Anti-protest rhetoric typically includes some version of the statement, “Support our troops…. Anti-protest rhetoric typically includes some version of the statement, “Support our troops. They’re defending your freedom to protest in the first place.” Their reasoning, if I understand it correctly, is that these soldiers are willing to kill and/or die for your freedom of speech. Therefore, stop utilizing this freedom of speech to show how grateful you are for having it.

In fact, the government didn’t grant me my freedom of speech at all. It is, as some of you vocal patriots may recall, an inalienable right. Freedom to protest, speak my mind, and write this letter are rights I claim as a human being, not as an American citizen, and I don’t owe any other human being or government any gratitude for what is already mine. If thanks must be made to the United States for acknowledging my freedom of speech, I can think of no better way to do so than to actively exercise that right, rather than obediently acquiescing to whatever propaganda the executive office churns out through the puppet show of corporate media.

Secondly, I’d like to remind people that the soldiers in Iraq right now are not defending any Americans’ rights at all. The United States’ aggressive stance in this war is purely offensive. Iraq had nothing to do with Sept. 11 – in fact, al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein are enemies. If you feel lost for a solution to Iraq’s weapons possessions, how about returning to the U.N. inspections? They were working before Dubya decided he wanted bigger, better, faster results by undermining the process of peaceful diplomatic disarmament by an authorized international organization.

Renee Alberts

CAS sophomore