OLIVER STONE NEEDS HIS HEAD EXAMINED

First, let me apologize for my rather brash title. Normally, I wouldn't say what I have to say like this, but there is no better way to say it. I am sick and tired, as are all of you, of hearing from the Media-Elite-Hollywood liberal hippies whining about how "everything post-9/11 is just for politics and we shouldn't be fighting a war against these extremist terrorists". It is as if these highly-educated IDIOTS actually think that a "live-and-let-live" mentality would succeed with such implacable foes as we now face.
Understand this, that the events of September 11th, 2001 were NOT PROVOKED OR INITIATED by the United States, or any deliberate action taken by our government's current administration OR prior administrations. These cowardly, desperate attacks were perpetrated by men who hate us because we stand for all that is free in this world, and they feel threatened by it. Our retaliatory attacks against Al-Qaeda and its Taliban supporters are justifiable defense measures, not some random aggression spawned by the political agendas of those in office. The conflict in Iraq, likewise, is a PRE-EMPTIVE MEASURE not only to keep our enemies bogged down where they cannot get us at home but also (and primarily) to extend the same freedoms and liberties that we enjoy into a sector of the world where they are relatively unknown.
I am fully well aware of the issues we are facing at home, and of our need to step up our efforts to address them. Surprisingly enough, so are the people who represent us in government. Unfortunately, the same style of government that provides us with the tools to fix these problems (mostly caused by our own doing) also hampers our ability to resolve them. With the length of time it takes to draft a measure, present it, and resolve it, another administration change has taken place. That ultimately places the onus of responsibility for fixing these problems with those of us CAPABLE of taken the required actions. For some of us (including myself), military service is the role we fill, supporting and defending YOUR freedoms, lives, families, and homes. Others, including many big business leaders, serve by making donations of time, money, and other resources to various different charities and organizations who strive to tackle these issues instead of whining about them in the effort to generate some media attention.
I notice that YOU didn't take your stance until AFTER your movie had been released, which shows US where YOUR true priorities lay. Why don't you get off your "stool" and get out into the REAL world and MAKE A DIFFERENCE? You can't lead anywhere but from the front, Mr. Stone, and just because you have a talent for making movies doesn't make you any better than one of us, manning our posts and standing our watches in defense of all that makes America great.
Next, we are NOT at war WITH IRAQ. We are at war IN IRAQ. there IS a difference, largely in that if we went to war against Iraq why are we doing so much to improve their quality of life? Why are we extending our hand in friendship to them while the fighting is still going on? We went to war with the evil leaders of that oppressed nation, in the hopes of ending a reign of tyranny and establishing one of democracy. All evil needs to succeed in this world is for GOOD MEN to sit back and do nothing. And yes, for the rest of the class, a man who tortures, rapes, bombs, and murders HIS OWN COUNTRYMEN qualifies as evil, ESPECIALLY when their position as leader of that nation becomes the vehicle through which those actions become justified. Evil is evil; plain and simple. There are no "degrees" of evil, no differentiation made between "lesser" and "greater". If we are a great nation, a nation founded on truth, justice, and other prinicples of goodness, how can we sit back and do nothing about the evil we witness that is perpetrated in this world? By complacently standing by and not acting, we become just as guilty as the people who commit these acts.
And how are we "overreacting" to these murderous attacks committed against us on our own soil??? How many more Americans must die at the hands of some terrorist before our "overreaction" becomes justified? A hundred? One thousand? A MILLION? We have learned (or at least SHOULD have learned by now) that an isolationist stance (while preferrable) to world affairs will only make matters WORSE. Isn't it preferrable to have us draw them out in their own neighborhood rather than our own front yard?
I think the shame you feel is really your own.