The holiday spirit of America expresses itself in the desire to bomb other nations. Merry Christmas, World!
- surging into Afghanistan,
- bombing Pakistan
- bombing Yeman,
- General Hake’s ode to technological war (“High-tech, low-risk wars“), and
- yodeling for war with Iran.
The last of these is esp fine yuletide reading: “There’s Only One Way to Stop Iran“, Alan J. Kuperman (Director, Nuclear Proliferation Prevention Program at U Texas at Austin), op-ed in the New York Times, 23 December 2009. Learning nothing from our rush to war in Iraq — no time for diplomacy about Saddam’s WMDs! — he writes…
Negotiation to prevent nuclear proliferation is always preferable to military action. But in the face of failed diplomacy, eschewing force is tantamount to appeasement. We have reached the point where air strikes are the only plausible option with any prospect of preventing Iran’s acquisition of nuclear weapons. Postponing military action merely provides Iran a window to expand, disperse and harden its nuclear facilities against attack. The sooner the United States takes action, the better.
Nobody reading our newspapers can doubt that the truth of the multiculturalists’ insight: America is no longer a Christian nation.
Some comments on Kuperman’s essay
- “Another Bad Argument For Iran Strike: ‘The Worst Might Not Happen!’“, Matt Duss, ThinkProgress, 24 December 2009
- “Merry Christmas, Mahmoud“, Heather Hurlburt, Democracy Arsenal, 24 December 2009
“Nobody reading our newspapers can doubt that the truth of the multiculturalists’ insight: America is no longer a Christian nation.”
………………
As I retire for the night, as the clock shows here, we have moved into the Christian’s most celebrated Day, I must say it is hopeful to read the above.
The strongest pretense in my view is the last one to disappear:
“America, the Christian Nation.”
….that too was lost along the Road somewhere. But trouble me not with such realities.
Evil is the product of the ability of humans to make abstract that which is concrete.
Jean-Paul Sartre
Greg
Gunnery Sergeant Hartman: If you ladies leave my island, if you survive recruit training, you will be a weapon. You will be a minister of death praying for war. — Full Metal Jacket (1987)
You need to look again at what just happened in Yemen. You’re missing some names.
Oh, these pro-war arguments are most Christian. Ask any Native American.
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FM reply: We have a winner for best of thread.
Yemen bombing -oh no , deja vu , despair …
.. cant the US hurry up and run out of money ?
This effort to contrast Christianity with assertion of war efforts reminds me of the story about the atheist who was being chased by a grizzly bear:
You don’t need to outrun the bear, only to be faster than the slowest camper.
Anyone who says “There is only one way…” cannot be believed or trusted.
I would say that there is no reason to try to pre-empt Iran. If they do achieve a nuclear weapon, every existing nuke in the world will have every Iranian city added to its target list. If a terrorist does manage to smuggle a nuke somewhere and detonate it, every nation will disavow it was their’s so fast, and no one will object when Iran is punished, however it is done. If Iran or a terrorist does nuke someone, then America will no longer be the nuclear boogie man to world.
It is more likely that if Iran produces a nuke, that they will no longer feel that it wards off the USA and Israel – they will realize that while they are in the ‘haves’ club now, that membership comes with a cost. Israel has never used. Pakistan has never used. India has never used. Russia and China have never used. This is not a coincidence – each of these countries realizes that their weapon is but a deterrent, while its use is a suicide pact. Iran will know that giving a nuke to a stateless entity who will use it is like killing all Iranians. They are not that crazy.