Meanwhile: Europeans are not cowards. It‘s that we know war - IHT

[Jason Jarvis]

Having read this article and agreed with most of it, I‘m still left wondering if it isn‘t time for the Europeans to "get over it" and start pulling their own weight. Jaded and bitter about war and its effect on society as they may be, they still dropped the ball on the Balkans, and it‘s beginning to look like Afghanistan is next.

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Meanwhile: Europeans are not cowards. It‘s that we know war.

By Fletcher Crossman
International Herald Tribune

Mt. PLEASANT, South Carolina, Wednesday, January 28, 2004 - Listening to Richard Perle on the radio recently was a little hard for a European like me. Perle, a former chairman of the Defense Policy Board, stated that European nations "do not have the most courageous of instincts," with the implication that America has to intervene in international affairs because Europeans are afraid to. Perle‘s comments take place against a chorus of similar sentiments to be heard on America‘s airwaves in recent months.

An average listener would be forgiven for believing that Europeans are a cowardly bunch of ungrateful wimps, whose anti-American bombast is a merely a cover for their complicity with evil regimes.

It may be true. But as a European myself - I‘m from Britain - it doesn‘t feel true. And I wonder if our cultural disconnect comes from two very different experiences of war.

Let‘s be clear: Europeans don‘t run away from war. Even the most fleeting look at our history will tell you that we love war, we want war, we will find almost any excuse for a war. In 1914 young men from all across Europe jauntily marched off to start yet another one, with flags waving and patriotic songs playing. Young men from my country marched in the knowledge that they represented the greatest nation on Earth, an economic powerhouse, a country blessed by God. Any of this sounding familiar?

Barely one of those men could have clearly explained what the war was about, it was enough that they were fighting for freedom, and against oppression.

Fast forward five years. 1919. A whole generation of young men - over 8.5 million - wiped out in the most disgusting war the world had ever seen. Economies collapsed, vast regions were blighted. No longer was anyone playing patriotic songs. Now poets like Wilfred Owen were bitterly decrying "the old lie" that it is an honorable thing to die for your country. Who was the enemy, anyway? Was it those pathetic, blood-stained bodies strewn across the opposing trenches, or the fat, cigar-smoking politicians that ordered us into this nightmare?

This feeling has never been totally expunged from the European psyche. However clear-cut the rationale sounds at the start of a war, the reality always results in atrocities, injustices and moral ambiguity. Within a few short years we were forced into a World War II, and this time there was none of the flag-waving; instead there was a stunned gasp of: "Are we really going through all this again?"

And this time it was worse. Our cities were flattened, a genocide was committed, a whole civilization was brought to its knees.

But World War II was mercifully different for America. Despite its debilitating losses - and its astonishing selflessness in prioritizing the European theater ahead of its own mission in the Pacific - America emerged from the devastation in a pre-eminent position, its infrastructure intact. Culturally, politically and economically, America stood like a gleaming Colossus above an impoverished world. If America had believed that by use of force, Good could prevail over Evil, then it had been proved right. War had saved Freedom and defeated Tyranny.

And this is now burned into the American psyche in much the same way that cynicism is for the European. America is the brave young soldier, with shining eyes and a firm jaw, marching towards a battle that will make the world a better place. Europe is the bitter old veteran sitting on the sidewalk, his medals collecting dust somewhere, shaking his head knowingly as the young soldier marches by.

Both views are valid and both are forged in the furnace of experience. America has the power and inclination to promote justice in the world, and Richard Perle may indeed be right: Perhaps Europeans don‘t have the most courageous of instincts. Not anymore. They still live in the shadow of two unthinkable wars, and have learnt that patriotism and courageous instincts have too often resulted in corruption, destruction and death.

The writer, an English teacher, previously worked as a radio and television journalist in Britain.

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Why does Canada continually punch over its weight? Why are we, with one of the smallest fighting forces in NATO, contributing so much to so many places? Where are the Belgians, Dutch, Spanish, Italians, Greeks and Portugese? Are they so busy elsewhere they can‘t send a battalion or two to Afghanistan?

 

[Padraig OCinnead]

We have to remember that the Yanks never came on board in the first war till the very end of 1917. This was after the rest of the world had been dying by the millions for 3 years. They never saw the front lines till sometime in 1918!
Let‘s look at WWII. For the rest of the world it started in 1939. When did the Yanks decide to throw in their lot? Not for a couple of years!

I take what they say about countries not joining them in Iraq with a grain of salt. Historically they are Johhny come lately!

 

[meni0n]

I see some flaws in your arguments Major. Where was everyone when communisme was being spread? In germany and not supplying money and weapons in afghanistan. In the balkans, the US came very late after being warned time and time again and after being shown alot of evidence of genocide. Btw the US wasn‘t the only one that went to the balkans. Historically you and I both know that when the allies invaded Europe, there wasn‘t much there to defend it since most of the resources were going to the eastern front. And since the US was always the late coming into the conflicts mentioned above, maybe it‘s time they see how it feels? Didn‘t like it? Let‘s act like little children and slam those countries publicly. I don‘t recall any of the allies calling US cowards when they didn‘t want to send any troops to help Europe.

