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After World War II, the misquoted quote became
popular that America had never lost a war or won a peace. Winston Churchill said something close to that: "Those
who can win a war well rarely make a good peace and those who could make
a good peace would never have won the war."
The misquote sounds better. Our country went reluctantly into World War One and Two, only going in full force when the atrocities and attacks became more than we could stand. We had been pushed to the limit and defeated the enemies. The uneasy peace, especially after WWII, gave us a Cold War that lasted a generation with Democracy and Communism holding nervous fingers on the button of an all out atomic Armageddon. The Korean War wasn’t exactly a total victory, but we did contain Communism at the 38th parallel and kept half the nation free. But you couldn’t say there is peace in divided Korea to this day after 50 years. The northern half of that country remains one of the most dangerous hot spots in the world with nuclear capabilities. The American fighting man takes a back seat to no one, but don’t tie his hands as they were in Vietnam. After 50,000 lives that country remained in Communist hands. Somalia was an admirable but wasted effort when trained soldiers were sent into a civilian population to challenge warlord control. The response to the September 11 attack was to send troops into Afghanistan after terrorist leader bin Laden. All reports are that he is still free and directing worldwide terrorism. American soldiers are caught between lawless warlord factions in a country barely out of the Middle Ages in many respects. Because of intelligence reports that Saddam Hussein might have Weapons of Mass Destruction and be tied to al Queda, America and Britain led the invasion of that country. The United Nations and North Atlantic Treaty Organization sat this one out. There was never any question that the Iraq military would be defeated, only a question of when. Surely no one in Washington thought all the Iraqi people would appreciate their country being bombed, however admirable the intentions. Surely no one believed they would welcome Americans. Saddam had his supporters, those he favored. Even those who wanted his demise resented foreign intervention. Now the same troops who were trained to attack and destroy the enemy are forced into the role of policemen and rebuilding a nation that doesn’t want us there. We answered violence with even more violence. And a repercussion may be destabilizing the Middle East. Americans know democracy is the best form of government. It’s easy to forget that many countries have no concept of freedom. They will learn slowly. To many in Iraq now, it has meant the freedom to loot banks and rob each other. Anyone brought up in a free society cannot comprehend what it’s like to think otherwise. They cannot understand how we think. Already the Islamic clerics are busy planning a stringent religious state for the country. The vacuum lends itself to another totalitarian government, this run by religious fanatics as we saw in Iran, which is anxious to get its thoughts in the door. Right now there is more emphasis on restoring oil production and rebuilding the war damage than planning the country’s future. America’s avowed claim was never to occupy Iraq to create a puppet state, only to free the people for self rule. How will America make them ready for this? How will America teach a society accustomed to dictatorship to enjoy free elections, recognizing the rights of all for religious and spoken freedoms? However well intended, the Iraq War has created enemies for America. Terrorism is not less of a danger now. It is more so, and will get worse unless a path toward peace is found. You don’t destroy terrorism with smart bombs and overpowering military. They just go underground and send out the suicide bombers. You don’t buy friends with foreign aid to countries who take our money and laugh at us. Only through communication and understanding can there be a road to peace. There needs to be efforts through education to have other countries know us and what we stand for. And, even more importantly, we need to understand others—especially our enemies. We need to know what they need. Food is a starter. A terrorist with a full belly wouldn’t want to waste all that good food.
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