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Pacifist thought safe for the campus, dangerous in the real world

Date published: 11/19/2002

THE STUDENTS of Mary Washington College hold a reputation for breed- -r 2ing the most extreme of countercultural thought, and nowhere is this more evident in their defense of Islamic extremism after 9/11.

This stereotype is not unearned, and a brief scan of the campus newspaper only illustrates the point. One particular student recently went so far as to call the American Revolution a terrorist act, never mind whether "no taxation without representation" is considered to be a basic human right.

From lighting candles in protest to our efforts to bring Osama bin Laden to justice to railing against President Bush's attempts to remove weapons of mass destruction from rogue nations, the campus is certainly living up to its well-earned stereotype. After all, war equals terrorism, does it not?

This shortsighted notion against war is completely indefensible. As George Weigel so eloquently puts it, pacifist sentiment is based on a presumption against violence and not a presumption for justice. It has no concern for the welfare of the people of the Middle East, the Iraqi people, or American interests abroad.

War for just reasons is perfectly moral because it presupposes violence for just goals. In the instance of Saddam Hussein, we are faced with a tyrannical dictator who has shown no qualms about bringing war to his neighbors as well as his own people.

If the past is indeed prologue, then it would be entirely just to remove Saddam from power as it would be to remove Hitler from power--if not for the Iraqi people, then solely to deny Saddam weapons of mass destruction.

To be sure, when we hear of the litany of pain and suffering that is all too identifiable with Saddam Hussein, the laundry list gets repeated so frequently that to mention them almost becomes passe. But let us remind ourselves of who Saddam is and what he has done.

Saddam has massacred thousands of Iraqi Kurds. For more than 10 years Saddam has played every game possible to prevent destroying his weapons of mass destruction, begging the question as to whom he intends to attack with them. Above all, he has shown none of the commitment to peace and nonviolence that anti-war protesters are willing to afford him.

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Date published: 11/19/2002