Radicals for Rent
Protesters against America's war on terrorism need to get a grip

Protests against the World Bank and International Monetary Fund had been planned in Washington for late September. When those financial meetings were canceled, the protesters did not cancel. Not missing a beat, they merely changed their theme to opposing the U.S. response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Radicals have traveled from city to city, one country to another, demonstrating against capitalism, world trade and free markets – often creating violence and chaos. Free markets and trade of western democracies create jobs and prosperity and are the very objects of the anarchists’ anger.

Using the attack on America as an excuse to create mayhem marks a new low for these traveling marauders who leave destruction and costly cleanup bills behind.

These marches are anything but peaceful. Remember Seattle last year? Often, radicals are from outside the communities chosen for havoc, transported in from other places. It is common knowledge that you can rent a protester.

As anarchists travel the world in protest of Western and free-world culture, who supplies their funds? Are they on U.S. government grants? Do they have jobs? If so, what kind of jobs grant the luxury of time off any time an opportunity for protest erupts?

At the July G-8 meeting in Genoa, groups of militants swarmed through the city, looting banks and attacking police. It is reported that major acts of terrorism were planned, but successfully thwarted. These marauders claim to represent the poor. President George Bush told them the policies they embrace lock poor people into poverty. G-8 nations want to lower trade barriers, and he told the protesters, “Trade has been the best avenue for economic growth for all countries, and I reject the isolationism and protectionism that dominate those who will disrupt the meetings in Genoa.”

G-8 nations provide billions of dollars to aid poor countries and are considering a 50 percent increase in such spending, redirecting aid to outright grants rather than loans. Much of the spending increase from the World Bank will be directed toward education and health programs to help poor nations elevate their long-term economic health.

Burning cars, looting banks and attacking police are not activities of peaceful protesters. These actions constitute anarchy, not demonstrations. While these groups have a right in our free country to disagree with U.S. retaliatory plans to defend itself against the barbaric and murderous attacks of Sept. 11, they fail to recognize that they would have no rights of protest in Afghanistan or many other countries.

These protesters advocated “a peaceful solution.” Just what is this peaceful solution? If they want to “reason” with the terrorists and “come together” with them, they fail to realize that (1) you cannot reason with murderous fanatics who kill thousands of innocent civilians and (2) American has not only a right, but a duty to defend its citizens and shut down these mass murderers.

There is such a thing as evil and the forces of darkness that committed mass murder and terrible destruction in America on Sept. 11 were evil. This evil threatens the entire civilized world and must be eliminated. America and its allies must shut it down.

In the wars of my lifetime – World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and the Gulf War – the U.S. has never grabbed or kept one foot of territory. In fact, U.S. citizens have spent billions to rebuild war-torn countries.

For protesters who say wars solve nothing, I say wars defeated German Nazism and Japanese Militarism, preserving freedom and preventing further genocide of millions of Europeans, Asians and, potentially, Americans.

These late September anarchists in Washington need to get a grip. Meanwhile, we continue to respect their right to disagree with our freely elected government as long as they do so peacefully and observe our laws.

I wish they had waited, though, until all the fires at the World Trade Center had finished burning.

Pat Freibert is a former Kentucky state representative from Lexington
editorial@lanereport.com

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