by Bill Levinson

Antiwar protests kill soldiers. The lies of John Kerry and his cohorts like Jane Fonda probably wrote thousands if not tens of thousands of names on that black wall in Washington DC, and those of Cindy Sheehan, Michael Moore, and MoveOn.org have probably killed hundreds of our troops in Iraq and maimed countless others. The American people must denounce these individuals as the dregs of our society that they are, and express unequivocal support for our troops.

This is not to say that people cannot or should not criticize a war or the manner in which it is being waged but calls to cut and run– and this is exactly the position taken by the Cindy Sheehan, Michael Moore, and John Kerry left– maim and kill American soldiers. We make this inference from Victor Davis Hanson’s The Western Way of War: Infantry Battle in Classical Greece.

The armored Greek phalanx, with its doctrine of decisive shock battle– slamming into the enemy not with the intention of exchanging sword and spear thrusts as is often depicted in movies, but that of smashing through him– was the most fearsome instrument of war during its time. Phalanxes made mincemeat of less-well-armored Persians whose primary tactics involved archery and chariots. The Greek inured himself to hard contact by boxing and wrestling, so the impact of blows on his armor and shield did not bother him very much. When he stood in a line with other Greeks, with each man’s shield overlapping his neighbor for additional protection, the only things that could endanger him consisted of overwhelming hordes attacking from all directions (as at Thermopylae) or other Greeks.

The Greeks soon learned that a phalanx often collapsed from the back as frequently, if not more frequently, than it collapsed from the front. Even the best and most experienced soldiers will begin to think of flight when the men behind them start to run away. Hanson cites S. L. A. Marshall’s observation that “the maintenance of a unit in modern battle often depends not only on those who lead the way, but also on those who follow.” The Greeks accordingly put some of their best men in the back of the phalanx as well as at the front.

While the United States Army does not run from its enemies, the appearance of irresolution or flight far to the rear– in the civilian government from which the Army takes its orders– encourages the enemy just as much as ancient Greeks must have been delighted when the enemy’s rear echelon troops began to run away. The sight of this impending failure of will might even have encouraged allies who were reluctant to fight to join the battle. Success always breeds courage and attracts recruits, because everyone wants to be on the winning side.

Consider Abdul the Martyr as he watches the United States Army conduct what is effectively a one-sided massacre of Saddam Hussein’s army in 2003. Abdul says, “I hate the infidel pig but there is no glory or use in getting blown to bits by an Abrams tank or helicopter gunship without even a chance to strike a blow.” Abdul the Martyr accordingly hides away and does not use his AK-47.

Afterward, though, some braver terrorists, perhaps with the backing of Iran and other terrorist nations, begin to take potshots at American soldiers while planting improvised explosive devices. They kill some Americans but the Americans kill them back, and Abdul the Martyr still hesitates. He is willing to die for The Cause but he doesn’t want to die uselessly.

A while later, Abdul the Martyr sees news reports of antiwar protests in the United States, in which Michael Moore praises Abdul’s fellow terrorists as “Minutemen” while Cindy Sheehan calls for a headlong retreat. Members of Congress like John Murtha join this chorus, while John Kerry accuses American soldiers of “terrorizing” Iraqis. We can easily imagine what Abdul the Martyr thinks now. “My fellow holy warriors are achieving results, and not only that, the filthy Americans are terrorizing my fellow Muslims; a U.S. Senator says so. Yes, now is the time for me to start killing the infidels, even if I must give my life for Jihad.”

So Abdul the Martyr goes out, plants an IED, and kills a couple of soldiers while blowing the legs off a couple of others. Thanks to Michael Moore, Cindy Sheehan, John Kerry, John Murtha, and their MoveOn.org friends, we now have a couple more KIAs and a few extra Purple Hearts.

Only a fool continues to fight a war with ineffective tactics and strategies, and there is nothing wrong with criticizing the manner in which a war is being waged. As an example, it would have been entirely patriotic during the First World War to condemn the wasteful shoulder-to-shoulder attacks that led to disasters like the Somme. Lyndon Johnson’s almost-treasonable conduct of the Vietnam War also deserved criticism. It is quite another matter to make public statements that praise the enemy while calling for a headlong retreat. The American people must unequivocally condemn those individuals and organizations that, whether because they are misguided, disloyal, or actually in the pay of foreign enemies, helping terrorists murder American soldiers.

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Related: War Against Islamo-fascism, Iraq

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