The Warpfish Chronicles

"27 years on the planet, and I still haven't figured out what's going on."

War -- September 20th, 2001

The common stereotype was that they were arrogant and proud, and too well off for their own damn good. Especially here in Canada, where being quiet and humble is considered quite an asset. And, as such, they would go about carpet bombing everything. (Personally, I find this stereotype a bunch of bullshit, but, there are very many people who don't take the time to check their stereotype against the cold hard glare of reality. They take comfort in their prejudices, because it takes courage to challenge and tear them down. But, perhaps, that's for a different essay.)

I had a rather interesting discussion about this, in which the other person was convinced the Americans would go about slaughtering innocents in retaliation for this attack. That all the Americans had to do was 'arrest' the people involved and throw them in jail. That the US didn't have to wage war anymore.

I suppose this viewpoint grows out of the point that everybody holds the US to a higher standard, because of the nature of their press. I haven't heard many complaints about what the Chinese government does, or the Columbian government, or the Cogonese, or the Russian, or the Iranian, or a host of other governments that do horrible things to their citizens, and to those around them. Or to what everybody did to everybody else in World War II and beyond. The British in Ireland, Israel in the occupied territories.

Even now, as the US was poked and prodded, people forget how restrained the Americans have been. Remember the Beirut barracks bombing? Remember USS Cole? Remember the 1st World Trade Centre bombing?

But the US didn't lash out, it tried to fight clean, against those who would fight dirty. And it learned that it didn't work. Sometimes, you have to actually fight with both hands, and fight to win.

Is war horrible and terrible? Yes, it is. But, as it has been pointed out, sometimes peace is another term for surrender. In this case, we (meaning the democratic world) do not dare surrender to the barbarians that would destroy all of us. If this takes war, then it means war.

I want peace. We all want to live happy, peaceful lives, without conflict, without fear. But we've been spoiled as a generation, for we've never really had to fight for anything in our lives. Now, as the reward for our complacency, we've now been thrust into a new war, a hard war, in which it is very possible that none of us may win -- but surrender would be worse.

George W. Bush has been thrust by world events onto center stage. History will judge him, and the rest of the world. God help him, and God help us all, as the US goes to War.

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