From: Jeff Knee (jeffknee_at_capturimage.com)
Date: Thu Mar 20 2003 - 12:36:38 PST
I disagree with the common notion among some folks that diplomacy is
something that should go on with Iraq, bringing peaceful remedies in the
end.
In recent history, it has been shown that diplomacy can make matters
worse in the end, not better. After World War I, Germany's Third Reich
was allowed years of military production because of diplomacy, which
resulted in 50 million deaths in the end -- predominantly civilians. It
was Britain's Neville Chamberlain whose diplomatic appeasement gave
Hitler ample encouragement to march over Poland, Czechoslovakia, FRANCE,
etc.
If, instead, Allied military warnings about the Third Reich were
heeded in the 1930s, and we had confronted Hitler with guns instead of
words, then the resulting death and destruction would have been far less
in the end. The same with Japan before Dec., 1941.
One could continue looking at Korea, and seeing we are today in a
dangerous mess because we let diplomacy produce a stalemate, instead of
letting the military finish the job back in the '50s. During the '90s,
the Clinton administration let arms control agreements distract us while
N. Korea produced nuclear weapons.
With Vietnam, many today mistakenly call it a military quagmire, but
was it really? It's quite likely Vietnam was such an American tragedy
because we let diplomats run the show.
I could go on, but the fact remains we are facing the war in Iraq
today because diplomacy won out back in '91. We should have let the
military finish the job. But George Bush let diplomacy get the best of
him back then, and now we're facing more civilian and military
casualties. For twelve years Saddam has used diplomacy and the U.N. for
the sole purpose of buying himself more time and weapons, while his
people suffered longer.
This doesn't mean I'm anti-U.N. or anti-diplomacy. But, we need to
recognize when it's appropriate and when it's being abused. I think the
Security Council should have military generals on it, not just windbag
diplomats collecting their pay stubs.
Signed,
Jeff Knee
Gainesville FL USA
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