When Our Hope for Peace is Tested

All of us want peace in the world. We don’t want our men and women in uniform facing the nightmare of war day after day. We know that every human being deserves respect and the right to make their own decisions. We also know that in order for this world to survive we need the cooperation of all of its citizens. All of this should logically lead to a great effort to find common ground with our most violent adversaries.

President Obama has made some effort along these lines. Many people disagree with him for reaching out to a country like Iran, but this is just the country we need to reach out to. During the recent demonstrations in Iran many people wanted the United States to take a firm stand in support of the demonstrators. This is what our heart feels when we see those brave people defying their government, but it is not the smart move. The Iranian leadership is hoping that we would do just that so they could claim that the demonstrations were instigated by American operatives. They could then crack down on the demonstrators claiming to be protecting their country from foreign influence. This is one of the times when you wish we could just send in the Marines and straighten these characters out. We talk about world peace but we, and I include myself in this, still want to dictate the terms and we are still too ready to fight when it gets too hard to talk. Dealing with Iran tests our hope for world peace.

The terrible events of 9/11 crushed us all. Unspeakable crimes were committed on innocent American citizens and we have the right and the duty to see that the perpetrators of those crimes are destroyed. I believe all Americans allowed ourselves to be whipped into a frenzy when we sanctioned the attack on Iraq. The United States of America is not supposed to attack another sovereign nation that does not pose a clear and immediate danger to its citizens. We let our leaders convince us that we had provocation, and we weren’t hard to convince. We wanted revenge and Iraq seemed like unfinished business. Our leaders were wrong and we were wrong. No matter what the outcome, we cannot be the aggressor; it is against what we are supposed to stand for.

We identified the enemy in Afghanistan. The Taliban denied our request to turn them over and they allowed them to plan more attacks from their country. This was a clear act of war and one we could not allow. That is the difference between Iraq and Afghanistan. I know this isn’t La La Land and there are people willing to do anything to destroy us. We have to deal with these people; my step-son is in Afghanistan as I write this. The enemy must be destroyed but we also need to show that we do not hate everyone in that part of the world. If we had helped build schools in the eighties with some of the money that we spent giving the Taliban weapons we would be in better shape now. If the children in the poor Middle East countries had an education that didn’t come from the medrasas built by the fundamentalist Muslims we may have fewer enemies now. Those medrasas have been the only education in many parts of the Middle East. They provide basic education, a strict adherence to their religion, and a hatred of the Israel and The West. If there had been other places for the children to learn the world may be quite different than it is today. Handling the fight in Afghanistan is a test of our hope for peace.

Today is the Fourth of July. Today America celebrates its birthday. It will be a day of picnics, speeches, and fireworks. It is a beautiful day here in the National Capital Area. From a weather stand point, it is shaping up to be the best Fourth of July in a long time. The North Koreans had other ideas. Pyongyang decided to mark today by firing seven ballistic missiles in defiance of United Nations resolutions. According to MSNBC seven SCUD missiles were fired early today and flew about 250 miles. This is far shorter than the previous threat to shoot them toward Hawaii. My first thought was to obliterate these characters before they launch something real, but that is not the way of peace. There must be another way. Our military claims to be able to counter any missile attack launched from North Korea and, unlike the Taliban, Kim Jong-Il is not willing to die for his god and he knows that he would not survive an attack on the United States. If he had the entire Russian nuclear arsenal at his disposal, he still would not survive because we have our nuclear strike submarines that would retaliate even if all of the United States was gone; one submarine could devastate every major city in North Korea. Kim Jong-Il knows this so he is up to something that doesn’t involve suicide. We have to figure out his game and back him down. This is a test of our hope for peace.

It is easy to sing songs about the world coming together. It is easy to hook up with people in other lands when we are all friendly. It is a little harder when you face someone from another land who doesn’t believe in what your country is doing. I had that experience when working overseas during the buildup to the Iraq invasion. It is sobering to find yourself in a position to have to defend an action that you don’t really believe in. We need to have those conversations on a diplomatic level and on a personal level and maybe there will be less reason for war.