Collegiate Times

Recently I wrote a column titled, “Some Americans really are unpatriotic” (CT, March 15), in which I described how a few of our countrymen attempted to block every effort to fight enemies of the free world. Whether advancing 9/11 conspiracy theories, as the repugnant Rosie O’Donnell did recently saying “it is impossible for a building to fall the way it fell without explosives being involved,” or calling for persecution of President Bush for war crimes, as one columnist for this page pathetically did earlier this week, hatred of America certainly remains a vibrant and accepted ideology among some of our fellow Americans.

Most of you were likely appalled at the idiocy of recent articles on this page titled: “US is world’s leading terrorist” (CT, March 27) and “Bush should be tried for war crimes in the Middle East” (CT, April 3).  The author purely hates Bush, is naïve and ignorant, and reads far too much Noam Chomsky, “foreign policy expert.” As a piece of advice to the author, you would be better suited establishing an identity for yourself doing something besides hating America and being completely intellectually dishonest—it merely demeans you.  

That being said, the actions and statements of anti-American individuals is particularly troubling at a time when the United States is the only force for good left in the world. Our traditional allies have embraced a peace-at-all-costs mentality in place of a peace-on-our-terms mentality, while rogue regimes, dictators and thugs like Iran, North Korea and Venezuela continue to press the free world for concessions. Why is it that the United States, the principal force for peace, not peace-at-all-costs, is demonized by Americans as among other things, the “world’s leading terrorist?” Where does this mentality of weakness, self-loathing, appeasement, and surrender come from?

Since World War II, European nations have been our allies through NATO, the United Nations and other alliances built on common interests, namely, maintaining a peaceful world. Whether struggling against the evils of communism or protecting the right of nations like Kuwait to exist, Europeans have joined in our efforts. The legacy of appeasement policies, like those applied to Adolf Hitler that enabled World War II, haunted Europe through much of the 20th century but also forged a spirit of willingness and commitment to help us confront enemies of the free world. Things began to change when Reagan confronted the Soviet Union. Europeans, and even some Americans, foreshadowed their behavior today. Hysteria broke out, and many argued that Reagan was going to create a nuclear holocaust through his efforts, and a better alternative was more appeasement.

In the 21st century, a European mentality has developed of weakness, self-loathing, appeasement and surrender. The situations involving the lead up to the liberation of Iraq, current Iranian defiance and the treatment of terrorists are prime examples.

Regardless how one views the Iraq war, and despite what we know today, there are facts that were agreed upon by all parties at the time of the invasion in 2003. The United Nations passed 16 resolutions against Saddam Hussein for human rights violations and failure to destroy his weapons of mass destruction and allow unfettered weapons inspections.

No one ever disputed Hussein’s failure to do so at the time and intelligence agencies around the world had reached consensus regarding Hussein’s weapons of mass destruc tion. Saddam continued to massacre his own people and the only reason he wasn’t more successful in these extermination campaigns, were the coalition aircraft, which Iraq attempted to shoot down repeatedly, patrolling the no-fly-zones. When the Gulf War ended, Saddam signed a cease fire agreement. Following the war, he violated every term of the agreement, meaning coalition nations were completely justified on that basis alone in resuming the conflict. 

Europe, not disputing the allegations made by the Bush and Clinton administrations and the United Nations, was simply uninterested in confronting Iraq. Whether or not the scale of U.S. policy was appropriate, Europe taking the threat of force off the table completely eviscerated any diplomatic effort to force Saddam’s compliance.          

The same thing is currently underway with Iran. After arguing diplomacy for years to deal with Iran’s nuclear ambitions, it appears to have been an utter failure. Why? Here’s an example: Iran has been holding 15 British sailors and Marines hostage that were captured in international waters. Besides the fact the there wasn’t a peep from the fake humanitarians around the world who accuse the United States of violating the Geneva Conventions while watching Iran parade British captives on television, a true violation, the most disturbing part of the whole episode has been the response of the British public. According to a poll from the London Sunday Telegraph, fully 48 percent of Britons oppose the use of force to rescue their hostages even as a last resort. Even as a last resort—even if they face execution, nearly half of all Briton’s would refuse to confront the Iranians.

Couple this with the fact the European Union, to avoid offending Muslims and incurring the wrath of Islamic terrorists, is offering the media suggestions on “non-offensive” phrases to use when covering terrorism. Among them, not using the word “jihad,” and as the European Union offered last year, the term “Islamic terrorism” is to be replaced by “terrorists who abusively invoke Islam.”

Clearly, the United States is on its own in the struggle to preserve freedom and liberty for the world. Rogue regimes, dictators and thugs, like those in Iran, North Korea and Venezuela as well as Islamic terrorists, see their primary opponent as the United States. The European Union poses a juicy opportunity, not a threat. Europeans are completely complacent, lulled into an appeasing, self-loathing slumber, unwilling to recall the terrible consequences of seeking peace through appeasement. Even if Europeans truly wanted to confront evil, the economic burden of the welfare state and accompanying mentality severely curtail that ability.

The United States has few allies left in the world willing to take a stand; for that reason, it is all the more troubling that Americans, out of ideological sympathy, frightening naivety, sheer stupidity, blinding hatred for President Bush, or the catching European appeasement mentality, attempt to undermine noble U.S. efforts, rewrite history and viciously propagandize against everything we do.

Is peace obtained through peace-at-all-costs—and the moral relativism and soullessness it entails—worth having, or living under? Undoubtedly, policymakers have made mistakes and our nation has done things in the past that were wrong, but the truth is, in a world where weakness fosters aggression, the United States is the only remaining force for much of what is right in the world today.