thedrifter
12-14-02, 09:06 AM
Saturday, December 14, 2002
By DAVID YOUNT, Scripps Howard News Service
I was just a boy on that December Sunday 61 years ago when America was attacked by surprise, but I remember the occasion well enough. The next war, if it comes, will not be a surprise. My Virginia home is only a few miles from the Quantico Marine Base. On days when the Marines have artillery practice, all the windows of my house rattle. This December the guns boom more frequently.
We've come a long way as a nation since Vietnam, when lotteries determined which neighbors' boys would be sent to the jungles to fight a losing battle — some never to return to their families. This time around there is no draft, so by definition it's someone else's child who will go to war to fight for the rest of us. It's worth noting that only a handful of members of Congress have a son or daughter in the military. Although the nation's religious leaders urge caution before resorting to armed conflict, their appeals have not altered the nation's mood of patriotic outrage since 9/11. It would probably take reinstituting a military draft to do that.
More than 3 of 5 Americans currently favor use of military force to end the rule of Saddam Hussein. A survey by the Pew Global Attitudes Project last month revealed that huge majorities in France, Germany and Russia disagree with us. The British public is evenly split on the issue. Fully 83 percent of Turks oppose allowing U.S. forces to use bases in their country, a NATO ally, to wage war against neighboring Iraq.
The Pew project, interviewing more than 38,000 people in 44 nations, determined that a reserve of good will remains toward the United States, with the notable exception of people in the Muslim nations of the Middle East and Central Asia. But favorability ratings have eroded in 19 of 27 countries.
Majorities in Britain, Germany and France agree that the best way to deal with the Iraqi leader is to remove him from power rather than to just disarm him. But the French, Germans and Russians view the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians as a greater threat to stability in the Middle East than Saddam's continued rule.
The survey concludes that: "As 2002 draws to a close, the world is not a happy place." Most of the world's people agree that the spread of disease is greater than any other international threat. Fear of religious and ethnic violence ranks second, nuclear weapons third. In all but a handful of countries, domestic issues predominate. A faltering economy is the No. 1 domestic concern in all nations, followed by crime and political corruption in most countries.
"At a time when trade and technology have linked the world more closely together than ever before," the Pew survey reveals, "almost all national publics view the fortunes of the world as drifting downward. A smaller world," it concludes, "is not a happier one."
"Peace, good will toward men," was the message of the angelic host 2,000 years ago. But not this season. Not yet.
Sempers,
Roger
By DAVID YOUNT, Scripps Howard News Service
I was just a boy on that December Sunday 61 years ago when America was attacked by surprise, but I remember the occasion well enough. The next war, if it comes, will not be a surprise. My Virginia home is only a few miles from the Quantico Marine Base. On days when the Marines have artillery practice, all the windows of my house rattle. This December the guns boom more frequently.
We've come a long way as a nation since Vietnam, when lotteries determined which neighbors' boys would be sent to the jungles to fight a losing battle — some never to return to their families. This time around there is no draft, so by definition it's someone else's child who will go to war to fight for the rest of us. It's worth noting that only a handful of members of Congress have a son or daughter in the military. Although the nation's religious leaders urge caution before resorting to armed conflict, their appeals have not altered the nation's mood of patriotic outrage since 9/11. It would probably take reinstituting a military draft to do that.
More than 3 of 5 Americans currently favor use of military force to end the rule of Saddam Hussein. A survey by the Pew Global Attitudes Project last month revealed that huge majorities in France, Germany and Russia disagree with us. The British public is evenly split on the issue. Fully 83 percent of Turks oppose allowing U.S. forces to use bases in their country, a NATO ally, to wage war against neighboring Iraq.
The Pew project, interviewing more than 38,000 people in 44 nations, determined that a reserve of good will remains toward the United States, with the notable exception of people in the Muslim nations of the Middle East and Central Asia. But favorability ratings have eroded in 19 of 27 countries.
Majorities in Britain, Germany and France agree that the best way to deal with the Iraqi leader is to remove him from power rather than to just disarm him. But the French, Germans and Russians view the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians as a greater threat to stability in the Middle East than Saddam's continued rule.
The survey concludes that: "As 2002 draws to a close, the world is not a happy place." Most of the world's people agree that the spread of disease is greater than any other international threat. Fear of religious and ethnic violence ranks second, nuclear weapons third. In all but a handful of countries, domestic issues predominate. A faltering economy is the No. 1 domestic concern in all nations, followed by crime and political corruption in most countries.
"At a time when trade and technology have linked the world more closely together than ever before," the Pew survey reveals, "almost all national publics view the fortunes of the world as drifting downward. A smaller world," it concludes, "is not a happier one."
"Peace, good will toward men," was the message of the angelic host 2,000 years ago. But not this season. Not yet.
Sempers,
Roger