WAR -- THE FINISHING TOUCH

The author contemplates various instances in which military force did indeed bring conflict to an end.

By Elliott Beaumont

Starting a war requires little more than a basic form of primeval intelligence. Stopping a war, however, calls for the concerted dedication of many superior human beings. It is consequently a simplistic but undeniable deduction that he who initiates a conflict is not likely to be the one to bring it to a timely end, and the current conflict in Iraq is clear evidence of that premise.

-snip

It is not a simple task to identify individuals who are singly responsible for reestablishing peace. That was meant to be the responsibility of the United Nations which was intended to be a mechanism where all the world's countries would be members, thereby insuring that most problem which had the potential of leading to a war, would be solved through internal diplomacy, and coercion. Yet, here we are today, deeply involved in Iraq, endlessly meditating on a genocide in Sudan, incapable of moving on African famine, and all this, after passing on the infamous Rwandan genocide.

Army Generals, such as Dwight Eisenhower and Douglas McArthur, used massive military resources while inflicting and sustaining great personnel losses to achieve peace, and we do not belittle their great accomplishments. We would prefer, however, to present our badges for individual peacemaking accomplishments, to individuals whose foresight may well have saved many lives while also achieving a semblance of peace.

-snip

General Wesley Clark, a giant intellect and for that reason misunderstood by many bystander Generals, in cooperation with a sprightly Madeleine Albright, achieved a total victory in short order and limited casualties in the Kosovo humanitarian conflict, by waging an intense air war, while resisting all efforts to turn it into a ground disaster.

-snip

Could near-miss attacks using cruise missiles provide a possible solution to some of today's problems? This is a profoundly disturbing thought but no more disturbing than some potential counter alternatives, which are being openly advocated by some nation leaders whose threats cannot be ignored, and whose goodwill it is impossible to imagine? Could this also be a possible tactic against militant and terrorist strongholds? Against repugnant dictators? Isn't it time to stop playing political war games, and put an end to all this? It worked for General Clark. Did it not also work in 1945?

-more