Hope in times of war
By H. D. S. Greenway | Tuesday, December 25, 2007 | The Boston Globe
“…Alas, the world has not yet been made safe for pacifism. War and resistance were midwives to American nationhood. “Gentlemen may cry peace,” said Patrick Henry in 1775. But he asked: ‘Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?’ The Revolution, the Civil War, and especially World War II hold special places in American folklore. World War II was America’s last, uncomplicated victory.
As I enter my 50th year in the journalist’s trade, having reported on at least a dozen armed conflicts around the world, I have become pessimistic about the American imperium, and America’s militarization of foreign policy. During the overarching struggle of the post-WWII generation – the Cold War – America was most successful when force, necessarily preserved and at the ready, was not actually used. In the other geopolitical earthquake of our time, the end of European colonialism, again, we were most successful when we led by example rather than forcing our ideals upon a reluctant world. Americans are not good empire builders….”…BS
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