 

[Padraig OCinnead]

I don‘t recall seeing germans goose stepping down main street Toronto/Winnipeg/Vancourver in ‘14 or ‘39, but Canada went off to war to help out friends anyways. From 45 to early 90‘s we were in Germany helping keep dirty Ivan at bay.

It was NATO not US that bombed those tanks and arty posn in the Balkans. Don‘t I remember seeing some US soldiers held captive in Kosovo?

It‘s one thing to be the first off the starting blocks against a bunch of terrified Iraqui conscripts or drunk Bosnian ruffians but a different matter agains professional soldiers that the germans were.

I won‘t throw any dirty slings at you S_Baker as you know from my previous posts that I rarely disrespect US soldiers or it‘s people but this was one topic I felt I had to set right.

 

[meni0n]

S_Baker, well now you know what happens when you supply the poor afghanis with weapons. If the US is so righteous why doesn‘t it stop the conflict in chechnya, congo or any other conflict zones. The US only intervened in something where it served their interest and nothing more.

 

[Jason Jarvis]

Padraig OCinnead wrote:
We have to remember that the Yanks never came on board in the first war till the very end of 1917. This was after the rest of the world had been dying by the millions for 3 years. They never saw the front lines till sometime in 1918!

Let‘s look at WWII. For the rest of the world it started in 1939. When did the Yanks decide to throw in their lot? Not for a couple of years!

Whoa now, back up a second. The point of the article was not to point fingers at previous generations of American leaders who chose to avoid becoming embroiled in European conflicts for a variety of valid (at the time, without the benefit of rose-coloured glasses) reasons.

The point of the article was to provoke discussion around the factors that have lead to the formation of the foreign and defence policies of the current generation of American leaders (and by default, Americans as a whole, true or not).

Read this quote again:

But World War II was mercifully different for America. Despite its debilitating losses - and its astonishing selflessness in prioritizing the European theater ahead of its own mission in the Pacific - America emerged from the devastation in a pre-eminent position, its infrastructure intact. Culturally, politically and economically, America stood like a gleaming Colossus above an impoverished world. If America had believed that by use of force, Good could prevail over Evil, then it had been proved right. War had saved Freedom and defeated Tyranny.

And this is now burned into the American psyche in much the same way that cynicism is for the European. America is the brave young soldier, with shining eyes and a firm jaw, marching towards a battle that will make the world a better place. Europe is the bitter old veteran sitting on the sidewalk, his medals collecting dust somewhere, shaking his head knowingly as the young soldier marches by.

At its core, the article is an attempt at an apology -- an "appeasement" if you will -- for Europe‘s lack of action over Iraq, Afghanistan, even the Balkans. While I would agree that the shadow of both world wars is still stronger in Europe than elsewhere in the Western hemisphere, I believe that Vietnam was at least as trying for America as WW2 was for Germany. Add to the fact that the U.S. was essentially on a war footing versus the Soviet Union for 44 years, and I‘d say the Americans have done a remarkably better job at exorcising the ghosts of wars since passed than has Europe.

It‘s the writer‘s closing paragraph that gets me going:

Both views are valid and both are forged in the furnace of experience. America has the power and inclination to promote justice in the world, and Richard Perle may indeed be right: Perhaps Europeans don‘t have the most courageous of instincts. Not anymore. They still live in the shadow of two unthinkable wars, and have learnt that patriotism and courageous instincts have too often resulted in corruption, destruction and death.

To that I say: get over it. It‘s time to move on. In a smaller sense, Canadians still seem preoccupied with the notion that we‘re a nation of "peacekeepers", proudly wearing the blue beret and helping little old ladies cross the Green Line, when 12 years of experience in the Balkans, Somalia and Afghanistan prove this truth is nothing more than a charade promoted by self-serving politicians looking for re-election.

While I haven‘t always agreed with American foreign policy -- including their motives for invading Iraq -- you have to give them credit for their willingness to put boots on the ground and take casualties in the cause of peace and freedom. Yes, a lot of what we hear from the media makes it appear that the Americans are rampaging roughshod across the globe with little regard for regional or cultural sensibilties, but at least they‘re doing something.

Yes, it was NATO that bombed the Serbs in BiH and Kosovo, but it was the Americans (and British) who were controlling the strings behind the curtain and coercing other NATO members to agree to the actions taken. The simple truth is that Europe -- and Canada, for that matter -- shouldn‘t have needed the U.S. and Britain to smack it around before it actually intervened (by which I mean starting fighting back instead of just patrolling and getting killed).

Now, comments?

 

[Spr.Earl]

Sherwood both you and I and many other‘s here have read and know our History.

Folk‘s, Politic‘s have dicated many right‘s and wrong‘s all through our collective histories.

We all can ponitifcate after the fact.

To Day ( my own opinion!) we our selve‘s with in the First World must stop our bickering and work collectivly to ward‘s stopping Terror but we MUST also respect other Nation‘s Culture‘s and Law‘s and MUST not IMPOSE OUR CULTURE on them.
If we do not live by these tenent‘s we will lose!!