Posted by
John Finnigan on Thursday, May 24, 2007 12:47:58 PM
When I was in college back in the old days, the 1980s, people of conscience were engaged in confronting the evil of South African apartheid. The evil of apartheid was worth confronting to most of us at most of the universities in the country. However, South Africa was a far more stable country under apartheid then it is today.
A reporter for the Los Angeles Times asked President Bush today if the middle east wouldn’t be far more stable if we wouldn’t haven’t changed the regime in Iraq. I find that logic astounding.
We were very successful confronting Soviet style evil and paid a very heavy price for it. Yet, arguably, the world might be more stable today if the Soviets were still a real superpower. I personally don’t miss the Soviets and the evil they represented.
President Clinton let more then half a million black Africans die in genocidal attacks in Rwanda in the 1990’s and essentially did nothing about it. I think that was a huge mistake. By letting genocide run wild in Rwanda back then the country is stable enough today not to concern the world’s power brokers and press.
Today, we face a different kind of evil then we faced with the Soviets and South African Apartheid. Islamic fascist terrorism is worth confronting I believe. If we hadn’t confronted the Soviets or Apartheid the world probably would be more stable today, yet I’m glad both are gone.
It’s much easier to retreat into Starbucks, have a latte and feel good about our wealth then it is to confront evil head on. Evil doesn’t like to be confronted and the more virulent strains of evil strike back and doesn’t play by civilizations rules.
Evil Islamic Terrorist chaos will kill millions in the Middle East if not confronted. After it kills millions in the Middle East it will kill tens of millions in Europe and North America and India. Our friends in South America, Australia and Asia will not escape either.
We keep hoping these evil men will be seduced by wealth and freedom and stop their evil ways. I doubt they will.
We in the west seem to have lost our belly for confronting evil, especially if it is costly in too much of our own blood or gold. We like to work out our differences with evil and negotiate terms and conditions of coexistence.
Confronting evil is incredibly costly and may cost us our lives and the gold in my 401K fund. We can pay the price now, or pay the price later. I vote we pay the price now.
John