Europeans Are Not Cowards. It's That We Know War.

The International Herald Tribune ^ | January 28, 2004 | Fletcher Crossman

[quidnunc]

Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina – Listening to Richard Perle on the radio recently was a little hard for a European like me. Perle, a former chairman of the Defense Policy Board, stated that European nations "do not have the most courageous of instincts," with the implication that America has to intervene in international affairs because Europeans are afraid to. Perle's comments take place against a chorus of similar sentiments to be heard on America's airwaves in recent months.

An average listener would be forgiven for believing that Europeans are a cowardly bunch of ungrateful wimps, whose anti-American bombast is a merely a cover for their complicity with evil regimes.

It may be true. But as a European myself — I'm from Britain — it doesn't feel true. And I wonder if our cultural disconnect comes from two very different experiences of war.

-snip-

[Lucky Dog]

It a computer virus that is going around... The C-Nile virus.

[StormEye]

"You are thinking of the wiz kid whose name escapes me. hmmmmm, LBJ sec of defense, hmmmmm..."

You're thinking of Robert Strange MacNamara. (Yes his middle name is really Strange.) This guy is guilty of incredible incompetence and possibly outright disloyalty to our country. Over fifty thousand Americans are dead because of this jerk.

[cibco]

"I'm going to ping you on an article I'll be posting here on FreeRepublic over the next few days -- I'll think you'll find it interesting."

Could you ping me too?

BTW my first term of service was under McNamara. I served the country not the man. ;0)

[gogipper]

On this web-site we follow the conservative approach which leads to discussing ideas. You appear to be following the liberal approach which is to discuss emotions and to make personal name-calling attacks.

[noutopia]

Kennedy sent our troops to Veitnam and LBJ sent more,Nixon got us out.

[HoustonCurmudgeon]

The problem with Europeans is not that they know war, it's that they are unwilling to do anything about a problem until it escalates into a war.

[Monti Cello]

You undermine your credibility with that tagline.

By what measure is Canadian Alberta either strong or free?

[gogipper]

McNamara..

[cricket]

Too bad so many people cannot grasp just what it means when a civil society decides it is not worth defending itself against the barbarous.

Not a matter of 'knowing war'; but surely a matter of knowing what is at stake; and why, when confronted with evil; there is no choice.

[HitmanLV]

This is very true and can't be stressed enough. I remember talking with a young friend of mine about this very topic, and his position was somehow that the europeans 'knew' war better than americans, given their history over the last couple hundred years and most notably since the start of WW1.

This is really simplistic, and as you point out, the average euro doesn't necessarily know war better than the average american.

I stunned the youngster, though, when I asked if he felt that Americans somehow knew better than the europeans the horror and injustice of racism, given our nation's relatively recent history with the vile practice.

Caught in a position where his reasoning would naturally bring him to a conclusion that Americans would be naturally more insightful than Europeans, he exhaled and gave me a 'hmmmmmm,' - at this point I dismissed him and told him to get back to work on his mental housecleaning.

The look in his eye was priceless. I was mean, but sometimes mean is appropos.

[saradippity]

Please ping me when you post the article too. I appreciate the comments of you,mr.pink and wonder warthog.Thanks.

[Alberta's Child]

That's why some make it through that artillery salvo unscathed, while someone two feet away is turned to red mist.

And sometimes you die sleeping in a Marine barracks in Beirut -- because for some reason that nobody can ever seem to explain, the guards at the guard post don't have any ammunition in their guns when the suicide bomber drives his truck through the gate.

I make this point because THIS, more than anything else, is what kept me out of the service.

[11B3]

Out of the 40 million europeans that died in WWII, 25 million of them went into the showers and ovens of the Third Reich. 6 million of them were non-combatants from the start (the Jews). Nearly 10 million Germans died at the hands of the Russians. We lost a bunch, but nowhere near what their nations lost. That is what happens when you sit on your hands and pretend that the creepy next door neighbor is - just because he's a loner that seldom says anything to anyone, and he keeps odd company doesn't mean he's a serial killer. That's why we can no longer afford to appease anyone, not in this day where millions can be killed in the blink of an eye. The best defense is once again the best offense.

The disconnect between europe and the US is the same as it is between the American right and left: Rugged individualism. The EU and the left don't believe in it, and we do. They prefer to be led, or better yet to just leave things as they are. We don't like letting others or the rest of the world deciding our actions for us. We prefer to act rather than react. That is why the left wants the UN to control us: They are not capable of truly leading and are unwilling to accept all of the duties involved with maintaining personal liberty. They trade liberty for what they perceive to be security in numbers.

[Damagro]

Wow, you worked your tail off to get a Congressional appointment to a USA Military Academy and then turned it down? I don't believe a word of it.

[Kirkwood]

No, but I know my history and I know that this is the excuse that GERMANY used. To imply that other European nations were supportive of Germany being a powerful buffer to communist Russia (especially after what Germany did in WW I) is simply bogus.

[Alberta's Child]

Even Clinton, with his agendas, required the help of his enablers in Congress and the media to send troops into harm's way. Men like Perle have their place in government - to offset the agenda of the extreme left who masquerade as moderates.

It's funny you should mention Clinton and his enablers in Congress, when you consider that the ranks of his enablers were littered with Congressmen from both parties.

[saradippity]

Yes,there is something else at play here. The question is,will the men of the West ever get it together enough to figure it out?

[Cincinnatus.45-70]

"The last paragraph concludes that they are the wise old soldier disgusted with the fight waiting and watching as the brash march off to war."

-- and this is all a pose with them. The last time there were considerable Euros in a war was 1945, for heavens sake! Old age has claimed most of the actual participants. These are NOT war veterans of any sort that are now trying to lecture us, but poseurs first and cowards first, last, and always.

PS to 11B3, thanks for the posts; nice to hear from someone who has it together.

[11B3]

I know that personally, during my ten years of service, I never guarded anything without live ammo. Even when it wasn't issued to us. I knew that I'd rather face discipline for shooting someone with ammo that I shouldn't have had versus being killed for lack of ammo.

[11B3]

Thank you very much.