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War, What Are We Good For? |
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| Edmonton - Monday, March 25, 2003 - by: Ron Thornton | |||||||
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horror |
As I watch the news from CNN and read the newspaper reports, it is brought home so very graphically how horrible war is. Soldiers are on edge as they wait for that bullet with their name on it or listening to that plane overhead that could well be the harbinger of what would snuff out their lives at any moment. The civilians who come into harm's way, either by a regime that hides behind them, or by accidents of war, must touch the hearts of all who retain the capacity to feel compassion for their fellow man. I did not raise my sons, the lights of my life, to become cannon fodder. Before you come for them, you will need to come for me first to man the front lines. Yet, I am prevented from joining the protesting throng due to a healthy dose of reality. | ||||||
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rely on |
China is similar in size to Canada, while our nation is three times the size of India, yet we lay claim to a huge land mass rich in natural resources with just 3% of the population of either of those nations. We do so with no meaningful national defense to safeguard our existence, vulnerable to a quick extinction at the whims of any number of nations that might look upon our territory with yearning and a desire to conquer. It is not a perfect world, certainly not the nirvana so many seem to believe we live in. Canada has been allowed to exist due solely to the might of the United Kingdom and the United States. Those two countries continue to defend us, and now the world, against tyranny. Imagine any other two nations that might wage such a war, yet manage to leave the civilian population with their lights illuminated and their water running. | ||||||
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lack of |
No nation is perfect. Some play political games in order to safeguard their economic interests; doing so under the guise of advocating peace. Others seek ways to excuse their lack of principle or moral standing, abdicating their own responsibilities in order to hide behind the skirts of an United Nations so bereft of credibility that it places Iraq as chair of its committee on disarmament. In turning to the UN for their moral authority, such nations have demonstrated that they have lost their own. Rather than give credence to any real consequences that might have forced a peaceful resolution, such nations give continued hope and encouragement to the Iraqi regime that its salvation might yet be found at the hands of the world's appeasers. That lack of resolve and courage, as much as any American impatience, is the reason blood is being shed today. | ||||||
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sobering |
Should the Americans and British discover the weapons of mass destruction they claim are there, such a discovery would not only justify this war but also expose its opponents as being nothing less than patsies of Saddam Hussein. It would also leave Canadians with the sobering thought that rather than being the best friend and ally of the United States, we would be exposed as being nothing more than its ungrateful freeloading parasite. | ||||||
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