America Strikes Back

[premier1]

After a half century, lessons from war

the following commentary appeared in the Portland Oregonian, it states, inter alia;

11/25/01

David Reinhard

Violence never solves a thing.

Violence only begets violence.

We first must understand what causes others to lash out against the United States.

We must address the conflict's root causes and win the hearts and minds of our enemies.

You didn't hear much of this kind of talk during World War II. Nobody then seemed particularly interested in "understanding" Hitler. Nobody today argues that Franklin Roosevelt needed to address the "root causes" of Nazism and Hitler's "Final Solution."

But, even after terrorists murdered thousands of American innocents on Sept. 11, many in the peace community still cling to their calcified give-peace-a-chance orthodoxies

Violence never solves a thing? It defeated Hitler and the Nazis, along with the Empire of Japan.

Violence only begets violence? Actually, violence begat peace and, ultimately, freedom across Europe.

We must first understand what causes others to lash out against the United States? No, first came the utter defeat of those who waged war against the United States.

We must first address the conflict's root causes and win the hearts and minds of our enemies?

No, we identified evil and won the war on the land, air and sea. Hearts and minds came later.

Think about it: Little more than 50 years after V-E Day, a German Navy destroyer flies the American flag before a U.S. battleship named after Winston Churchill.

The Germans -- now allies -- express their solidarity with the United States after we're attacked by forces that are implacable anti-Semites. Go figure.

Maybe we ought to give war a chance.

to read the entire column:

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