Undeclared wars - by Thomas Sowell

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: Einar Stefferud <Stef () thor nma com>
Date: Thu, 20 Feb 2003 16:00:23 -0800
To: Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>
Subject: Undeclared wars   -   by Thomas Sowell

Hi Dave -- I know you will not distribute everything I send, and it does
not bother me that you don't.  My objective is only to put these in front
of you to afford you the choice as IP editor in chief.

This article, as I see it, makes the issues very clear.

I have no complaint about seeing "the other side" since I find it
fascinating to see how people can see things so differently.
For my money, most of them should make visible the faulty logic
they present.  And if so, they do not need to be countered.

So, here another fork full of fodder for the mill;-)...\Stef

townhall.com - February 20, 2003

Undeclared wars   -   by Thomas Sowell

It is a painful reminder of human folly, irresponsibility, and exhibitionism
that millions of "anti-war" demonstrators have somehow convinced themselves
that they have some special aversion to war. No sane human being wants war.

There would be cheers throughout the White House if Saddam Hussein decided
to pack his bags and go into retirement somewhere. The real question is:
What are the alternatives at this point?

The alternative proposed by France is precisely the alternative that led
France into disaster and humiliation in World War II. France "gave peace a
chance," both before and after that conflict began.

In violation of her mutual defense treaty with Czechoslovakia, France threw
Czechoslovakia to the wolves at the Munich conference in 1938, by agreeing
to Hitler's demand that the western portion of that country be turned over
to him, without a shot being fired.

Even after formally being at war a year later, France's military inactivity
for more than six months led people to speak of "the phony war." During that
time, Hitler's main military forces were on the eastern front, invading
Poland, and France had overwhelming military superiority on its border with
Germany. But France just waited.

In May 1940, the wait was over. The main body of Hitler's troops were now on
the western front. When they attacked, France surrendered to the Nazis after
just six weeks of fighting.

France, of all nations, should understand that waiting can have a very high
cost. That cost would have been even higher if not for France's liberation
four years later by Allied troops landing at Normandy, where thousands of
young Americans remain buried under a sea of crosses to this day.

"Anti-war" demonstrators act as if we have a choice whether or not to be at
war. We were already at war before September 11, 2001, which served to shock
many of us into an awareness of that fact.

International terrorists had already declared war on us. The countries that
sheltered them and aided them could hide behind the fact that they had not
declared war on the United States. They were fighting an undeclared war,
using others as their hit men.

When Bill Clinton was president, he fought a "phony war," doing just enough
to keep the media satisfied and the issue swept under the rug, but not
enough to let the countries who were sponsoring terrorists get the message
that we were serious.

President Bush has changed that with his invasion of Afghanistan, one of the
centers of international terrorism. We haven't started a war. We have just
recognized the war that others started, instead of burying our heads in the
sand, as the "anti-war" demonstrators would like us to do.

Make no mistake about it, war is dangerous, regardless of who starts it.
There may be body bags, not only overseas but also here in America. And you
or I could be in those bags.

The truly catastrophic possibility is that North Korea could use their
nuclear weapons themselves or they could fight an undeclared nuclear war by
turning some of those missiles over to international terrorists. We can only
hope that our leaders, who have far more information than we do, are dealing
with this threat with cool heads, stout hearts, and strong nerves.

As for Iraq, should we let U.N. inspectors keep trying to find a needle in a
haystack? Iraq is larger than Japan, nearly 50 percent larger than Italy and
about 80 percent larger than Great Britain. And that doesn't count the
places where it can hide its weapons outside Iraq, including on its own
ships. 

If we learn nothing else from this episode, it should be that we cannot
allow the defense of American lives to be held hostage by the United Nations
-- which has already given Saddam Hussein a final warning, and now wants to
give him another final warning. And, if he doesn't heed that, they will
threaten him with yet another warning.

If wars could be prevented by waiting and hoping, World War II would never
have happened. Every mistaken step in appeasement was cheered by crowds and
every attempt to build military defenses was denounced by them. If crowds
are to be our guide, we are truly headed for ruin.

©2003 Creators Syndicate, Inc.
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/thomassowell/ts20030220.shtml


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