Requiescat in Pacem

I’ve read that Colonel Jeff Cooper has passed away. His was a voice of reason amidst a cacophony of politically correct foolishness. When I first started reading him, in his column in the back pages of Guns and Ammo, I thought him a barbarian. He offended me. Yet, rather like that car wreck on the side of the road, for reasons I didn’t understand, I just had to look - to read him. Several years passed before I realized that I had been so ‘educated’ by the forces of socialism and political correctness that I could no longer readily recognize truth when I saw it. It looked crude, brutish, unrefined, unthinking. But Col. Cooper’s writing style and command of the English language eventually forced me to realize that here was someone who did think - and thought clearly. I didn’t always agree with him, but by God he called it like he saw it and he never candy-coated it. I owe him for that. To repay that debt, I’ve sworn to eschew political correctness and tell the truth in as unvarnished a way as I am capable. It is not easy. Anyone who’s ever tried it will tell you that. I am by nature a diplomat. I detest confrontation and crave conciliation and consensus. But the time for that is past now. Jeff Cooper's blunt, soldierly recitation of the truth allowed me to tear away my blinders and see - and realize - the gravity of the situation that the citizens of the United States are in. May the God who he frequently invoked and petitioned to save our Republic, now take him to his bosom and grant him rest.

Well, back to politics...

It has already started: George Bush ‘lost’ North Korea. Those who claim that the current administration failed to stop Kim Jong Il are the same ones who rant about our war of conquest in Iraq (which, incidentally, is the only one of the original axis of evil which does not and will not have a nuke). And when pressed for a plan of their own, these same people point to the feckless, nay, reckless 1994-style diplomacy of Messrs. Clinton, Albright and Carter which resulted in the ‘agreement’ whereby NK was allowed to go about developing nukes so long as they did it quietly and didn’t embarrass the U.S. Then there is South Korea which is more afraid of Northern refugees than of being nuked. There was a time when I could laugh at antics like these. That time is long gone now. These people should go buy the World at War and watch it.

Away down south in...

Argentina!

For vacation, my wife and I went to Buenos Aires. We noticed immediately what a people, who are prisoners in their own country, do to demonstrate some kind of resistance. They graffiti. During much of the past 50 years, Argentina has been a military dictatorship. The few democratic governments have been corrupt to the point of farce. During the ’60 and ‘70s, many people who opposed the various military juntas ‘disappeared’ never to be seen again. People vented their feelings on the walls of virtually every building. I noticed one major difference between the U.S. and the third world through the content of graffiti. Almost all of it in BA was political in nature. In Philadelphia, it is essentially visual litter. Right there I saw how good we’ve got it at home. Also, every Friday, the mothers of those who ‘disappeared’ silently demonstrate outside the Presidential Residence, the Casa Rosa – the pink house.

There appears to be a good size middle class in Buenos Aires which is a hopeful sign for the future of Argentina. Sadly, intelligent economic policy – as in the U.S. – is often sacrificed on the altar of Politics.

One troubling thing that I’d not seen since Rome in 1984 was children, six or eight years old, begging aggressively in the streets. Not many, but it was disconcerting nonetheless.

Since politics caused the de-coupling of the Argentine Peso from the U.S. dollar in 2001, their economy tanked and is now rebounding. Fantastic deals on local merchandise are available. A twenty minute cab ride is $10.00 (Argentines use the dollar symbol for their peso – American prices are noted ‘U$S’) – roughly U$S3.00. One holdover from the old monetary system is that most ATMs dispense US dollars as well as the Argentine Peso. There were many banks that went under in 2001-2 and I saw something I’d not seen at home before, bank branches empty and shuttered on major streets.

