Time to unite to fight a common enemy

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

By DOUG THOMPSON
Publisher
Capitol Hill Blue
Mar 17, 2003, 23:16

America is going to war. President George W. Bush Monday night gave Saddam
Hussein 48 hours to leave Iraq. Hussein won't leave. So it's war.
At this point, it no longer matters how one feels about war. The decision to
send Americans into harm's way is never an easy one but, once such a
decision has been made, Americans have an obligation to rally behind our
troops and support them without hesitation.



In the days, weeks and months leading up to the President's decision,
Capitol Hill Blue exercised its journalistic duty to raise questions about
the President's motives, timing and agenda. Such is the role of any
responsible journalist in American society: Accept nothing at face value,
question everything and probe relentlessly for answers.

Likewise, those who oppose war with Iraq exercised their rights as
Americans, including the fundamental right to disagree with our government
and protest against any action that they feel is unjust.

And those who support the President's actions also presented their case.
Ironically, while thousands descended on Washington this past weekend to
protest the war, a lone pro-war protestor created the most disruption,
shutting down traffic on major Washington streets during Monday's afternoon
rush hour after he drove a tractor laden with pro-war sentiments into a
shallow pond in the Mall's constitution gardens, starting a standoff with
police that remained unresolved late Monday night.

In the end, the descision rested solely with the President and he made it.
Timing was the only real dispute in the war with Iraq. No reasonable person
doubts that Sadam Hussein's status as a sworn enemy of the United States.
Given Hussein's history, war was inevitable.

Later this week, when the United States of America goes to war with that
enemy, all Americans should remember that we are the "United" States.
Everyone has had their say, pro and con, about the war. Everyone was heard
but, in the end, only the President, as the commander in chief, makes the
final, fateful, decision.

With that decision made, those young men and women who will be risking their
lives in Iraq need to know that they represent a country that supports their
sacrifices.

Once war is declared, we must stop fighting among ourselves and, instead,
unite to fight a common enemy.


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