Nothing will ever be able to heal the pain and bring back our heroes who have died in Iraq, Kuwait and around the world. The pain suffered by the families of those lost in war is unimaginable. What can be said about the men and women who serve our country through military service is that they do a job that is imperative to both national and world security. The people who serve in the military deserve the support of their government and the support of the people. The release of the seven American POWs brings enormous relief to all Americans, but especially the parents, family, and friends of the seven recovered soldiers. No war in American history has ever been painless. The anti-war movement has taken the prerogative of using the sad and unfortunate deaths of American men and women in an effort to end the war in Iraq. Interestingly, unlike other time periods, today’s anti-war movement ‘peace seekers’ are not fighting specifically against the war in Iraq, but against all wars.

‘Not in our Name,’ is an anti-war organization that is making attempts to influence people throughout the country ‘to resist all wars.’ There is no doubt that war is undesirable, and the call for the end of all wars is admirable, but unfortunately, some wars are necessary.

If the United States used the war policy that ‘Not in our Name’ calls for, America would have never fought WWI or WWII. Yes, thousands of people died in these wars, but the world is better because Americans and other nations fought. One can only imagine if the Nazi regime was able to keep power, what would happen to the people of Europe and possibly even the world? It is important to make the distinction between the warmonger and those who support a war. For example, a warmonger supports all wars and does not care about civilian deaths or political consequences, while supporting a war to liberate or to protect the people, is defiantly not the actions of a warmonger.

The Bush administration was looking for solutions and war in Iraq was the answer, but President Bush and his administration are warmongers, as ‘Not in our Name’ claims. If the Bush administration attacked nations without any effort to use diplomacy, they should be called warmongers. While some may not be fond of the diplomatic actions of Bush and his administration, clearly, an effort was made.

The right to have an anti-war movement is a right given to all Americans. However, the leaders of the anti-war movement should try to find a more effective ways to get their argument across.