Destructive War Criticism

I missed this piece on war criticism by Mackubin Thomas Owens at National Review Online yesterday until he printed an e-mail he got from a reader this morning. A snip from the original piece:

It is hard to conduct military operations when a chorus of eunuchs is describing every action we take as a violation of everything for which America stands, a quagmire in which we are doomed to failure, and a waste of American lives.

There is nothing wrong with criticizing the war. As the situation with my friend and others indicates, it is possible to criticize in a responsible, constructive way. But too many critics have lost all perspective, all too often acting as if it is in the nature of war for everything always to go as planned, and if something goes awry, if people die, it is the fault of those who launched the war in the first place, or the planners who failed to foresee every eventuality.

Those who take this approach do a disservice to rational debate in the context of the war. They imply that there is a way to fight wars cleanly. More troubling yet are the critics who seem to hope for the sort of disaster that will vindicate their opinions. I am guardedly optimistic about the outcome in Iraq. I may be wrong, of course, but I hope I’m not. And I hope that even the critics will hope that I’m not wrong.

The emphasized part can't be overlooked. The Left is so utterly consumed by hatred for Dubya and rage at not being able to enact their fascist schemes of totalitarian rule - as if the Stupid Party isn't chasing hard after them - that they cheer every soldiers death and then exploit grieving mothers by turning their caskets into soap boxes from which to demean their children's sacrifice on the altar of political revenge.

So, here's the letter that Owen's got:

This e-mail tells you all you need to know about what has become of the Left in North America.

Edmonton
Canada
August 11, 2005.


Dear Mr. Owens;
You write, "It is hard to conduct military operations when a chorus of eunachs is describing every action we take as a violation of everything that America stands for, a quagmire in which we are doomed to failure, and a waste of American lives."

But Mr. Owens, I believe that those three beliefs are true. On what grounds can I be barred from speaking them in public? Because speaking them will undermine American goals in Iraq? Bless you, sir, that's what I want to do in the first place. I am confident that U.S. forces will be driven from Iraq, and for that reason I am rather enjoying the war.

But doesn't hoping that American forces are driven from Iraq necessarily mean hoping that Americans soldiers will be killed there? Yes it does.

Your soldiers are just a bunch of poor, dumb suckers that have been swindled out of their right to choose between good and evil. Quite a few of them are or will be swindled out of their eyes, legs, arms and lives. I didn't swindle them. President Bush did. If you're going to blame me for cheering their misery, what must you do to President Bush, whose policies are the cause of that misery?

So much for the myth of the "nice Canadians", eh? Considering that Al Queda has used Canada as a waypoint to enter America, maybe we should check this guy's place for jihadists.