WAR AND .........

Every time we hear the news from Iraq or Afghanistan describing the ongoing war and the casualties incurred we, rightly so, get very upset. Civilized people throughout history looked with sadness and apprehension at "killings" so much so that the death penalty has been outlawed in many countries and States. War is the very last option that these civilized societies are willing to consider in confronting an enemy that is bent and determined to destroy our civilization. This enemy cannot and will not leave us alone to live our lives our way because they fear we will eventually "infect" them and "corrupt" their way of life. Such people do not recognize freedom. The most intransigent are those who do not subscribe to freedom of religion. Our objective in confronting this particular enemy is based on a two prong solution. First we go to war to stem the tide of these frequent, deadly and unprovoked attacks on us by destroying our "militant" enemy. Second we make ourselves very clear to the rest of the population that we mean them no harm, we respect their beliefs and way of life and expect them to feel the same way about us. That is a very difficult, but necessary, task.

Now the war part. Those who are anti-war at any price are very naive and, I dare to say, ignorant. Consider some lessons from history. The Roman Empire fell mainly because its "civilized" citizens lost the will to fight. Civilized societies have always had "uncivilized", often barbarian people surrounding them and ready to pounce on them whenever an occasion arises such as unwillingness of their perceived enemy to fight back. This was what happened to the Romans and a few other empires throughout history. Are we destined to be one of those empires? I certainly hope not. I, for one, am not a softie and am willing to fight any and all enemies, domestic or foreign, anywhere to preserve our civilization. How about you?

Michael Saleeby
Melbourne, FL
10/29/2006