It has become evident that every antiwar protest, any criticism of our president, and all negative sentiment of the United States are entrenched in people’s hatred for President Bush. Those who oppose our leader lack any logic in their position, apparently blinded by their own emotion.

Antiwar demonstrations have always been a fundamental American right. While that right is undeniable, it is important for protestors to remember that it has come at the cost of American lives.

Instead of creating peace, many protesting groups create havoc, endangering America by preoccupying police who should be preventing terrorism, not violent, lawbreaking demonstrators who want “peace.”

The radical left is so concerned with the detailed costs of war, but how much are these protestors costing America on a domestic level? San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown said the demonstrations last week which led to the arrest of more than 2,000 people had cost the city $900,000 a day in additional expenses. Brown expects costs of protests to reach more than $5 million in the city of San Francisco alone to increase security at demonstrations that could be used as cover for terrorists to get near targeted bridges or buildings.

The “vomit-in” held in San Francisco had protestors displaying an even greater solidarity with our enemy as a group calling itself Pukers4Peace vomited in the plaza in front of the Federal Building in San Francisco. Puking up their breakfasts proved that these antiwar protestors have lost sight of the ideals that they stood for and showed that they, like Saddam, supported biological attacks against America’s finest.

Do protestors really understand to what they are objecting, or has the rush of trampling the American flag while vomiting taken precedence?

The extreme left, once a group devoted to representing human rights, would deny those same rights to Iraqi citizens. Not only has Saddam made a mockery of the inspections process, but also he has also developed, or is in the process of developing, weapons of mass destruction. Even more appalling, he has neglected, tortured and murdered his own people.

The United Nations reports that as many as 5,000 children die every month in Iraq because Saddam redirects humanitarian aid to military programs rather than providing care for the people of Iraq.

Obviously nobody wants war, but liberating Iraq also combats terrorism. Without war, an evil dictator wins, and peace becomes more unlikely.

Since 1991, the United Nations has called for the disarmament of Iraq, yet its inspections could never clearly confirm that Iraq was clear of all possession of weapons of mass destruction. Saddam has admitted to harboring chemical and biological weapons 10 years ago, revealing that weapons were in Iraq’s hands during U.N. inspections.

The U.S. has already seen first hand that Iraq does have scud missiles with substantial range; a weapon Saddam has repeatedly denied having.

Saddam is a liar. Now, finally, he is ensnared in the web of his deception. At last, we are taking him to task.

If the Iraqi government is so brutal as to run people through plastic shredders, to hire rapists and murderers to assault entire families, and to use their citizens as human shields, then imagine the actions of these cowardly thugs if they were to successfully develop the nuclear weaponry they have pursued.

Demonstrators shout “blood for oil,” failing to see reality — or even understand what exactly it is they are screaming. They’d rather live in their world where government conspiracies and “the man” are the problem.

A liberated Iraq may very well prove profitable in foreign oil trade for the United States in the distant future, but even that remains uncertain. The fact is the war has put U.S. trade relations with other oil producing countries in jeopardy.

If any reasonable claim about oil is to be made, it should be that the French are opposing us because the war disrupts their supply of existing oil contracts with Iraq, not that they’ve taken a higher moral ground.

Even if Bush’s main priority is oil, that doesn’t discount the endless just causes for going to war. Regardless of primary motives, in the end, ridding the world of a corrupt government that poses a global threat is worth the investment.

In this time of war, with our soldiers taking fire, valiant men and women dying, and Iraqi freedom in the balance, it’s time to discard mindless arguments and support our military and our country.

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