Do you want peace or pacifists?


Thomas Sowell points out that the two are not the same
I think you could say Thomas Sowell is irked. With good reason I would say. Emphasis added.

"Peace" movements are among those who take advantage of this widespread inability to see beyond rhetoric to realities. Few people even seem interested in the actual track record of so-called "peace" movements -- that is, whether such movements actually produce peace or war.

Take the Middle East. People are calling for a cease-fire in the interests of peace. But there have been more cease-fires in the Middle East than anywhere else. If cease-fires actually promoted peace, the Middle East would be the most peaceful region on the face of the earth instead of the most violent.

Was World War II ended by cease-fires or by annihilating much of Germany and Japan? Make no mistake about it, innocent civilians died in the process. Indeed, American prisoners of war died when we bombed Germany.

There is a reason why General Sherman said "war is hell" more than a century ago. But he helped end the Civil War with his devastating march through Georgia -- not by cease fires or bowing to "world opinion" and there were no corrupt busybodies like the United Nations to demand replacing military force with diplomacy.

There was a time when it would have been suicidal to threaten, much less attack, a nation with much stronger military power because one of the dangers to the attacker would be the prospect of being annihilated.

More and more I am convinced that American foreign policy has been driven by guilt for decades. Was Cuban missile crisis the last real stand? Even Ronald Reagan, that "cowboy President," backed down several times.

In the wake of 9-11, world opinion was pretty much united that the United States had every right to go into Afghanistan. But the Islamist (not Muslim) movement extends far beyond one nation. Were we supposed to turn our heads and hope that the whole thing didn't begin again?

If you are walking down the street and you see a rape, do you walk the other way so you don't have to get involved?

We have nations with rivers of cash but no rule of law beyond Might makes Right.

What's worse, the United States helped it happen.

So do we fix it? Or do we ignore it and hope it goes away?

If it hadn't been for England's guilt and respect for sacrifice, even Gandhi's pacifism would have failed. Without that guilt on the other side, pacifism invites slaughter and domination.

Just remember, the Islamists want pacifists too. But only as long as they are in the West.

— NeoWayland

Posted: Fri - July 21, 2006 at 09:06 AM  Tag


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