Diplomacy?

I responded to a Facebook comment cheering BO's Nobel. One person replied something about war is only good for making the rich people richer and that diplomacy (apparently BO's forte) was preferable to war. Well, of course it is. Only fools would argue otherwise. Were it so simple.

The US Civil War was one of the nastiest conflicts. Bobby Lee said something about it's good that war is so horrible lest we grow too fond of it. Wm T. Sherman echoed that with "war is hell." (He didn't really say that in so many words, but it's close.) I don't know anyone who wants war. Yet, sometimes it can't be avoided.

First, this person/these people apparently don't realize that there are some not very nice people in the world. There always have been and always will be. To them, killing other people to get what they want isn't at all a problem. They'll do it. War is the answer.

Second, not all people and cultures deserve respect and acceptance. (How many times to I have to write that????) Yasir ("That's My Baby") Arafat won the Nobel, but how many lives is he responsible for? Should we "respect and accept" Yasir, despite the willingness he had to let others (certainly not him!) die? How much good did diplomacy (and the Nobel) do the Israelis as 12,000 rockets, fired from civilian launches, were fired into civilian areas? As the PLO was negotiating, the rockets flew. And when the Israelis respond in kind, taking out the rocket launchers in civilian areas, the "diplomats" are up in arms. The PLO continues to use diplomacy while launching these attacks; diplomacy is a cover. And the world buys it, just like it bought Chamberlain at Munich (he and Daladier were very popular, for a few months!).

Third, it's easy for us to say "war is not the answer." Let's let diplomacy work. OK, how long do we give it? Forever? How easy was it for the Poles, the Czechs, the Jews, the Belgians...to say that? How many Iraqi lives were lost in the war? How many Iraqi lives were spared because Sadaam wasn't there to murder them? (30,000 a year or more for almost three decades! And should we mention those raped, beaten, tortured?) Of course, slavery would have died out in the US eventually--10 or 20 or 30 or more years, no doubt. Was it worth losing 650,000 lives? I wonder what those who were emancipated, freed from the bondage of slavery would think about 10 or 20 or 30 or more years of slavery for themselves, their children, their grandchildren.

Fourth, is that the only reason to fight wars, so the rich can get richer? (To this replier's credit, she didn't say, "But Bush....") Yep, some people prosper from war. Some people prosper from war in ways other than economic--perhaps being liberated, keeping their freedom, etc.

Would have been better to continue to use diplomacy (that is, appease) Hitler than have WW2? Consider the lives that might have been saved. But also consider how you would have liked living under the thumb of Hitler. Would you have wanted a war to get rid of him?