Publius' Forum

Coalition forces (led by British forces) rescued three Christian "peace" activists who were grabbed up by radical Islamists in Iraq last year. There was happiness and hugs from their supporters, but there is no indication if the military personnel were thanked for the rescue efforts.

This story is important on several levels, the least of which is the rescue of these supposed peace activists. In fact, this story makes the points these foolish people went to Iraq to protest absurd in light of all that happened.

For one thing, these people are protesting the Iraqis held in detention by coalition forces, bleating for their instant release. Yet, if it weren't for at least one Iraqi being held and questioned these peace activists would not have been found in the first place.

"Aided by a tip from an Iraqi prisoner, a British-led military operation Thursday rescued three Western peace activists", said the L.A. Times about the rescue effort.

It is clear that without detaining suspected terrorists and their facilitators and collaborators we would not be practicing a sensible defense for our troops and cause. One would imagine that these people would rather see US troops without the ability to interdict danger to themselves and their charges; the Iraqi people.

Of course, the instant they were released they all stampeded to the cameras with their organization giving a press release that said, in part:

"We believe that the illegal occupation of Iraq by Multinational Forces is the root cause of the insecurity which led to this kidnapping and so much pain and suffering in Iraq. The occupation must end.

What a load! No, folks, the reason they were kidnapped is because they were foolish enough to jump into the lion's den wearing a meat overcoat. One wonders if they fully intended to get kidnapped to highlight their claims.

“We pray that Christians throughout the world will, in the same spirit, call for justice and for respect for the human rights of the thousands of Iraqis who are being detained illegally by the U.S. and British forces occupying Iraq.

I find this line of nonsense rather sickening when it is realized that these same people, so "caring", so "compassionate", were no where to be seen as Saddam was torturing, murdering and raping his way through Persia in the decades previous to our liberating Iraq from his terrors. Where were they calling for the "human rights" for Iraqis then? Where were they visiting Iraq calling attention to the Saddam's crimes?

Columnist, Mark Steyn, calculated that since we liberated Iraq, "there's a net gain of more than 100,000 civilians alive today who would have been shoveled into unmarked graves had Ba'athist rule continued." Looks to me like George Bush is more the humanitarian than these foolhardy "peace" activists.

When ever I hear of a thrill seeker who gets caught in an avalanche or sudden storm on an inaccessible mountain being rescued by the local police or mountain rescue forces, I cannot find much heart to be glad for the thrill seeker's good fortune. That thrill seeker, too, jumped into the Lion's den wearing a meat overcoat. He knew what could happen. It seems to me that the thrill seeker got what he should have expected would happen and should have been prepared to suffer the consequences of his actions. And the great amount of time, money and resources dedicated to finding this goof-ball in the middle of the wilderness is not well spent.

Now, in the middle of a war, in the middle of major efforts to re-build, and re-create a new nation from the ashes of Saddam's torture chambers, we had military forces wasting their time, money and resources finding this "peace" activists in Iraq. When their efforts would have been better spent helping Iraqis make their nation anew.

I am happy that these "peace" activists didn't lose their lives. No one interested in peace should lose their lives solely because they want peace. But people wearing meat overcoats should avoid the Lion's den.

-By Warner Todd Huston