A Perverse Legacy

Just as all progress is made by unreasonable men, all international progress is made by unilateral action. The concept of leadership by committee is so patently flawed that it has become the punch line to its own joke. History is resplendent with examples of the terminal indecisiveness of rule by the mob. The League of Nations was an unquestioned failure and the United Nations has degenerated into a bloated parody of its predecessor. The presumption that bureaucracy, with its factioned power and shared responsibility (or, put another way, its divergent self-interests and lack of accountability), can ever act to produce a beneficial result ignores a basic truth which, in the honest recesses of his heart, even the most indoctrinated of politicos intuitively knows to be true: all decisions are made at the individual level. It is an obvious fact inherent to the human condition and only the greatest of self-delusional fools would even presume to contest it. In a world governed by the use of force, the success and survival of nations is ultimately determined by the decision, one individual at a time, to kill and die for the ideology for which these nations stand. It is a significant historical footnote that no pacifist ever turned the tide of a battle and no nation has become great by surrender in war.

The citizens of these United States are told that we face the choice of multilateral inaction or acting alone against the will of the world. That this is a lie, that a host of like-minded true allies stand ready to join us, is irrelevant. Decisions are made on an individual level. Even if our nation were to act, completely alone, to remove an evil tyrant, to liberate an oppressed people, to end a reign of horror and genocide, and to permanently end a regime which actively supports global terrorism; even if we choose to bear the cost in blood and treasure completely alone, the entire world benefits. The math is simple. If the amount of evil in the world and its capacity to do harm is reduced, the lot of every man is improved, regardless of how many or how few endure the hardships necessary. This is not a secret to the leaders of other nations; it is why they oppose us. If we try and fail, they believe themselves better off because we are weakened. If we try and succeed, they are safer for our success. The only risk run by those who undermine us and refuse to lend assistance is that we will, in turn, remember their dishonorable behavior and deprive them of our largess and support in the future. This is a small and acceptable risk, they presume, because they believe that we Americans are ignorant, forgetful, and forgiving to a debilitating extent.

To our great national shame, many within our own populous act according to a similar reasoning; undermining their own country for personal gains. They even go so far as to suggest that we should not oppose tyranny and violence because we will then be the target of even greater violence. The price of peace, by this rational, would seem to be the acceptance of a life of sudden attacks and continued fear. To refuse to oppose evil because it might create hardship is a level of cowardice no decent man can conscience. When a viper is killed, it may thrash violently as it dies. This is not desirable but merely necessary. The alternative is a life of fear, a life spent sleeping with snakes.

It is not surprising that nations such as France and Germany denounce our efforts to create a better, safer world. They have spent decades living with the threat of terrorism, letting their own people die, accepting random murder as some macabre cost of doing business—and it is business, they are two of Iraq’s largest trading partners both in legal and illegal, banned commodities. After this long record of working with the enemy as their own people are slaughtered, the magnitude of betrayal and the indictment of their own failings which will finally be clearly revealed to their citizens if another nation succeeds in curbing the threat of terrorism, in making the world safer where they have fear to try, must be terrifying for these foreign potentates to contemplate. Instead, they choose to ignore facts, to ignore that America was attacked first and provoked into a war which we did not desire.

The perverse legacy of a united Germany and French cowardice continues. Those in opposition often accuse others of doing what they themselves actually do. The spineless core of an irrelevant old Europe, this fanco-prussian Axis of Weasel, claims the U.S. desires war while it is their own show of weakness that gives the enemy hope and, through their enabling delay, undermines the chance of actual peace. They claim the U.S. acts because of a desire for cheap oil while the true concern is protecting their own “sweet-heart” oil deals with Iraq. And now, finally, in an action best described as consorting with the enemy, the same nations which condemn an ‘imperialist’ America propose a plan which would place Iraq as a protectorate territory under their control. It is most amazing that these nations claim credibility while they refuse to honor the N.A.T.O. alliance and act to defend the nation of Turkey, which borders Iraq. Let there be no misunderstanding, by refusing to honor their sworn allegiances, the franco-prussians are holding the civilian population of an entire country hostage to their own political aspirations. These leaders who drape themselves with self-righteous rhetoric are in actuality betraying their oaths and placing personal power over innocent lives. They are, indeed, engaged in every perfidious act they accuse the U.S. of perpetrating.

Our president has made clear, and rightfully so, that those who are not with us are against us. When action is taken: the U.N. will be proven irrelevant, France, Germany and their ilk demonstrate their untrustworthiness as allies and members of N.A.T.O., and a vast host of nations will stand united with us, a coalition of the unilateral willing to act and make the world a better place. Let us then shed ourselves of so-called allies who consort with the enemy and appease evil and let us now move forward, as a sovereign free nation, protecting and defending itself, to improve the lot of all mankind. While others wring their hands, awash in uncertain fears, we now begin to solve problem.

02/03