At the domestic level, one of the most significant training and recruitment centers for leftist activism against the war in Iraq can be found on the campuses of American universities.
Student organizations, as well as professors, in hotbeds of political activism, such as University of California at Berkeley, Smith College in Massachusetts and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, have challenged the Bush administration over its uncompromising resolve requiring Saddam Hussein to comply with U.N. Resolution 1441.
As of late, activist elements in American college campuses have been organizing against U.S. foreign policy and rallying unsuspecting students behind an unpatriotic cause.
Left-wing groups on some college campuses have held forums on the societal and geopolitical dangers of an anticipatory invasion of Iraq and promoted demonstrations against the Bush administration.
Political activists frequently advocate the diversion of resources from national defense to what they consider to be more valuable expenditures such as enhancing public education, as if the capability of our military to engage in extensive military endeavors doesn't matter.
We have seen the effects of complacency and inadequate spending levels for the military, which result in a weaker fighting force without adequate training and equipment. We need a strong America to meet international objectives and protect the cause of democracy.
Rep. Christopher Shays of Connecticut, a pragmatic moderate republican who has his own convictions yet considers and respects all views from his constituents in the Stamford-Bridgeport area, held a town hall meeting last week to take questions from the audience regarding U.S. military involvement in Iraq.
Like me, Shays' concerned about Iraq possessing biological, chemical and nuclear weapons as well as the threat Iraq presents to nearby governments and Kurds in the country's northern region.
Despite discovering evidence of weapons programs in the past, U.N. inspections have not been conducted since 1998. Shays believes Iraq should grant inspectors the free and unfettered ability to inspect all sites, including those that Hussein has blocked from inspection.
We shouldn't wait for Hussein to develop and use these weapons to raise serious concerns.
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's reference to France and Germany as "Old Europe" has validity, especially in light of French President Jacques Chirac's incendiary comments regarding the willingness of former Soviet Bloc nations to endorse America's efforts in Iraq.
I have to commend Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga for her understanding of Iraq's oppressive tactics and how her country faced similar hardships under the domination of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair, whom I have developed the highest regard for, was able to develop a sizable coalition of Conservative Party members and New Labour party members behind the case for war and an endorsement for U.N. involvement.
Blair has worked with foreign leaders like Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar to build up support. Demonstrations and politicians either outside or within their own party, who are not convinced that all other options have been exhausted, must not intimidate Bush and Blair.
I'm a Gaullist at heart and a supporter of Chirac, but he has consistently opposed America's foreign policy interests by supporting the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, for instance. France has also consistently cast votes in the U.N. General Assembly against America's most devoted ally, Israel.
On critical political issues such as capital punishment, global warming, international economic conferences and agreements through the G-7 and WTO and an anti-ballistic missile system, college activists have sided with the wrong people.
They couldn't bring themselves to take an uncompromising stance against Stalin by supporting democratic forces in the 1968 Czechoslovakian Spring. Where were they when overseas liberal democrats needed us the most? When America is at the brink of war, we must stand with the President.
Yes, war is a last resort. We have waited 12 years for the Iraqi dictator to cooperate and disarm. Is 12 years enough time to wait?
