Continuing with my reflections on this past weekend’s March on the Pentagon, I focus my attention today on war protestors.

War protestors are difficult to pin down. It’s not that they are scattered in their focus – on the contrary, they are often very single-minded. This is particularly true when the war hits home, by endangering, or claiming, the life of a loved one.

No, what makes them tricky is that so many of them are opposed to abstract concepts, rather than specific realities.

First of all, any enlightened being must be opposed to war. The suffering created by violence, in the interest of economy, territory and/or ideology is itself intolerable. “Live and let live” means exactly that, and doesn’t really leave any wiggle room.

Then there are those opposed to the secondary issues of war, such as occupation, economic collapse and suppression of civil liberties (both abroad and at home).

For example, I hear many people complain about how Americans are not asked to make sacrifices for this war, when the simple fact is that they have – they just don’t realize it, because there is no dollar amount associated with things like habeas corpus, Miranda rights and torture.

There are also the “anti’s”. A reflection of their pro-war – any war – counterparts, they are simply anti-establishment. They are typically anarchic, disdain all authority, and war protests serve only to give them an outlet for their dissent. They don’t want to see the war end, they want to see the government end; and there’s no reasoning with them.

Finally, there are the practical objectors. They see any military operation that does not directly relate to true defense as a waste of lives, money and resources. Many of them believe, in fact, that such opertations are folly and ultimately weaken our defensibility. While this persepective doesn’t adequately regard the human cost of such conflicts, it does address a very real aspect of ill-conceived combat operations.

Moving beyond the idea of war, and into the theatre of Operation Iraqi/Enduring Freedom, we find people opposed to every aspect of this partcular war – even some you never knew existed.

Starting on September 12, 2001, many Americans were scrutinizing and questioning the accounts of what had transpired the previous morning.

The way the towers fell seemed a little too clean, imploding and dropping into their basements, like a planned demolition.

Early reports from passengers on Flight 93 talked of hearing explosions, suggesting the plane had been shot down.

And where was the footage of the plane hitting the Pentagon? There was an rather large hole; but no sign of a fuselage, engines, wings or a tail.

Is the Pentagon – America’s rook – not under 24-hour video surveillance?

Indeed, some opposed to the war believe that “9/11 was an inside job,” and all that followed was the true objective (probably envisioned as being more successful, but still). They are easy to dismiss as being cracked pots (or having used too much crack and pot), but they do ask some compelling questions – I mean, where is the footage of the plane hitting the Pentagon?

Some go back even further than 9/11, suggesting that the invasion of Iraq is part of the Project for the New American Century, in which the U.S. seizes control of the Middle East.

Moving forward from 2001, however, there are any number of issues with which to take issue. The mobile chemical labs, the Nigerian yellow cake, the ties to Al-Qaeda, the naive predictions of being greeted as liberators, the ill-equipped troops, the surprise insurgency, the ten-fold cost, the thousands of lives lost, the millions of lives ruined – the list goes on and on and on.

Few believe the President’s assertion that cultivating a democracy in Iraq was the point all along; but that doesn’t really matter, does it? No reasonably intelligent person believes that any such objective could be achieved by our presence there. At this point, were simpy trying to hold the country together with both hands.

Any of these points are hard to argue against, especially by someone that is hamstrung by their own ideology, which is the only sort of person that would attempt to argue against them in the first place.

When faced with that, the only choice is to either accept the fact that the Iraq war is an unmitigated disaster, or else call the protestor a supporter of the terrorists.

More than any of this, though, the biggest reason the war protestors are so difficult to pin down is this: Diversity.

The old, white men who support the war (does anyone else, really?) are the reflection of our past.
War protestors – true war protestors, not a bunch of college students on spring break pretending that they are the “new SDS” – come from all walks of life. Young and old; rich and poor; black, brown, red, yellow and white; they are a reflection of America’s future.

Personally, I like that future.

Hopefully, one day, it can develop into a peaceful one.