&#91LETTERS TO THE EDITOR&#93Protests harming the cause

The Saturday issue of the JoongAng Daily featured a picture of anti-war protesters. The caption reads, “With the fall of Baghdad, peace groups here say they are concentrating on efforts to help the Iraqi people recover from war.” The irony of this is that a week and a half ago the anti-war demonstrators were protesting against the deployment of 700 Korean noncombatants to Iraq to help the postwar effort.
The noncombatants, a group of Korean Army engineers and doctors, would help the Iraqi people recover from the effects of the war. Through their protests, the demonstrators have actually slowed the process of helping the Iraqis. Do the demonstrators actually know anything about the issues, or are they simply jumping at a chance to march on City Hall and the U.S. Embassy?"
Another irony would be that a little more than 50 years ago the United States was involved in a war right here in Korea. No one in South Korea was protesting U.S. troops then. These days South Koreans see fit to protest against the United Sates weekly.
The right to protest is part of any democracy. Still, I believe that if the demonstrators put a little more thought into when and what to protest against, the protests would be more meaningful, not just counterproductive events.

by Zachary Alan Kendall