The fight for liberty no longer a concern as Afghanistan opposition rises

"We did not ask for this fight. On September 11, 2001, 19 men hijacked four airplanes and used them to murder nearly 3,000 people. They struck at our military and economic nerve centers. They took the lives of innocent men, women, and children without regard to their faith or race or station," reminded our commander in chief last Tuesday, in his major speech outlining the future of our war in Afghanistan. No sooner did Barack Obama's mouth closed the criticism began.

Regular readers of my column may know that I have also been a strong critic of Obama's lack of urgency and imagination in dealing with our nation's decades-long decline. As Joshua Deaton rather eloquently stated in last week's Carolinian, a true commitment to Afghanistan would be costly. By choosing defeat in order to avoid these costs, many millions of Americans seem to support the sentiment that doing what is "necessary to make this conflict beneficial for the Afghan people, and consequently reaffirm our own humanity, is a commitment that will not be popularly accepted in the United States." We no longer have it in us to fight for liberty, human progress or anything other than our own soft skins.

But just how unpopular is this struggle? Is our country that against it? We, proponents of winning the war, are certainly nowhere near the 90 percent of Americans that agreed to the war in the October of 2001. Yet, according to a December 2, Rasmussen poll, "before the president's speech, voters were essentially evenly divided over whether the United States could still win the war in Afghanistan and whether all the troops there should be brought home within a year."

Let's break the connection between Obama and the war for a moment. In the same poll, 45 percent of the country supports immediate withdrawal and 43 percent opposes this. War, and rumors of war, are in the air of Washington and the land of cable talk. Yet where is the protest? How much do the anti-war types really care? I've seen no organized protest that could even begin to approach the level of passion that preceded America's misguided invasion of Iraq, and certainly not on campus.

During the 'surge' of 2007, there were many important people, including then-Senator Obama, who openly opposed it. There is talk of some on the left side of the Democratic-led Congress trying to prevent this by cutting off financial support for our soldiers. This type of maneuver is easily vilified and will not succeed.

Our NATO allies, who have been grumbling and pulling back from the war, are going to be cajoled by Obama and the United States into providing thousands more troops and certainly not lowering their numbers. The United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon has already voiced broad support for Obama's announced plans. Those who oppose the war cannot say that they have the international community on their side.

Republicans tend to support the war for their own reasons, and will continue to do so after their legislative victories next year. This will be an interesting - if ill-timed - moment of soul-searching for the Democrats. Many oppose all wars, typifying Joshua Deaton's "saints of defeatism." This is a valid and Christian opinion, but may not be well suited for the governance of a superpower.

Where does this leave those of you who think the war is a bad idea? No election until 2012 can potentially end this, and then not before 2013, or 2014, at best. You can grumble, criticize our troops and our leaders, hunt and point out weaknesses in our strategy and otherwise generally make the war effort more unpleasant. Or, you can realize that your country is in war - and will remain in war - with a ruthless enemy who is adaptive and truly believes what he is fighting for. Must we wait for another attack in America to remember this? Is it fair to ask our soldiers and allies to fight and die for a war that half of our country thinks is 'stupid' or 'boring' or 'lost?'

It's your right to oppose the war, and I celebrate your rights. They are the type of liberties the people in Afghanistan thirst for. But why not start trying to rebuild the sense of American identity we had in 2001? Let's come together in support of our soldiers and their mission. The quickest way to bring our troops home is through victory.