Don't Equate Majority with Morality and War is War

February 17, 2003

Dear Editor,

Frank Gruber thinks straight on the issues. It is a pity he ignores one glaring point. ("WHAT I SAY: War, Peace and Tourism," Feb. 17)

If in 1939 the UK had waited for the world community to resolve to oppose fascism the French would be speaking German now. If the US had awaited approval for its containment of Soviet expansionism the Germans would all be living east of the wall now. If Bill Clinton had acted unilaterally in Rwanda and stopped the genocide he would have been judged a moral hero by history.

The point is: since when does anything have to be agreed to by the UN to be right or wrong before it is so? The UN agreed that Zionism is racism. Does that make it so? The UN was unable to address the killing in the Balkans for years. Were they right to wait to take action against the Serbs?

Beware majority rule being equated with morality even on a worldwide scale. Lastly a reminder: Invoking this "War I" and "War II" scenario is nice but meaningless. The world is a messy place. If we all waited for clean tidy solutions nothing good would ever happen. Nobody would have judged Roosevelt for unilaterally bombing the tracks to Auschwitz with or without the allies’ approval. When the Iraqis are thanking us for liberating them they won't care about who gave us permission.

Frank Schaeffer

February 17, 2003

Dear Editor,

To be against war, the Afghanistan one, Korea, Vietnam, The Gulf War (remember Gulf War Syndrome?) and continuous bombing of Iraq, makes one have a moral issue whether one lives in Sitka, St. Paul or London.

War is war. I'm against your second war and think we, as a "super" power, have no business there. I am very concerned with the fact that India, Pakistan, Saudia Arabia, Israel and North Korea have nukes.

I am unabashedly afraid only of crazy, stupid, oilmen who are trying to break down our Constitution and hard-won Freedoms. And succeeding. I could argue with you for hours. One thing is important to remember: The United States has never entered a country unless we had interests there. Remember Rwanda?

But the thing I found interesting is what you said about your father. My mother is ashamed she didn't go in '36 and, when I tell people that I am a red-diaper baby, she shouts, "But I didn't go to Spain."

Anyway, that's the point to which I related.

Thanks for that.