http://www.juntosociety.com/guest/pappas/crp_war022303.html
War is an ugly thing and so is the "political left"
Col. Robert Pappas
02/23/03
The time of reckoning is upon the UN and in the President's words following the attacks on the US, "you are either for us, or you are against us." It is the writer's opinion there was a direct connection between the WTC and Pentagon attacks and Iraq. That there may be no Iraqi "fingerprints" is irrelevant in view of the fact that Hussein has harbored, funded, and nurtured the "al queda," Hammas, and Islamic jihad networks. Further, it is fact that Hussein has violated the provisions of the Gulf War cease-fire accords virtually continuously since the conclusion thereof. Even the ACLU agrees that circumstantial evidence can be damning. Now, the President is forced to clean up the mess left by his predecessor if there is ever to be peace in the Middle East and security at home.
When those on the left make arguments that have the net effect of supporting Hussein (one cannot help but remember Hussein uttering the words, "We didn't do it, but we're glad someone did"), his face becomes indelibly imprinted upon their own. The writer has long sensed that the wave of patriotism would pass, that the left would not wish to see, understand or make the connection between the so-called, "War on Terrorism" and the pending action against Hussein. This despite the President's admonition that the "War on Terrorism" would be long and trying, that it would take many forms, and that some actions would be visible while others would not.
With notable exceptions no one who has ever witnessed or been in war wants war. John Stewart Mill expressed the dilemma in unmistakable terms when he wrote, "War is an ugly thing but not the ugliest of things; (but) the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feelings which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."
To the extent that the left does not make the connections between the events of September 11th, and the President's intention to force Iraq to comply with the provisions of the Gulf War cease-fire accords, it shows its inability to come to grips with reality. Also to understand the lessons of history, and it is they who are the objects of Mill's observations above. For everyone else George Santayana wrote: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." Remember September 11th, 2001!
Semper Fidelis.
Col. Pappas
mailto: [email protected]
War is an ugly thing and so is the "political left"
Col. Robert Pappas
02/23/03
The time of reckoning is upon the UN and in the President's words following the attacks on the US, "you are either for us, or you are against us." It is the writer's opinion there was a direct connection between the WTC and Pentagon attacks and Iraq. That there may be no Iraqi "fingerprints" is irrelevant in view of the fact that Hussein has harbored, funded, and nurtured the "al queda," Hammas, and Islamic jihad networks. Further, it is fact that Hussein has violated the provisions of the Gulf War cease-fire accords virtually continuously since the conclusion thereof. Even the ACLU agrees that circumstantial evidence can be damning. Now, the President is forced to clean up the mess left by his predecessor if there is ever to be peace in the Middle East and security at home.
When those on the left make arguments that have the net effect of supporting Hussein (one cannot help but remember Hussein uttering the words, "We didn't do it, but we're glad someone did"), his face becomes indelibly imprinted upon their own. The writer has long sensed that the wave of patriotism would pass, that the left would not wish to see, understand or make the connection between the so-called, "War on Terrorism" and the pending action against Hussein. This despite the President's admonition that the "War on Terrorism" would be long and trying, that it would take many forms, and that some actions would be visible while others would not.
With notable exceptions no one who has ever witnessed or been in war wants war. John Stewart Mill expressed the dilemma in unmistakable terms when he wrote, "War is an ugly thing but not the ugliest of things; (but) the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feelings which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."
To the extent that the left does not make the connections between the events of September 11th, and the President's intention to force Iraq to comply with the provisions of the Gulf War cease-fire accords, it shows its inability to come to grips with reality. Also to understand the lessons of history, and it is they who are the objects of Mill's observations above. For everyone else George Santayana wrote: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." Remember September 11th, 2001!
Semper Fidelis.
Col. Pappas
mailto: [email protected]
but I'm liking them
