Sometimes War Is the Answer

Have you seen the bumper sticker that reads, "War Is Not the Answer?". I saw one the other day and thought to myself, "That's a nice sentiment but it is a simplistic, ill-informed slogan". In truth, war sometimes is the answer. There are many anti-war protest groups, many of them formed on American university campuses, which continue to believe that war never changes anything and should never be considered, regardless of the consequences of not waging war. There are few people who are pro-war but, when used as a last resort, war can often be the answer. To believe that if we laid down our arms, all of our enemies would reciprocate, is naïve and explains why most anti-war groups come from the Left of the political spectrum. Most of those who hold these beliefs are idealists who continue to advance the theory that man is intrinsically good by nature despite historical evidence to the contrary. Would pacifism have defeated the evil of Nazi Germany or imperialist Japan? Would the communist "Evil Empire" of the Soviet Union have collapsed without the threat of missiles deployed on the European continent and the buildup of the American nuclear arsenal? Would Hitler, Tojo or Stalin have abandoned their militaristic actions if the rest of the world had simply laid down their arms? Of course not. Our enemies, you see, understand that war can change things. This is the reason that Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda have declared war on America and the Western world. They realize that war is the answer for them to achieve their goals of conquest. They will not capitulate to pacifism and bumper stickers.

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has stated that he would meet unconditionally with representatives of all the world's regimes, including Cuba's Castro, Iran's Ahmadinejad, and North Korea's Kim Jong-Il. He believes that all problems can be resolved through dialogue and negotiations. Once again, this is a naïve point of view. Former US president Jimmy Carter recently traveled to the Middle East to meet with the leaders of the terrorist group Hamas in order to engage in "negotiations". The only thing he accomplished, as Hamas readily proclaimed, was to give credibility to an organization which has the stated goal to eliminate the state of Israel. Neville Chamberlain, the Prime Minister of Great Britain during the 1930's, believed that he could negotiate with Hitler and keep his country out of war with Germany. Joseph Stalin signed a non-aggression pact with Hitler believing that he could spare Russia from the militaristic ambitions of Nazi Germany. Both men came to realize, almost to the point of the ruin of their respective countries, that negotiation was not the answer it appeared to be. Those who hold ambitions of conquest, whether they be Julius Caesar, Adolph Hitler, Mao Tse-Tung, or Osama bin Laden, have no interest in a negotiated settlement. In most cases, negotiations solve nothing until a military victory has been achieved.

Another characteristic of the anti-war Left is that they tend to believe that the aggressor is the victim. Many believe that America's foreign policies brought on the attacks of 9/11 and that the problems in the Middle East are the fault of America or her ally, Israel. Islamic extremists also want the world to believe this lie. The decline of the Islamic civilization in the Middle East has been advancing for many years and the region's only economic development was due to the birth of the oil industry thanks to the investment by American and other Western companies. Without this economic intervention, the region would be nothing but a poor, undeveloped, uneducated Third-World ghetto. Al-Qaeda has taken advantage of this state of affairs to wage a war of terrorism against the democratic non-Islamic governments of the world. Unfortunately, the "War is not the Answer" crowd has bought into the myth of American repression of the Middle East. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reed, and most of the Democrat party leadership have all declared that America should withdraw from Iraq and then the Iraqis will solve all their problems created by our invasion on their own. Never mind that history has shown that precipitous retreat from a battle usually results in catastrophic consequences. Those who want to compare the war in Iraq to the war in Vietnam refuse to recognize the horrendous results from the American military withdrawal in the previous war which resulted in the slaughter of millions in South Vietnam and its neighbor Cambodia.

America cannot simply unconditionally withdraw from Iraq, return all of the troops home, and hope to peacefully negotiate a settlement with Iran, Syria, Al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups. America's military has suffered more than 4,000 deaths during the war in Iraq and, as terrible as that may be, a greater tragedy would be for us to lose the war. We must do whatever it takes to win. Bumper stickers and slogans will never lead to peace. Sometimes war is the answer. War is the answer when it results in defeating an enemy which murders innocents with suicide bombings, beheadings, and other acts of terrorism. War is the answer when people can freely elect their representatives, live in peace, and strive to achieve their dreams of happiness.