On Saturday afternoon, I saw what was one of the most disturbing sights I've ever encountered on this campus. I was walking out of the SERF and passed by Witte Hall, and for a minute I thought I'd taken a wrong turn. Was I in the Sunni triangle, or possibly the West Bank?
Just outside of Witte Hall underneath the bridge overpass there is graffiti that reads, \Viva Fallujah Resistance."" In other words, the people who are responsible for the vandalism are hoping that the insurgents in Fallujah defeat our U.S. troops there who are currently trying to clear the area of the terrorists.
This vandalism mysteriously showed up following the protest led by the group Stop the War!, where 60 extremist ideologues decided it would be a great idea to stop rush hour traffic on Friday afternoon because they oppose the U.S. troops fighting in Fallujah.
This ridiculous graffiti angered me even more because I have a friend who is currently serving in Iraq. We should all be rooting for America to defeat the insurgents. These anarchist protesters who hate the United States are nothing more than a pathetic group of tea-sipping, out-of-touch blowhards who think they know about foreign policy.
I personally was against the invasion of Iraq in the first place and voted for John Kerry in large part because I thought he could fight a more effective war on terror, but now that we are in Fallujah, we have to carry out military operations so more innocent people are not beheaded, killed or locked in torture chambers by these insurgents, who are loyal to one of the world's most dangerous terrorists, Abu Musab al-Zarkawi. I am no expert on foreign policy, but let's look at some of the facts.
These terrorists the Stop the War! protesters are rooting for have beheaded dozens of innocent people, killed 38 U.S. troops in the past six days, murdered six Iraqi soldiers and wounded 275 troops. These are the same people who set fire to a Humvee carrying four American contractors, burned their bodies to a crisp and then hung them from a bridge in Fallujah.
That bridge has now been reopened thanks to U.S. forces that have stabilized that area. In addition, U.S. troops have captured 1,000 insurgents and killed 1,200 terrorists loyal to al-Zarkawi in the past six days alone. Now U.S. troops will begin searching Fallujah's 50,000 buildings for insurgents and weapons supplies-an extremely dangerous job.
Despite my disappointment with the outcome of this year's presidential election, I am still rooting for President Bush and the U.S. troops to succeed in fighting terrorism. I also realize that the troops have the moral authority over people who behead others, burn bodies and kill their own people. We should all be rooting for our troops to succeed against barbaric terrorists.
As I was walking into the parking lot from the SERF to my car, I noticed one more thing that angered me almost as much as the ""Viva Fallujah Resistance"" vandalism. On a car's back window, a slogan was painted which read, ""Bush is not my Prez."" Excuse me, but yes he is your prez! These people who lead protests and then root for the insurgents to be victorious against our troops and then deny that Bush is president need to get a reality check and go take a cold shower. Bush will be our president for four more years, so deal with it.
Most importantly, to the people who wrote ""Viva Fallujah Resistance"" on the wall outside Witte Hall: You are ridiculous anarchists and you should be ashamed of yourselves! You may not like what the U.S. has done in Iraq, but that doesn't negate all of the good that America has done throughout the world and that doesn't justify you rooting against our troops. So get a reality check, and recognize that the United States has given you opportunity in life, and you would be nothing without it.
Casey Hoff is a senior majoring in business. He can be heard weekdays from 9-11 a.m. on Talk Radio 1670 AM.