I never fail to be amazed at how polite locals will be if you have even a rudimentary grasp of their language and try to speak to them in that language. If you apologize for not speaking it well and use lots of “please” and “thank you”, most people will go out of their way to help you. (Except the French)

We stayed at one hotel – The Faena – that was so cool, so hip that many of the waiters and waitresses, doormen and chambermaids simply sneered at dumpy American tourists even as we supported their livelihoods. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie would have been welcome, but yours truly was an eyesore, apparently. A very European hotel, indeed. It's a shame really, because some of the staff were beyond delightful, they were actually friendly. Rather schizophrenic, but I suppose that is the nature of hip, trendy and cool these days.

Random thoughts

It’s been a while. I’ve been busy, first, preparing for – second, taking – finally, getting re-acclimated to being back from – vacation.

Some thoughts while I’ve been away:

I’d never heard it before, but, in a piece for the National Review, Jonah Goldberg mentioned Orwell’s Dictum:

“Some ideas are so stupid only an intellectual could believe them.”

Isn’t that great? I must make a note to myself to re-read Orwell.

When I was a kid I was utterly enthralled by the British production The World at War. It aired in the states in 1975 I believe and from the first episode, I was riveted. For several years I’ve wanted to purchase the DVD set, but it was $140 and I just couldn’t bring myself to drop that kind of coin. A couple of weeks ago I saw it on sale online for $75 – so I snatched it up.

It has reminded me, forcefully, of a several things that are pertinent to our current situation in the world. First, the people who throw around the term “Nazi” don’t have the slightest idea what they’re talking about. I have been reminded what a real “Nazi” is and I’ve decided that should anyone ever call me a Nazi, they will be given ten seconds to retract the statement and apologize for it before I physically make them do so.

Second, taking out dictators before they start wars is, ultimately, MUCH cheaper in terms of treasure and human misery than waiting for “just cause”. Just ask the French, Dutch, British and Polish.

I firmly believe today that had Franklin Roosevelt invaded Germany in the spring of 1939 and removed Herr Hitler we would have had a similar struggle to the one in which we find ourselves today in Iraq; and FDR would have been, perhaps, more viciously pilloried than our current President is. However, thanks to the gift of hindsight, we know that he would have been heroically and salvifically right and correct to have done it.

Mark my words, future generations will look at the administration of George W. Bush and shake their heads that more people did not see what he saw.

Finally – and this is crucial – “The People” are ultimately responsible for the actions of their governments. When we consider ‘responsibility’ in the business sense, we imagine someone being fired or punished in some way when things go wrong. It is exactly the same on the national and international scale. The people of Germany and Japan didn’t vote to invade their neighbors, torture and commit genocide, but it was their homes and businesses that were destroyed by bombs, who died in firestorms and of starvation or in reprisals. The people paid the cost and in the end analysis that makes them responsible. This is something we must bear in mind today.

To say that we should treat the Iraqis as victims of Saddam, while true, ignores the bigger truth that they have paid, do pay today and will continue for some time to pay for the crimes and behavior of the previous government of Iraq. For the United States to have said that we must not bomb Bagdad to remove insurgent strongholds is very kindhearted, but we see that almost three-quarters of a million people have died anyway since we first went in. What has been spared, really? What kindness have we actually performed? To have flattened Bagdad and removed the places for the insurgents to breed might have led to fewer deaths. But, of course, war is fought on the front pages these days. And if we do, that battlefield is where we will lose. Political Correctness kills.

We in the West today are already far down the exact same path that we went down in the 1930s. Actually, it’s much worse today. At least in 1941, after we were attacked, we fought an all-out, no-holds-barred total war. Today, we don’t want to hurt anyone and we don’t want anyone to hate us. It is human nature to not learn from mistakes. It is human nature to just hope that everything will turn out OK. It is human nature to say that everything would be OK if you just let Mr. So-and-So have what he wants – and to blame the violence on those who actively oppose the forces of evil. Even as they were marched into the gas chambers, people said, “Oh, they won’t hurt us. Why would they do that?” Astounding really.

Either we are going to fight a war, or we are going to enforce the law. In one scenario we obliterate the enemy and those with whom he allies himself. In the other, we serve warrants on people who publically behead our soldiers and countrymen and sternly warn them to show up for their court dates.