Mistaken Methods
By Andrew Ping, Staff Writer
WASHINGTON — To enforce peace in Kosovo, the U.N. was willing to bomb them and send in troops. To prevent Saddam Hussein from flying warplanes in his country because he might kill people, we and England drop bombs on Iraq. Does anyone else see a problem with these methods?
Bombs, warplanes, troops, and all that go with war are for the defense of our nation. At least, the Constitution allows for the organization of army and navy for the defense of the United States. Why, then, are we using them to bludgeon other countries into submission?
In the past, war was a somewhat clear phenomenon. A group that poses a threat to the U.S. or its allies attacks, and then they are fought until they surrender. War was total, and the enemy was deprived of all power to make war.
Someone got the mistaken idea that our military exists as a political option. That is, if the peace talks are going badly, we can drop a few bombs and shoot a few people, and that will fix it. In the case of Iraq, if after a war we don't like the actions of a leader, we can bomb him until he does what we like.
The major problem with this philosophy is that it doesn't work. Peace can not be enforced at gun point; such a method will eventually fail. We can not bomb or shoot years or even centuries of ethnic hatred out of fighting factions, not unless we're willing to kill them all. Obviously we're not going to wipe out other nations, so the end result is that all sides involved will be angry with the U.N., and especially the United States, since we've time and time again proved ourselves happy to spill American blood and waste taxpayers' money on other people's wars.
Given that we can not cause ethnic unity in foreign countries by shooting them or blowing them up, we should use the money elsewhere. We have a social security system that needs funds badly. There's a huge national debt draining the nation's vitality through exorbitant interest payments, and our education system needs a lot of work. Finally, every U.S. citizen and business would appreciate a tax break.
Every last cent we have could be spent on military equipment and sent to stop every ethnic conflict in the world, but the peace would last only until our ammunition ran out. Let's use the money to build up our nation rather than irrationally try to promote peace by threat of bloodshed.
Lies and Abuse
|
and sent him to the Senate for trial on the merits. |
BERKELEY - Watching the impeachment debates, I saw a clear pattern. The Democrats who support President Clinton insisted that impeaching him goes against the will of the American people, and that we should strive for a new, more cooperative political structure that is not so strongly bipartisan.
|
Let us not be distracted by the tactics of a slick politician and a proven liar. In the impeachment debates, those in favor did not appeal to the emotions to persuade. They did not try to defend wrong doing.
|