE FORCE THE TROOPS TO COME BACK BEFORE THE JOB IS DONE, WE ARE BETRAYING THEM. WE ARE ASSURING THAT THE PEOPLE WHO DIED THERE FOR US AND FOR THE IRAQIS DIED IN VAIN. And the military people take that very, very seriously. So they do NOT feel that you are supporting them unless you support their right to stay there until they have finished their job! It's as simple as that.

When you look at the photos of the children of Iraq, look into their eyes. Ask yourself whether these children deserve to live in freedom, and especially to grow up in freedom from fear that Saddam or the evil people who were in the government with him will cause them bodily and spiritual harm without warning. We have grown up with an unprecedented heritage of freedom, including the freedom to speak against our government with impunity. What makes us special or more deserving of this kind of liberty? Do we really have a right to hoard it for ourselves? Do we not have an obligation to help the people in the world who cannot overthrow their own tyrants? Just by the fact that we have been born to freedom and can take no credit for it says we have such an obligation. Our freedom was earned by the blood of people just like our brave soldiers and sailors. You didn't earn it, and neither did I. It was, to us, a free gift. So make no mistake, honor and justice require that we be willing to help other oppressed people achieve the same freedom. And I don't want to HEAR about us not having any obligation to the rest of the world. Obviously, we don't have the resources to liberate the entire world. But we do have the resources to liberate those countries where it would be in our national interest, and where such liberation will serve as a catalyst to cause other countries to become free. And it is far, far better that this effort take place on THEIR soil, so that terrorists aren't coming over here and killing our civilians.

A few loose ends remain to be tied up.

If you are a Christian and wonder about God's opinion of the war, let me say this: regardless of whether or not God would approve of the war per se, the fact is, taking Saddam out of power has resulted in opening the door to the Gospel. Since God is prospering this with producing new Christians, it is obvious that He is using that situation for His own intents and purposes. If you are a Christian, this is a powerful argument in favor of the idea that the war was legitimate from God's perspective. I don't presume to speak for God, but I think the facts speak for themselves. In the final analysis, the one thing that will make the new democracy sustainable will be the fact that there will be Christians there among people who are not Assyrian, and these people will salt the society in such a way that the kind of tyranny they had under Saddam will be much less likely in the future.

What about the accusation that Bush is killing civilians? The answer to that has several facets. First of all, Iraqis don't always wear a uniform when they attack. They do this to confuse us so they can prevail against us. But what makes them military is NOT their uniforms, but the fact that they attack us. In fact, if I am not mistaken, the Geneva treaties (which Iraq didn't sign, by the way), require that combatants be in uniform. This is because those same treaties require us to avoid killing civilians. Secondly, it was one of the tactics of the enemy that they operated from within civilian contexts, even using civilians as human shields. They do this because they are well aware that we have ethical requirements to avoid killing civilians. They have NO such compunctions, believe me! They also hid manufacturing facilities for weapons of mass destruction in the middle of neighborhoods. The schools were full of weapons, and people hid them in their homes. Finally, it is a fact that women are urging their sons to become suicide bombers, and are harboring enemy belligerants. And the children are carrying weapons and shooting at the Americans. Do we really honestly think that a soldier doesn't have a right to shoot back just because the person using the gun is a child? Would you be willing to exercise that kind of self-restraint and possibly lose your life? Keep one additional thing in mind: nearly all of the current belligerants are NOT Iraqis. They're coming in from other countries. And to the extent they ARE Iraqis, they demonstrate that Saddam was involved with terrorism, because he was knowingly harboring al Zarqawi, who is a major al Qaeda terrorist leader, and who is behind many of these attacks. They're targeting primarily Iraqis involved in the military and the police. They WANT to create chaos, so they can take over. We cannot allow this!

In the final analysis, we are NOT to blame for the actions of terrorists. They must take responsibility for their own actions. And I'm sorry, but even if they had legitimate claims in the beginning, once they resort to extortion, they lose all legitimacy. There is only one way to deal with an extortionist: refuse to do what he wants. If you cooperate, he will simply keep escalating his demands. The terrorists have sworn themselves to a lifestyle of evil. Whatever legitimate claims they may have had, they have them no longer. The moment they decided to use deadly force against our civilians on our own soil, they lost their legitimacy. Don't make excuses for them. We CANNOT do this and maintain civilization.

