13 Myths about the Case for War in Iraq

MYTH: "'Anti-war' protesters ... are giving, at the very least, comfort to Saddam Hussein." Therefore they can be accused of committing treason according to the Constitution. -- NY Sun Editorial, February 7, 2003
RESPONSE: It is true that original Constitution did not include Freedom of Speech or Freedom of the Press or other rights that we cherish today. These freedoms were added as the Bill of Rights to the Constitution in 1791.

The US Supreme Court explicitly recognized the right to freely criticize the government in 1964. The Court ruled that the New York Times could publish an ad critical of the actions of Montgomery, Alabama police against civil rights protesters. The Court, wrote Jamie Kalvern, "made explicit the principle that seditious libel -- criticism of government -- cannot be made a crime in America and spoke in this connection of `the central meaning of the First Amendment.'"

After John McCain -- the Senator from Arizona -- was released from captivity as a POW in Vietnam, he was asked, 'How did it feel when you heard Americans were protesting the war?' He said, I thought that's what we were fighting for -- the right to protest."

Statements that war protestors, may be, in the words of Article III of the Constitution "adhering to the enemies [of the U.S.] or giving them aid or comfort" ignore the Bill of Rights.

Moreover, the Sun's editors fail to acknowledge that it was Osama Bin Laden's Al Qaeda terrorist group that attacked New York City, not Saddam Hussein. Al Qaeda still supports the overthrow of Hussein because he is not an Islamic fundamentalist. By supporting Hussein's ouster, the Sun is actually giving a large measure of comfort to Bin Laden and his terrorist movement.

Civilian casualties from a second Iraq war would likely have the same effect that they had during the first Iraq war. They will enable Bin Laden to recruit thousands of soldiers in his war against the "occupying armies" of the United States -- soldiers willing to die in a much larger wave of suicide attacks.

Read the other 12 myths.
(Thanks, Alicia)