Who's The Wimp?

It will happen. It'll probably happen soon, too. You'll get into a conversation with someone about the Iraq war. Chances are, nowadays, that your fellow conversationalist will have either always believed or have come to their senses and learned that the war is morally, legally and ethically unjust.

In case, however, you have some holdout, some person so blinded by Republican rhetoric that they hold every word spoken by this administration as canon law, you will likely face a few barrages against your character. You will probably be told, in one way, shape or form, that your views are cowardly. You will likely be told that folding in the face of tyranny is a sign of weakness.

And, most likely, you will be told this by someone who has never been in the military, never faced an enemy, never watched their buddies die in combat.

Reminding them of that usually will not deter them. Facts, usually don't. These are the same people who once, if not still, call them Freedom Fries.

Which reminds me -- the same people who will call your views a sign of weakness probably consider the French weak. Yes, we've all heard it. We may have even said it at times (I'm guilty of it myself). France surrendered to the Germans and we had to bail them out. Now they won't even stand with us against Iraq. Wimps.

Let's review the wimpiness of the French, shall we?

The French spent 52 months fighting the Germans, Austrians and Ottoman Turks in World War I. They were invaded by Germany. They held the line. In the process, almost 1.4 million French soldiers and sailors, as well as 40,000 plus civilians, were killed. That is more civilian war deaths than Americans had in the entire Twentieth Century. And it's more military deaths than America has had in all our wars -- combined. We did not enter World War I until France had been fighting for 33 months.

A generation later, France and Britain declared war on Germany. Ten months later, the Blitzkrieg proved too strong for France and Britain. France was forced to surrender. Still it did not stop the French resistance, who continued to fight until Germany surrendered. The United States did not enter the European theater until six months after Hitler invaded the Soviet Union. It was this, not our intervention, that ultimately saved Europe.

France gets flak for surrendering to the Germans. Yet, Denmark, Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, Poland, Yugoslavia and Greece also surrendered.

In World War II there were 213,000 French military casualties. The U.S. suffered 292,000 military casualties -- not as big a difference as your friend would lead you to believe. In addition, the United States was never invaded. Germany's invasion of France cost them an additional 350,000 civilian deaths. The attack on Pearl Harbor, while tragic and debilitating, is not an all out invasion. The U.S. has not seen war on its soil since 1865.

Perhaps they aren't so wimpy after all.

Well, what about their leadership?

In the height of the Vietnam War, George W. Bush used his family's enormous influence to get into the Texas Air National Guard. He did not serve in Vietnam. Jacques Chirac was an Armoured Cavalry Officer who, despite his family's enormous influence, volunteered to serve his country in the Algerian War of Independence. He not only saw combat, but was wounded.

Representatives Robert Ney (R-Ohio) and Walter Jones, Jr. (R-North Carolina) led the Freedom Fry charge. Jones, like Bush, served in the National Guard. Ney did not serve.

France, by the way, has troops in Afghanistan -- a war most would agree has justification.

So, after reminding your friend of the facts, ask him or her what is courage and what is weakness. Is it courageous to send others to die in an unnecessary war when you were able to get out of it yourself? And is it weak to choose not to send your countrymen to die in a war you aren't sure is legitimate just to get on the good side of an ally?

Being against this war is not weak. It is not cowardly. It is smart.

And, perhaps, the more courageous viewpoint.