The Cost of Freedom: The Price of War

I can remember being told about freedom and what it cost our forefathers. Heroic tales of George Washington, the brave ride of Paul Revere and so many great deeds fill me with pride. My father told me many things about WWII that made me glad to be an American. Those were heroes and men to be admired by all, not just Americans.

Lately it seems our wars and reasons for them, have become a little more gray and unclear as to who and why we are fighting. We went into Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq for various specific reasons, but when we step back and really look at them, we often find more questions than answers, and more doubt than resolution. Why are some wars so much more divine of purpose than others?

In each of our wars prior to Korea, we had a universal and identifiable enemy that most anyone would want to destroy. Enemies like oppression, slavery, tyranny, and genocide gave us all the justification most anyone would need to declare war. We can all agree these things are among the most detestable acts one can do to another.

However if these things are such vile atrocities and warrant our use of violent force to stop them; why are they such trifles today? One would think in the modern age of instant access to cable news networks, and the information super-highway, we would be more able to spot the bad guy and unite against him. Sadly we are usually unable to either agree who the bad guy is, or how to stop him, and in the end they usually get away.

Case in point: We went into Iraq in the nineties to free Kuwait, and when we did we left. There was no call to go in and remove the tyrant leading them that was not our goal. Our goal was to free Kuwait, and that’s all we did. We did what we set out to do without misleading the people or lying to congress. Our troops were well supplied, and we had a set plan in place with UN support. Not to mention the help of several other countries.
This time we went into Iraq with no basis of fact other than the idea that Al Qaeda might have had terrorist training camps there and Saddam had gassed his own people.

Sure there was also information about WMD’s but that was secondary at first. That information was handed out as a primer to get us thinking about them in a worse light. Once the idea was there, the stories of Saddam’s regime using WMD’s on his own people, and how he plans to use it on us seemed so much more palatable. If all or at least most of these claims were proven true, our war would have been justified, but sadly they have almost all been proven false. The only bit of truth in all of it was the fact he was a tyrant and did gas his own people.

The man responsible for the most heinous and disgusting act of violence in modern times has gone uncaught and unpunished while we wage war against a lesser threat. We go looking in Iraq for a man who is living and last seen in Afghanistan, and while nearly all of the 911 terrorists are Saudi Arabian including Osama Bin Laden himself (who is a nephew of the Saudi royal family by the way).

All the while this mess is reported by competing news networks, each with their own versions of the story and agenda. Is there any way possible to get the real truth when our media has been so tainted by politics and corporate sponsorship?

Our leaders are now so busy telling us who amongst them is at fault; they forget what their job is. They are so wrapped up in their respective parties that democracy has now become secondary to maintaining power. They tell us we are not safe because of our freedoms and with a little bit of “tweaking” they could do a much better job. Benjamin Franklin once wrote:” Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” If the idea of liberty itself were not enough to convince you, maybe the words of a wise man will. My freedoms do not make you unsafe; neither will my imprisonment because the threat does not come from me. The threat they scare you with comes from somewhere else, and comes here by their mistakes in foreign policy and immigration.

The worst part of this whole thing is in the way our government has treated the best and brightest of our youth. These brave and heroic young men and women volunteered to go over and fight terrorism for us, and when they get there they find the enemy always changing, a war that is all but unsupported back home, a poorly planned effort, and insufficient supplies. Want to know how to hurt a soldier the most? Ask some of the Vietnam veterans and I bet they can tell you.

Send them to fight a war that their own people disagree with, their government does not commit to fully, and you attack their spirit from within. Thankfully our soldiers are made of the stuff which legends are made, and do not need adoration or affirmation to do their job. Although they do not need these things, the fact they don’t get them is a terrible act of injustice.

The wars we can understand the most in the last 60 years are the first gulf war, and the war in Afghanistan. We had a clear cut enemy and good reason to go to war in those situations, while in the rest we fought ideals in government, and the fear or threat of violence. We cannot fight an idea or belief especially when they are for the most part supported by their people. It’s just like the war on drugs or communism; you cannot police a thought or belief anymore than you can regulate breathing.

How do you wage war on an inanimate object? It is always changing and moves at the speed of light from one place to another. You can change a belief, but you will never beat into submission or defeat it in battle. The only way to change a belief is with another belief or new information.

There are some who will point to the access of the media in the modern era as reason for the clouded and confusing information. Perhaps, but how unsure can anyone be about genocide or tyranny? As a matter of fact we didn’t know about the Nazi death camps until the last stages of the war, so by that one can assume if the media of that time had the access they enjoy today the issue of the holocaust would have been clouded as well. I don’t think so, and furthermore refuse to believe access of the media in war is a bad thing.
There are some difficult and disturbing things that come with any war. They become even more so when the war is against an enemy with an undying belief, cause, or defending their own soil. There is no single tougher enemy than those who fight for their home, their freedom, or will sacrifice everything for their cause. This has been proven throughout history from The Roman Empire to today and all periods before and after; no one can rule another’s land without their consent and cooperation.

One last consideration we should examine in all this, lies in what one person considers freedom and what another considers oppression. If I go into your house uninvited and begin telling you how you should run your house from now on; you would most likely get tired of me very quickly and in the very least ask me to leave. If I didn’t leave after you asked, you would then either call the police or physically remove me. These are not difficult things to grasp and seem like the proper way to handle a rude and unwanted guest. So why is this so hard to understand when it pertains to the war in Iraq? We are a rude and unwanted guest who will not leave, and the owners of the house are trying to remove us.
Even an invited guest, no matter how much appreciated can and will outstay his welcome if he refuses to leave when asked. Ask yourself how you would like it if after the revolutionary war, our allies at the time came in and started telling us how our government should be run? Or even gave us a few choices on what kind of government would be allowed and what people would be acceptable as leaders or officials? Would that anger you? Would you decide that these allies were no better than the oppressor you just fought? Would you take up arms and fight against them if needed? I would and anyone desiring freedom and liberty would as well. Why is foreign rule considered good when we are the foreigners, but wrong when it is another government?

I am a very proud American and consider myself a patriot, so my next words may shock some of you. We are not perfect, we can and do make many mistakes because we are people and given to the same weaknesses, desires, wants, needs, and fears of any other human being. Our purpose and design is a fine example of a government at times, just as it is severely flawed at other times. To say our brand of democracy or government is superior to all others only shows our flaws more clearly. Despite my knowing of our imperfections, I love this country and so should all of you. Loving my country does not mean I think we are always right or better than anyone else. It simply means I love it for all its strengths and weaknesses, and in that love I will embrace our strengths and address our weaknesses.
Until we realize what we call freedom another may call anarchy, we will continue down this path. The bottom line is; many of the things we hold of such dire importance in our government will hold no weight in theirs.

In the end the cost of freedom is measured in the hearts of those who desire it, and as such is unique to all, while the price of war is in the lives given and the pain and suffering of those left behind. Thank you for reading, and I hope this can be of some use to all of us.