When confronting either dangerous dictators or terrorists, anti-war sentiment in the U.S. is fueled by a mix of profound detachment, geographic isolation and lack of empathy. It is also fueled by an incredible unwillingness to differentiate between the starkly different approaches of the Bush White House and the Obama White House to conflict. For once, I would like to hear policy proposals from the peaceniks. They only ever have one position: No war. They never talk about causes of war, or under what conditions use of force would be justified. They never talk about international law, about refugees or genocide or dictatorship or other atrocious conditions they themselves would never endure. This inability or refusal to analyze situations independently reduces them to a farce. No matter whats going on, like a broken clock thats right twice a day, the answer is always the same: No war. And indeed, there may have been times when, like Vietnam, the war was based on complete fraud. Or Iraq, when conditions and actions of a dictator *did warrant* conflict, but we were nevertheless lied into it on a false pretext, and the aftermath was bungled. The peace marchers would be the very first ones to take up arms if they were transported to these conflict zones and they or their loved ones were in the path of destruction. They would be screaming to high heaven for America to help them. And they would find out that most of the time foreign fighters have requested U.S. military assistance, it has not been forthcoming. America picks and chooses its battles carefully. Though you wouldnt know it from all the whining about endless war. We let the Syrian conflict rage for over 2 years before finally deciding to jump in. We let over 100,000 people brutally die figuring it out for themselves. And we let ISIS mobilize into a fearsome fighting force that could take over a region. And American peaceniks sat on their asses throughout all of this suffering. All the rhetoric about quagmires and pre-emptive war and American imperialism would be out the window the minute instead of worrying about being handcuffed or arrested, they were facing barrel bombs, snipers, or a horde of black-clad Islamists. It is a peculiar disease of affluence, safety and laziness that keeps Americans from backing this Presidents very measured and careful response to the Islamic State.
Posted on: Sat, 13 Sep 2014 21:07:58 +0000
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