10. You can’t save innocent people by bombing innocent people. If
that seems to be the only way to solve a problem, you’re in the wrong
place at the wrong time.
9. The man in the White House leading the fight against the Serbs is
well known to be a congenital liar. Why in the world would we fight and
die based on his version of the facts?
8. U.S. intervention hasn’t brought us a single unqualified success
in decades — not in Somalia, Rwanda, Libya, Nicaragua, Panama, Iraq,
Afghanistan, Lebanon, the Philippines, South Africa, Vietnam, Korea,
Cuba, or anywhere else. In every case, the original reason for the
intervention still exists (as with Saddam Hussein) or the enemy has been
replaced by one that’s equally bad (as in the case of Afghanistan or
South Africa).
7. The U.S. armed the Afghan “freedom fighters,” Saddam Hussein, and
Manuel Noriega (among others) — all of whom became enemies that had to
be attacked. Now the U.S. is supporting the Kosovo Liberation Army,
which people in our own government have called a terrorist organization.
Does this mean we will be attacking the Kosovars next?
6. When Benjamin Franklin said the Constitutional Convention had
given us “a republic, if you can keep it,” he was reminding us that the
Roman Republic became the Roman Empire and collapsed. The Romans gave
too much power to their leaders, who used it to create an Empire through
foreign conquest. The American Republic has long since become the
American Empire. It’s time to return to the peace-loving Republic.
5. The foreign adventures of our Republican and Democratic leaders
have led to people in all parts of the world hating America. Don’t we
have enough enemies by now? Or must we turn our few remaining friends
against us?
4. It may have been “a dangerous world out there” for others, but it
wasn’t for us until the meddling of our leaders made it so. Now it
is extremely dangerous to be an American — thanks to a series of
Republican and Democratic Presidents. How long will it be before Serbs
start smuggling bombs into America? (Doesn’t anyone ever wonder why
terrorists target us and not Switzerland?)
3. American intervention escalated a stupid, endless European
conflict into World War I — which then devastated Germany, creating the
despair that led to Adolf Hitler and World War II. Have our leaders
learned nothing from history? (The answer isn’t just “no;” they
deliberately ignore any history that interferes with their lust
for more power.)
2. By allowing the President to fight undeclared wars, the
Republicans and Democrats in Congress have violated their Constitutional
oaths. It’s time to respect the Constitution and stop allowing
Presidents to suck us into wars that are none of our business.
And the No. 1 reason to get the U.S. out of Yugoslavia completely and
immediately. …
1. If we have a moral responsibility to fight every evil in the
world, you’d better kiss your children goodbye and prepare for wars in
Rwanda, Zaire, China, Russia, Croatia, Northern Ireland, South Africa,
Turkey, the Sudan, Algeria, Kashmir, Angola, Sierra Leone and many other
countries. Our volunteer military can’t handle them all, encouraging a
return of the draft
— and your children and your grandchildren probably won’t be exempt
next time. Airstrikes can’t do the job, so your children will be
slogging through the mud of Europe, Asia, or Africa — sleeping in
filthy foxholes, risking their lives as they become hardened killers. Is
that what you want?
Here’s a bonus reason to get out of Yugoslavia — the most important
reason of all. …
War is almost always the first resort of politicians. But for a free
country, it should be the very last resort. America should be the symbol
of liberty and peace — not big government and war-making. Why does it
seem that only Libertarians understand this on issue after issue after
issue? Why is it so hard for Democratic and Republican politicians to
resist war consistently? Are they so in love with big government that
they will use any excuse to make it bigger?
You don’t need to reply to the question. We all know the answer.
How not to think about Syria
Josh Hammer