Nasty Little Man

Vets scoff at politicos

Like I said a few days ago, it's hard to believe we need a military coup to restore some common sense in America. Today the Patriot News featured an article on veterans who scoff at the idea of our current struggle with terrorists being classified as World War III:

"The current 'long war' is not a world war in the sense of major states committing massive military resources in clashes in far-flung theaters," said Conrad Crane, director of the U.S. Army Military History Institute at Carlisle Barracks.

With its lower level of military commitment and its political and ideological undertones, the terrorism battle "more closely resembles the level of commitment of the Cold War," when the main threat was communist subversion, Crane said.

There also is a vast difference in the impact on the home front, said Kim Fox, assistant professor of political science at Shippensburg University.

All Americans were affected by World War II. Food, fuel, clothing and tires were rationed, and the whole economy was geared toward winning the war.

"We're a long way from the Third World War," Fox said. "If this is World War III, why aren't we mobilizing, rationing and bringing back the draft?"

Although U.S. troops are making great sacrifices, the situation is more akin to a policing effort than to all-out war, he said.

Exactly. When some have argued for rolling back our rights and the Constitution, they do it under the cover of "we're at war." But this is more like Cold War II than it is World War III. And it barely measures up to the Cold War since the Soviets could have obliterated us at any minute, a power the terrorists do not have.

posted by Kinder Gentler Little Man @ 8:37 PM