Home of Today's Common Sense

Published in Brownsville Herald 2/2/03
I think that the administration is correcting many of the misconceptions about our resolve to defend ourselves against the threats to our way of life.

In the last few weeks there have been any number of information releases from the government describing their willingness to go to war in defense of our people and interests. We have also seen descriptions extolling the accuracy and effectiveness of the weapons we may employ which according to our leaders may include anything, including the most dreaded, in our arsenal.
In the past our enemies were nations with sophisticated intelligence sources who knew with some certainty what the United States was capable of doing to defend its interests and based on history what the “sleeping giant”, as how some pre-1945 enemy military leaders referred to us, would do if awakened. Further, these nations feared the losses and devastation that could be inflicted upon them.

This new crop of enemies are not necessarily nations and do not fear the kind of devastation normally wreaked by war and the constituent supporters view what they are doing as a religious obligation for which they will be rewarded in the afterlife. They have no basis of understanding the freedoms we enjoy in the United States. They apparently view the diverse opinions that are widely publicized in the media as an indication that the resolve to defend ourselves is weak and fragmented. In the experience of these enemies, those of differing viewpoint are removed as soon as one view is dominant and gains power. To see this all one need do is examine the purges that took place in Eastern Europe and the Middle East when changes in the power structure too place, and the persecution of differing views in these same countries today.
Different administrations have different levels of tolerance and approaches to the threats and have, through actions or lack of action, supported this perception that Americans are immoral, weak and irresolute.
In order to correct misunderstandings, I believe that the administration must continue to demonstrate that in the event that a threat is determined to be valid the “sleeping giant” will be found not to be sleeping and take whatever actions are necessary.
This must be done to so that false confidences on the part of our enemies -in this case Iraq and those who would side with them- will not result in war.