War
He went to England,
Played the piano,
And married an actress named Kim.
They had a fine life.
She was a good wife,
And bore him a young son named Jim.
The war took his baby.
Bombs killed his lady,
And left him with only one eye.
His body was battered.
His whole world was shattered.
And all he could do was cry.
Now he lives in the islands,
Fishes the pylons,
And drinks his green label each day.
He’s writing his memoirs,
Losing his hearing,
But he don’t care what most people say.
Through eighty-six years
Of perpetual motion,
If he likes you, he’ll smile and he’ll say,
Jim, Some of it’s magic,
And some of it’s tragic,
But I had a good life all the way.
He Went to Paris - Jimmy Buffett (1973) -Written by Jimmy after hearing stories from a mutilated veteran of the Spanish Civil War.
…..
I am probably supposed to write this week about the ongoing Republican squabble to find a Speaker of the House. But I’m not going to. One is not supposed to make comparisons of the present to Nazis and Hitler. But I am going to do that.
Having a Speaker of the House is important, particularly right now. But the reality of war and the prospects for its expansion are more important. Comparisons to Hitler are almost always inappropriate and counterproductive. But when your goal is to complete the “final solution” that Hitler failed to achieve, you don’t need a swastika on your flag to be fully Nazi evil.
For Israel and Jews writ large, this is not a war about territory or ideology as most wars are. It is about avoiding extinction. The Islamist enemies of Israel are very explicit about their desire not just to eliminate the state of Israel, but to exterminate all Jews worldwide. (By the way, Christians are next in line) Hence, their goal is identical to that of Adolf Hitler. The horror of what these Islamists are doing is every bit as unconscionable as the worst actions of any Nazi. Israel must respond in an extremely forceful manner because the consequences of not eradicating these threats are so massive.
Notice that Hamas did not attack any military targets. They went to murder as many Jews as they could in the most gruesome manner possible. We often look back and wonder how so many educated intelligent Germans either supported the Nazi agenda or just turned their heads at the atrocities. But the exact same thing is happening at Harvard University and other places in the United States and Europe today with pro-Hamas demonstrations and support for the same goals as the Nazis had.
Many civilians will be killed in Gaza. Many died in Dresden and Leipzig too from allied bombing. Hamas wants this. They then hope a compliant western press will show how bad Israel is. MSNBC is already there. The press did not act that way in 1944. Remember that Hitler was elected in Germany and had the support of the people. Hamas was elected in Gaza and, as of the most recent polling, has a considerably greater percentage of support in Gaza than President Biden has in the United States.
Will the war expand? Almost certainly yes. The sophistication of the Hamas attacks was way above the capabilities of a terrorist group. Paratroopers with motorized vehicles being dropped behind enemy lines, really? Iran is involved. And Hezbollah is currently sending missiles into northern Israel from Lebanon. Two front wars are always dicey so I would imagine that Israel will subdue Gaza first before they move to the northern front. But they almost certainly need to go there too. Again, not for territorial conquest but to prevent extermination. Several U.S. Senators are calling for U.S. and Israeli airstrikes to destroy Iran’s oil refineries. This would be relatively easy to do and would cripple the country militarily and economically. But it would be a massive escalation. That said, does anyone doubt that Iran would be the first country to use a nuclear weapon since 1945 were they to develop one? It would be an efficient way to move closer to the “final solution.”
There are other parallels in the world today to the period that led up to the start of World War II. Hitler invaded France in part to avenge the embarrassing defeat that Germany had succumbed to 22 years earlier. He wanted to restore Germany to a zenith above where it was under Bismarck. Hence, the “Third Reich.” Putin has made it clear that he believes that the dissolution of the Soviet Union was an embarrassing defeat, and he wants to restore it. Accordingly, he invaded Ukraine 32 years after that dissolution, albeit so far with less success than the German Chancellor.
Imperial Japan was a far eastern power that had territorial aspirations in its region and wanted to secure raw materials, energy, and colonies for its future growth. Japan and Germany were not natural allies but became so in the face of common enemies. I don’t think I need to enumerate the modern-day parallels to Communist China.
Iran, North Korea, Cuba, and Venezuela are the current equivalents of Mussolini’s Italy. By themselves, they can only do so much. But, with technology, money, weapons, and support from Russia and China, just as Italy had the Germans and Japanese, they can be useful partners.
If Iran gets involved in this conflict directly, what does its ally Russia do to support? Turkey is a NATO country and an aspiring member of the EU. But they have also recently veered away from secular tendencies and are becoming increasingly Islamist. What do they do? Do the Chinese see these distractions as a good time to take Taiwan?
We always look back at wars from the past thinking about how stupid those people must have been to allow that war to occur. How does the assassination of some archduke by a nutcase terrorist engulf so many countries who had no direct connection to the assassin or the archduke in a World War that left perhaps 20 million people dead? That was over 100 years ago. Many people now believe that we are smarter and more sophisticated and educated by the mistakes of the past and this won’t happen again. We were taught in the 60s that “war is not healthy for children and other living things.” True enough.
But, it is also true that it takes two to tango but only one to start a war. The Israelis did not ask for this war. But their alternative is to allow Hamas to continue murdering their people and eventually take over their country. You either fight back or give up. There are no other choices. You can sue for peace, talk about peace, negotiate for peace and that is all good. But at some point, if the other guy starts shooting, you have little choice but to shoot back.
Secondly, we have more knowledge and technology and sophistication than any peoples before us. But our basic human nature has not changed. Evil exists. There was plenty of it in the past and there is plenty of it now. There is more good than evil. But as the saying goes, “evil triumphs when good men do nothing.” Hence, good men do something.
I am not saying that expanded war, or a world war is inevitable. It is not. It is never inevitable. But as Ronald Reagan said, “of the four wars in my lifetime, none came about because the U.S. was too strong.” I fear that we are not militarily strong enough right now. Note, that I have not criticized President Biden in this missive. It is not because I don’t have plenty to say in that regard, because I do. But now is a time when I don’t hope Biden obtains the wisdom to do the right things. I pray he does. The right things, by the way, are largely only apparent in hindsight. Great leaders have the foresight to see ahead. Biden’s moves in Afghanistan make him look increasingly like the Neville Chamberlain of today, trying to appease his way to peace. We need Winston Churchill instead. May Biden, and other western world leaders, find the wisdom to achieve “peace through strength.”
I hope I can talk about other things next week. Until then…
I remain respectfully,
Congressman John Campbell
Drive Fast & Live Free