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Points taken, but the realities are
1.Without WWI there would have been no Hitler.
2.Without Western intervention in the Russian civil war there would have been no cold war.
3.Without Nagasaki and Hiroshima there arguably would have been no nuclear arms race.
I've never accepted the line that to defeat a monster one must become a monster.
The Christians when persecuted, imprisoned and executed in Rome, did not rise up and defend themselves. They had an inner peace that was unbroken by a lion tearing them apart, or undimmed by Nero lighting them up as human torches.
Yet Christianity replaced Emperor worship as the Roman religion. Christianity "won" without a war. In actual fact, the persecution and executions were the greatest testimonies possible. Witnesses watching said "I want that" when viewing the inner peace.
Ghandi too, totally rejected violence and won. Achieving India's independence through nonviolent resistence.
Look, I argued for the Afgahni war. But I have problems with this one because of the premeditative nature of it. Premeditative invasions lead to Empires.
We can look at Rome and say, had the Gauls not sacked Rome (like Bin Laden "sacked" New York) the Roman Empire would not have arisen. Rome realised she was vulnerable, and changed policy. Invasion became commonplace.
What will America become?
I am leaning towards total pacifism, but struggle with it. I realise there are cases where it may prove an impossible benchmark for a flawed human to adhere to.
But surely we can all weep at the prospect of more human lives being needlessly destroyed, no matter who is to blame.
War is madness.
[ 01-03-2003, 02:15 AM: Message edited by: Yorick ]
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