Originally Posted by alix2.0
my grandfather was in the 8th airforce in ww2, and i consider him a murderer. war is no way to solve anything.
Certainly a noble thought (About war), one to which I happen to agree ... with a bit of reality thrown in.
The issue is that everybody would have to buy into it. Every despot, tyrant, power-hungry dictator, etc would have to go along, and I'm afraid I just don't see that happening any time in the near future.
I'm sure your grandfather would have rather been doing something other than spending his early years flying above Germany, helping drop bombs while Luftwaffe fighters and flak batteries were trying to kill him. I'm just as sure that he, as well as millions of others at that time felt their effort was worthwhile. Surely you're familiar with such things as Dachau, Auschwitz-Birkenau, Treblinka, et al, and the annexation of the Sudetenland, the division of Poland between Germany and the Soviet Union, Malmedy, Kristallnacht, the inslavement of hundreds of thousands in Organization Todt, and incountable other atrocities. If not, take some time to do some research and discover why Tom Brokow named the Americans of your grandfathers age the "Greatest Generation."
While you're at it, also look up Nanking, the Bataan Death March, the Kempeitai, what happened at Changjiao, what "Sook Ching" means to the Chinese related to Japanese actions.
Maybe the question I'm trying to ask, is in your mind there absolutely no circumstance in which military action is necessary? The young men and women of the 1940s answered a call of the highest order ... if the United States did not enter World War II, maybe not until 1946 or '47, and only if Germany obtained the ability and will to strike the continental United States significantly, would your grandfather and his fellows had been in mortal danger. But they felt compelled to do something, right a great wrong, liberate and free millions of enslaved people, stem the tide of aggression sweeping the world, and keep millions of others from suffering the same fate.
Was that the same spirit that affected the Marquis de Lafayette who as a Frenchman embraced the revolution occuring in America in the late 1700s and fought alongside George Washington, the young men of the Lafayette Escradrille, or those of the RAF's Eagle Squadrons in early WWII? People who had no personal stake, yet decided to place themselves in harm's way ... because they felt it was the right thing to do.
Again as already mentioned, appeasement has been tried, and all it does is imbolden the abitious. While in no condition to do so at the time, if during the Munich conferences prior to WWII Britain and France took a strong stand against Germany, in all likelihood much of the following conflageration could have been avoided (As little threat the two countries posed to Germany, frankly Germany was in no position to confront them either in 1938). Neville Chamberlin's absurd "Peace in our times" statement and concessions only hastened WWII by giving Germany a free and unobstructed hand in Europe. The end of the US's envolement in Vietnam in 1973 didn't end the war ... in 1975, North Vietnam launched a conventional warfare invasion and quickly conquered the South.
An interesting take on how effective strong-arm diplomacy can be in the right situation would be reading BLACK HAWK DOWN by Mark Bowden, about Somalia during the 1990s. Bowden, who's done a lot of research about the region, states that for better or worse, Somalis understood that rule came from a gun and he ventures that if the US and allies went into Somalia in force and not afraid to use it, they could have easily disposed of the warlords, restored order ... and as odd as it sounds, could have averted much of the famine that killed so many.
If it wasn't like people like your grandfather 200 years ago (and with all due respect to our British friends), you'd be driving on the left side of the road, throwing your luggage into the boot instead of the trunk, and getting a large order of chips with your Big Mac instead of fries ... or possiby speaking French or Spanish if Great Britain couldn't hold the colonies.
To return to the original point, as long as there are those that seek to profit by wielding a sword against their own people or their neighbors; as long as someone covets the assets/territory of another; as long as somebody seeks to deflect the deficiencies in their own policies by blaming external enfluences; as long as centuries-old grudges are held by one group against another ... then worldwide peace would seem ellusive.
In no way, shape, or form am I putting you or your feelings down, and in fact I appreciate your sentiment. It's just that over the last hundreds, if not thousands, of years, the world doesn't seem capable of accepting the idea. Sincerely, here's to you Alix ... I, along with several billion others honestly hope your dream comes true.