Our soldiers do NOT want Kerry for their Commander in Chief. Some of them have taken the unprecedent step of coming out squarely and saying point-blank that he is not qualified. When you go to vote, consider this. Do not vote for someone who cannot stand up to terrorists, who is so indecisive that he won't even tell you unequivocally where he stands on issues (he has been telling people what he thinks they want to hear, and it just depends on whom he is talking to as to what his current "stand" is on any issue), and who would botch the war against terrorism so severely that terrorism will return to our soil, we will have to look over our shoulders in the course of everyday living, and they will HAVE to bring back the draft. Keep in mind that it is the DEMOCRATS who seek to bring back the draft. It's a ploy to get rid of the Republicans, nothing more. According to the Constitution, Kerry isn't even eligible to serve. Not in the Presidency, and not in the Senate. Don't vote for someone to become Commander in Chief whom the military personnel do NOT want. They deserve better than that. They are fighting for OUR freedom from fear and tyranny. They're doing it away on the soil of others so that we will be protected. Honor them. Do not vote for someone they do not want.

Swiftvets.org (Swift Boat Veterans for Truth) documented the way in which Kerry undermined the success of our nation at war. This kind of speaking out is unprecedented. But make no mistake. Kerry aided and abetted the Communists in Viet Nam. He has the blood of American soldiers on his hands. He has the blood of those who were killed because he encouraged the enemy. And that is what treason is. He also has the blood of the Vietnamese and Cambodians (1/4 of the population of Cambodia) who were killed once we pulled out of Viet Nam. He has that blood on his hands, and the Communists have honored him for that, in their hall of fame in Asia, and by endorsement of the Communist Party in this country.

Before I close, I want to tell you of a personal experience of mine. Many of you know I was one of two cofounders of Feminists for Life. I also was president for five years. During that time, the night before the Americans pulled out of Viet Nam and left it to the communists, I got a telegram from Madame Thieu of South Viet Nam. In it, she said that she had gotten the name of our organization from the World Almanac. She pleaded with us to petition our government for military aid, and that our government would accept Vietnamese refugees. Because of the nature of our organization, we could not ask for military aid for Viet Nam. And there was no need to ask our government to accept refugees; we had accepted many, many refugees. In fact, there is a sizeable community of Vietnamese in my own city. So I talked it over with Cathy Callaghan. I told her that Australia had a strict policy against noncaucasian immigrants. I happened to have a contact with a pro-life organization there, so we agreed, and I telegrammed them and asked THEM to petition their government to admit Vietnamese refugees. They wired back that nobody had done this, and they thought it was a good idea, so they were going to do it. I didn't hear anything back after that. But a few months later, I saw a small article buried in the back pages of the newspaper that said that Australia was admitting Vietnamese refugees! I still choke up when I think about it. To have been able to be in such a position is a grave honor, and I thank God for it. Years later, I studied KemScrimaDoh for awhile. One of the other students was Vietnamese. So one day, I stopped him, and I told him this story. After I finished, I asked him how many Vietnamese are living in Australia, and he said, "Thousands". And then he personally thanked me for doing what I had done. I will treasure that memory for the rest of my life. I want you to know that this experience is a very good indicator of how I view these issues. We are all human beings, and our rights are unalienable. We are entitled to those rights, whether or not we actually have them. Those of us who do have a duty to help the rest of humanity achieve them. This obligation transcends political philosophy and personal self-interest. But for those who sacrificed so you might have these freedoms protected, you would be no better off than the vast majority of the world's population.

Can you safely vote for a third party candidate in this election? Not in my opinion. There is no third party candidate running who stands a chance of being elected. If one were, he wouldn't have the cooperation of Congress, no matter which party had the majority. Some people have argued that we should vote our conscience and let God perform a miracle. Folks, God doesn't override free will. In order to perform this miracle, God would have to do exactly that. Make no mistake. God performing such a miracle would be contrary to His nature, so He will not be doing that. We don't deserve truly righteous leadership, because the churches have been tolerating evil for many years. We tolerate wholesale abortion. We tolerate apostasy in the church. We tolerate Freemasons in the church. We tolerate homosexual behavior, and widespread drug use, and promiscuity, and look the other way at widespread divorce. So until we repent and clean up our own act, don't expect anything from God. Any vote, therefore, that you cast in favor of a third party candidate, is in reality a vote for the major party candidate you like the least! Don't be foolish. Keep in mind that not only is Kerry a traitor, but he never met an abortion he didn't like. His voting record as a senator is 100% anti-life and 100% liberal. He is the MOST liberal senator of all. So if you want someone who is basically a communist and who would be happy to confiscate your firearms and your property, then vote for Kerry or for a third party candidate. No, please don't impose Kerry on the rest of us.

Make no mistake about it. You are being asked to make a decision for or against freedom this election, one which will affect our descendants for generations to come. Use your vote wisely. Do not believe the lies. Do not force our brave soldiers to serve under a traitor. Thank you.