fifth column

Briefly addressing a few things mentioned by author of "War Crimes," Buzz Patterson.. you might be able to see for yourself the unabridged first source version of what I'm talking about. http://www.c-spanarchives.org/library/index.php?main_page=product_video_info&products_id=201418-1


He says that the members of the "fifth column" represent a threat to not only the troops who they irresponsibly misrepresent and betray, but a larger home based threat to America. Included in the fifth column are a few groups:
1. Academics
2. the media
3.hollywood pop culture
4. Democrats
5.the "Deep pocketed," people like MoveOn.org

Part of the fifth column are according to him the academic "Madrasah," which literally means place where learning occurs, in the United States includes places like Harvard, Colombia and Yale as he interprets to mean "people who teach jihadism and how to hate america," he also uses "academics" interchangibly with other groups that threaten "america and the troops."

War Crimes: The Left’s Campaign to Destroy the Military and Lose the War on Terror.. same guy who authored this and similar books is the vice chairman of move america forward, which describes themselves as follows, "Move America Forward is a non-partisan, not-for-profit charitable organization committed to supporting America’s efforts to defeat terrorism and supporting the brave men and women of our Armed Forces. Contributions are tax deductible."

There are a lot of things here I'm not okay with.
First, I don't think you have to support the war to care about the wellbeing of the troops. I would ask that if you care about the troops, that you wouldn't force them to fight a war without cause against an undefined enemy.

Then there is the question of patriotism.. can you be a patriot and not support the war? I say definitely. I would see difficulty in being patriotic and supporting it as it results in the undoing of many of the things that we covet.

Fearing intellectuals, we ought not to listen to people who advise against speaking to the well informed. It is the responsibility of a democracy to provide information on which to make decisions... so by ignoring and fearing intellectuals you are compounding that.

Blaming media's negative portrayal of troops fro deaths for more American soldiers..
1) media though not necessarily right, portrays lots of things in a negative light, and trivializes both sides..
2) it is more of a negative portrayal of troops when we look at our government or why they are there.. especially when the same government allows things like the blackwater issue, mercenaries to be in combat.

Hating hollywood pop culture and films like Fahrenheit 9/11, syriana etc, because unlike the movies in WW2 they weren't government commissioned to support war efforts. This is a good thing, because in WW2 there was cause for us being there, and support was probably a good thing, here we have no such moral reasoning, and so could not make okay that type of government intervention.

While I do believe the majority of the troops are acting in what they believe to be the best interest of their families and communities here in the United States. I do appreciate any support he can give to the troops, but the way Peterson approaches this issue is disturbing to me...

Saying Democrats and deep-pocketed organizations like moveon are trying to undermine the troops, and are anti-america is fallacious. Democrats are not all the same, and like I mentioned before, I think it is good to question the government's actions. The anti-america because you don't agree with my current argument, is a failed support. I hate when people resort to questioning patriotism, because what is patriotism? What makes being patriotic so virtuous if you don't do anything when your government is wrong.. If you loved it wouldn't you protect the values we supposedly hold. (which I wonder about)

This man may mean well, but I see there is a lot of room for improvement.
article about Iraq war I read this morning, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/26/AR2007102602402.html?hpid=topnews


there, as always, is much more to be said.