How would DU react to the 1930s and Hitler?

[cer7711]

86. The Psychopathic Maniacs Who Cut Off Heads?

Last edited Thu Sep 11, 2014, 12:20 PM - Edit history (1)

Hunt them down and arrest if possible; kill if not.

Bomb ISIS positions in Iraq to prevent the imminent slaughter of thousands of religious and racial minorities? Certainly.

"Cry havoc and unleash the dogs of war!" and begin flinging bombs willy-nilly all over the Middle East without regard to considerations like blow-back, length and cost of engagement in terms of blood and treasure, and what new forces might then arise to fill the power vacuum caused by the suppression of ISIS? Err, no. Haven't we had enough of that?

We must proceed coolly, thoughtfully, judiciously, in conjunction with our allies. President Obama has it exactly right here. We need to think carrot-&-stick: the elimination of immediate, violent mad-dog threats while assuring the Sunnis that we recognize their legitimate needs and right to healthy political representation and a viable future.

As to your Hitler analogy: If Britain and France hadn't insisted on a brutal, outrageously unfair and cruel reparations policy at the end of WWI, WWII would never have happened. (Basically, Germany was saddled with the costs of the entire war. The world-wide depression that started in 1929 thus hit the Germans exponentially harder.) Woodrow Wilson said as much; he warned the Allies of what would happen if they vengefully insisted on grinding Germany under their boot heels instead of securing a just peace.

They ignored him. Germans were "the hated other": Fritz, the Hun, the Boche, krauts. WWI was "a clash of civilizations", you see; "culture vs. barbarism"; "good vs. evil"; etc. Of course it was. It always is!

And that is the point. War is inherently genocidal and monstrous, dehumanizing and uncontrollable.

We must think before we kill. Debate before we bomb. And reason as soberly, wisely and truly as we know how before plunging ourselves and others into a violent, bottomless abyss--again.