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Time for War
No more Mr. Nice Guys
By: David K. Every
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2003-03-20
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 s people who've read my last article know, I wasn't really for this war. I'd rather the President had been able to build better world consensus first, I know that many of the problems in the Middle East are complex and I doubt this war will fix most of them. I think there were many opportunities to avoid this war. And so on.
But both sides could have avoided it. As much as I think we should have done more, I know that the other side(s) should have done ten times as much. So like all wars, while we're not completely innocent, but we're not the only ones at fault either. And while we can say or believe that we're "less wrong" than the other guy, it doesn't matter any more -- the time for debate is over. Once the first punch is thrown, it is too late for talking. And whether we should have been more tactful or patient is irrelevant now. We take off our diplomats cap, and put on our soldiers one.
Look, I'm not some zealous patriot that thinks the U.S. is always right, or that you can't criticize the Government, and so on. Before this war is started, you can criticize all you want, when this war is over we can discuss/evaluate the tradeoffs of what was accomplished. During this war, stay the hell out of the way, and watch what you say. Indecisiveness in war is a way to get more people killed, so it should be treated as the life threatening mamby-pambyisms that it is.
I enjoy looking at problems from many sides, sometimes I even enjoy diplomacy and debate. But war is what happens when diplomacy and debate have failed; and they have failed. Our armies are trained to take land, kill people and break things; that's their job. When it is time for them to do their job, all else pales. Warriors understand this, some other people don't. This isn't the 60s sit-in, and is not a time for us all to remember our youths. Frankly, the peaceniks got many more killed than they helped anyways. If you don't like this war, so what? I don't like tax & spend policies, economic mugging that is a progressive tax system, and so on. There's a time and place to talk about it, and a time not to. This is the time to shut up. When the doves come out in a time of war, you don't get your hymnal, you get your shotgun.
Once war starts, that's not the time for moral ambiguity asking if you could have done more, or questions about if the other guy is just suffering because of abusive parents or an impoverished life, or the past injustices with Palestinians, and so on. It is not the times to listen to any more silver-spooned whiney actors or musicians tell us how they know more than our President, because they once played one on TV or sang a song about it, or because they just don't like the political party he belongs to. They are entertainers for gods sake, why are you taking them seriously? They're just trying to make up for their own inadequacies at not doing anything productive for a living, or frustrated because for once the spotlight is off of them and their pathetic little lives, and so they are dancing around saying, "look at me", "look at me". I don't mind that they want to matter in this world, but the fact is that they don't. This is a time for them to shut their pie holes, for once, and let the people with real jobs, do theirs. It is a time to win the fight, and be the meanest bastard in the neighborhood; not just to be the sissiest primadonas in the play. Welcome to war; no more Mr. Nice Guy.
           
This is also a time to make new friends, reestablish old ones, and make new enemies. Choose sides, or get out of the way. We've been nice. Now it is time not-to-be-nice. Don't confuse the nice us, with the not-so-nice us. Many people that we've helped and given money and aide to, have chosen sides. I think many have chosen the wrong one. They've clearly stated what they feel, and now they'll live with the consequences of that for a long time.
I don't expect some countries to break their old ties or bigotries and biases against us. The USSR, China and others are tolerated for their moral weakness, because it is easier to cater to politics than to do what is right. They even have some legitimate disagreements, and different interests. I understand that. The depths of their hypocrisy are comical, but understandable. They missed an opportunity to make new allies, but that too is understandable. And that we should and will be less eager to help them in the future, is also understandable. You make your choices, and then live with them.
I could not have expected less from Germany or France. France and Germany's over-ripened greatness has left them spoiled and bitter. And the smaller and more impotent they are, the louder they squeak. Many went far beyond peaceful disagreement with us, and crossed the line to actively opposing our ideals, thus helping our enemies and harming both us and themselves in the process. I think we should all remember those lessons for a long time. And we now must demonstrate the costs of that even longer; just to remind the world that just because we are usually nice and forgiving, there are limits, and there are costs.
It isn't that I'm bitter or that angry at Germany or France for disagreeing with us; they have a right to disagree. But there's a difference between courteous disagreements, and outright disrespectful tantrums and blocking anything that calls for the U.N. to do their job, and so on. They proved that they don't appreciate what we've done for them enough to be courteous about our disagreement, and they even actively blocked our interests. That's over the line when our supposed allies worked actively campaign against us. That says volumes. Forever in my history books will be a chapter on the whiney little back-stabbing Gauls and how they'd rather seem big than act like it. They are so mad and envious of our success that they are like the whiney actors, screaming, "look at me, I'm still important". When the very act of dancing around like a fool, screaming, proves that they are not. They could have been important; instead they took the low road.
I think NATO proved that it is not only antiquated, but a waste of time and money. Personally, I'd pull out of NATO completely, stop subsidizing Europe's peace, and let them pay for it themselves. (That's long overdue). They'll probably be at war with each other within 50 years. But at least this time the French have a tunnel to London so they can scurry away and live in exile even quicker this time.
The U.N. did its job with the resolution initially. I think that had Germany and France done their jobs in the U.N., then it could have demonstrated its value to the world by negotiating terms, or balancing a view. Instead, they demonstrated that too many small people, and small countries, will guarantee the U.N.'s future irrelevance and impotence, by choosing politics over justice. So be it. They had a small vote in what happens, and made such a big noise over not having more of a say. That means that next time they'll have even less a say, if any at all. I only hope we can adequately reflect the contempt they've show us. Not because I'm bitter at them, but the world needs to learn the costs of such actions.
  
I dislike war, because of the tremendous costs; lives, money, resources, opportunities, compassion, and it always takes a piece of our soul. But while war is something you avoid at all costs; once pushed to fight, you win at any costs. You win quickly so you save lives. You win so decisively that everyone remembers why war is bad; and why war with you is worse. Not because of ego or pride; but as a lesson to the rest of the world for all eternity - you do not want it to get to a point of war. Period.
So now we change modes. We pull back the meddling dove of peace and nosy diplomacy, and we pull out the sword of self-righteous justice and let our soldiers do their jobs. Not that either meddling peace or self-righteous war is completely right or completely wrong; but in a street fight, that doesn't matter. All that matters once diplomacy fails is that you win, and remind the world why war is bad. You don't like that, then next time, tolerate our meddling more or don't pick fights that you can't win. War is something you want to avoid. Sadly, it seems every 5 or 10 years, someone needs to remind the world why.
I hope the U.S. takes over Iraq quickly and cleanly, with as few lives lost as possible. I hope we are able to achieve our objectives; throwing out a dangerous despot and helping to stabilize a region. While France and Germany have been focused on the little wrong we're doing here, they've been ignoring the bigger wrongs they've been doing, or that Sadam and others like him has been doing. They've also been trying to play both sides like the moral cowards that they are. Fine, hide in your cafe's and attack us from the safety of the other side of the table, just stay out of men's way when there's real work to be done.
I hope we stay in after the fireworks, and help rebuild and make Iraq a more free and tolerant society and remind the world of what the Marshal Plan did for Europe. I hope for a lot of things. Who knows, maybe Iraq can grow without the shackles of a despot to become a much more mature and tolerant society, and fill a couple of holes for such a country in NATO and the U.N. But then again, who knows - in 50 years, the Iraqi's will probably forget about all we've done for them, and become the backstabbing little thespians of the Arab world. Sadam already drinks, wears a beret, smokes, whores around, backstabs, talks out of both sides of his mouth -- maybe he's secretly French.
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