Many moviegoers will remember the moving scenes from "Saving Private Ryan" showing the thousands of American graves at the Normandy cemetery. The graves exhibit the sacrifice of the American servicemen who perished on D-Day during World War II.
These scenes were filmed at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial. The cemetery, along with other cemeteries from North Africa to the Philippines, is operated by the American Battle Monuments Commission. The commission is an independent agency of the executive branch of the federal government.
Most of these American headstones resting in foreign soil are crosses made of Italian white marble. They memorialize the fallen heroes who made the world safe for democracy.
While these overseas cemeteries pay tribute to our fallen servicemen, at home there are groups who seek to tear down similar memorials that are planted in our native soil.
A federal judge in Riverside County recently ruled that a World War I memorial cross in the Mojave Desert must be torn down. The cross was constructed by civilians on private land to honor the veterans of The Great War.
Sixty years later, Congress declared 1.6 million acres of the desert as a national preserve. Congress also declared the Mojave Desert cross as a memorial site.
The American Civil Liberties Union has sued to remove the cross on behalf of an individual who is offended by its presence.
A similar travesty is occurring in San Diego. An offended atheist has sued to remove the Mount Soledad cross. Judicial rulings have ordered the removal of the cross based on church and state separation.
This cross, too, was built as a memorial to American veterans.
Through Congress, the National Park Service stands ready to take over Mount Soledad to preserve its history. Yet the San Diego City Council has refused to transfer the memorial site, content with leaving the cross to the mercy of a runaway judiciary.
Liberals and supporters of the ACLU routinely proclaim their tolerance and diversity. This is their mantra. Yet they readily paint American conservatives as Taliban-like, fascist goose-steppers.
In their zeal to promote diversity, progressives of the new left have ironically adopted the same tactics as the totalitarian Taliban.
Four years ago, the Taliban destroyed giant ancient statues of Buddha in Afghanistan. The Taliban deemed the historical relics "offensive to Islam." Has the ACLU deemed American war memorial crosses "offensive to secularism?"
Do the ACLU and the Taliban sing from the same hymn book? Perhaps the answers lie in the philosophy of ACLU founder Roger Baldwin. The late Baldwin proclaimed: "I am for socialism, disarmament, and, ultimately, for abolishing the state itself. … I seek the social ownership of property, the abolition of the propertied class, and the sole control of those who produce wealth.
"Communism is the goal."
Such totalitarian visions for America debase the sacrifices of the American GIs who now rest beneath those white marble headstones. In order to preserve our heritage and freedom, the crosses must stand.
Rick Reiss of Temecula is a regular columnist for The Californian. E-mail: RickReiss@netscape.net.
