I agree with you that the real reasons for our intervention
are likely to be different than our stated humanitarian
aims. Dropping bombs into this mess seems to be making a
bad situation worse from a humanitarian point of view.
However, I'm not sure that preventing a Serbian conquest of
the Balkans is a real fear either. They've been in reverse for
the last few years and don't even control all of what was
Yugoslavia.
I know I'm going to sound naive when I say this, but I think
we are setting a terrible example when we engage in the use
of force to try to solve a problem like this. We lose all
moral high-ground and really are, in my opinion, acting just
like the terrorists who resort to bombs to settle their political
grievances. I don't know if we can solve the problems of Kosovo
in the short term, but if we want to solve the problem of
violence in the world, I think we must do our best to control
what *is* in our power -- our own use of violence. We need to
encourage those in other countries to do likewise.
It's time for the US to return to being the shining city on the
hill; the light of liberty illuminating the world. Let's provide
a positive example to which the rest of the world can aspire.
Then the oppressed peoples of the world, in their millions, can
face-up to the mini-Hitlers of the world, in their dozens, with
an uplifting example in their souls.
We can't police the world. We can't set things right through
force. It doesn't work, and it hasn't worked. It only makes
things worse. The Serbians and Albanians are still fighting
over an event that took place 800 years ago. How long will
people suffer the consequences of our actions this week? Let's
take care of the war-like in our own country and pray for others
to take care of those in theirs.
Dave |
