(This was written in July, 2003.)
As the first shots have just been fired by coalition forces in Iraq, the shrill voices attacking President Bush have risen in pitch. This situation reminds me of a time our Nation once promised itself that it would never forget.
Then, an aggressor nation, recently defeated by a coalition of nations, was subjected to a highly restrictive set of sanctions designed to prevent it from attacking its neighbors again. That nation, however, routinely violated those sanctions and armed itself with the most dangerous weapons then available. The international institutions created to prevent war were ineffective. Many of the leading nations of those institutions were themselves selling questionable material to the sanctioned nation at huge profit to themselves--and saw these issues as opportunities jockey for power within those institutions. The nation in question made no secret of its plans and had already shown its ruthless disregard for law and human rights against its own citizens. Yet, ambitious politicians saw the opportunity for personal gain if they presented themselves to be on the side of peace and possible risk to their careers if they called the foreign dictator to account for his actions. They maintained that diplomacy was enough to curb the actions of a man who did not want peace and would not honor any agreement. Although many political leaders of the West could see what was coming, none was prepared to take the personal political risk of calling for action.Then, Adolf Hitler invaded Poland.
Today the stakes are higher and the weapon much more deadly, but political ambitions remain the same. Men of commitment and courage, who will do what is right for others, regardless of the cost to themselves, are the rarest of human beings. As a combat veteran of Vietnam and the father of a daughter in an area targeted by terrorists, I am honored that our Nation has just such a leader in George W. Bush. Our country is more important than the personal ambitions of politicians thirsting for higher office. If more of them could see that, both they and we would be better off.
As the first shots have just been fired by coalition forces in Iraq, the shrill voices attacking President Bush have risen in pitch. This situation reminds me of a time our Nation once promised itself that it would never forget.
Then, an aggressor nation, recently defeated by a coalition of nations, was subjected to a highly restrictive set of sanctions designed to prevent it from attacking its neighbors again. That nation, however, routinely violated those sanctions and armed itself with the most dangerous weapons then available. The international institutions created to prevent war were ineffective. Many of the leading nations of those institutions were themselves selling questionable material to the sanctioned nation at huge profit to themselves--and saw these issues as opportunities jockey for power within those institutions. The nation in question made no secret of its plans and had already shown its ruthless disregard for law and human rights against its own citizens. Yet, ambitious politicians saw the opportunity for personal gain if they presented themselves to be on the side of peace and possible risk to their careers if they called the foreign dictator to account for his actions. They maintained that diplomacy was enough to curb the actions of a man who did not want peace and would not honor any agreement. Although many political leaders of the West could see what was coming, none was prepared to take the personal political risk of calling for action.Then, Adolf Hitler invaded Poland.
Today the stakes are higher and the weapon much more deadly, but political ambitions remain the same. Men of commitment and courage, who will do what is right for others, regardless of the cost to themselves, are the rarest of human beings. As a combat veteran of Vietnam and the father of a daughter in an area targeted by terrorists, I am honored that our Nation has just such a leader in George W. Bush. Our country is more important than the personal ambitions of politicians thirsting for higher office. If more of them could see that, both they and we would be better off.
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