Dabum, I think my view of the world is affected by what I saw and learned in Viet Nam. When I hear people talk about how we should just go in and "win," I am reminded that there are people on the other side who are sometimes just as tough, just as determined and just as convinced in the rightness of their position as we are. That is not to denigrate the American public or the American soldier, I am proud to consider myself one and I am proud of what my platoon, my squad and I did in Viet Nam. This is true even though I did not then, and do not now, believe in that war and feel a tremendous sadness when I think of all those that died in that lonely far away jungle and left behind mothers, fathers, wives, sweethearts and children for a purpose that I have never been able to consider of much importance. One of those who was in my squad is a NY fireman and I have not been able to find out if he is OK. I have many of the same emotions as I have seen expressed so eloquently here on this thread by KB, JQP and many others.
The point that I am getting at is that violence creates violence, killing creates martyrs, and if you must go there, go there carefully, wisely and with full knowledge of the firestorm you may create. It is NOT possible to bomb a country into submission. It is NOT possible to kill an idea or to kill hatred. Captain O is correct in his view that the roots of hatred must be examined and dealt with in order to effectively address ideological, economic and political differences that can rise to a fever pitch and create such hatred that people are willing to kill and die.
I have seen the power of B52 bombs close up. They hit in waves that sound like deafening, rolling thunder and appear to be arc light welding flashes. They shake the ground like earthquakes and deafen those who are close by so that they bleed from their broken eardrums. They kill indiscriminately and send trees into trees, leaving rows of 20 foot deep and 30 ft wide holes in the gound. For days afterward things are still falling to the ground. We dropped millions of tons of those in Viet Nam and still lost the war.
I don't think it is possible to win a war against an idea. As long as there are those who are willing to fight and die for an ideal, no matter how much you disagree with that ideal, the war goes on. As long as there exists one man, woman or child with the means and will to hurt you, there is no safety.
We will never fully suppress those who have the will and the means to sting us. They will not be able to overpower us but they will be able to get our attention and alter our behaviors. The question for our government is: "What is the best way to address this danger so that we minimize the number and effectiveness of those who would attack and harm us or our allies?"
The answer to this question is critical. I believe that it requires consistency and patience in action. I believe that we must studiously avoid being provoked into an overreaction and an indiscriminate attack on those whose ideologies or politics we strongly disagree with. This would create fear, anger, martyrs and a long term cycle that will cost us, our children and grandchildren a price we should not be prepared to pay.
I believe we need to articulate a policy that we are willing to live with and that we would think fair if applied to us by a much stronger military power, assuming one actually existed. A policy that required that we should first rely on the governments of the other countries to apprehend terrorists. If that were not done, we should sanction those governments. If those governments acted to promote terrorism we should consider that the acts of the terrorists were the acts of the nation, consider them acts of war, and act accordingly. If the foreign government did not promote the terrorism but refused to assist in the apprehension of terrorists that conducted acts of extreme terrorism while based in their countries, we should consider that as a condoning of the terrorist act and should consider that the act of the nation itself. Our actions in response, whether directed at the foreign nation or the terrorists, should be well reasoned and appropriate.
I suspect and hope that the Bush government is heading in that direction. Ed
PS. It is not enough to declare that terrorist acts are acts of war: they are not. They are crimes. It is the acts of foreign governments that constitute acts of war.
PSS. One of the most dangerous emotions in the world is patriotism. It is also one of the most noble. It should, nonetheless, be feared. |
