ONLY THE DEAD

The Rev. Dana Prom Smith, S.T.D., Ph.D. (11/13/10)

“Only the dead have seen an end to war” is a statement often attributed to Plato, but it was actually coined by George Santayana, the philosopher, in response to President Woodrow Wilson’s infamous fatuity that World War I was the “war to end all wars.”

Another infamous fatuity is the medieval theological concept of a “just war.” Actually, the genesis of the idea goes back to Cicero. Some say that World War II was a just war; however, a “necessary evil” is more accurate. The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was a necessary evil to end the war sooner, but righteous it was not.

Using the concept of a “necessary evil,” the Vietnam War wasn’t necessary or even useful. The Korean War may have been necessary since we had promised to defend the South Koreans. President Reagan’s Grenada War wasn’t necessary, it was silly. The Gulf War may have been necessary to protect Saudi Arabia and our oil supplies, but the Iraqi War clearly wasn’t. It was the result of a steroid-fed testosterone frenzy of politicians who’d never seen combat. President Eisenhower said, “Preventive war was the invention of Hitler.”

Genghis Khan, Alexander the Great, the British, and the Russians all failed in Afghanistan. After nine years of trying to prove we haven’t, it’s time for us to realize we’re on a fool’s errand. It isn’t necessary to conquer Afghanistan and alienate Muslims to defeat Al Qaeda. There are smarter ways than sacrificing our best and bravest.