ITEM 45...R,S,P or ?: 45:126) Dave Hughes 04-APR-1999 10:25 Woah! The last person on Metanet that I thought would advocate the extermination of a race of people is XXXX. I hope it was said in a fit of frustration. Even I, who have fought the nations wars 'up close and personal' with people (North Koreans, Chinese, North Vietnamese,) who were doing their level best to kill me, and who saw my fellow officers, West Point classmates with whom I had formed lifelong friendships, and my men, killed, wounded or captured, I *still* adhere to the position expressed most eloquently by a boss of mine, General Harold K Johnson - who spent years as a prisoner of war of the Japanese that, for Americans there is 'an Object which lies beyond War, and for the US that Object is never the extermination of another population.' And that sentiment, rooted deeply in the moral fiber of this nation, which has attempted, even if not fully successfully even inside its own borders, to accept the diversity of peoples, and their rights to live lives of self-determination so long as they do not attempt to force their wills on another people. It is *precisely* that level of political tolerance - which often gets so open minded our brains fall out - that differs Americans from others, and the United States from other polities. In fact it is far more out of that moral sense that we are at war in Yugoslavia - and NOT for oil, or 'national interests' or to deflect an imminent threat to our safety. A point many people have difficulty grasping or accepting. Sure, it has been heightened by the modern phenomnon of television, bringing the suffering of the Albanians in Kosovo to our living rooms. But it is *the* wellspring of our policy believe it or not. We *have* the capability of annihilating any foreign population. Its called the nuclear bomb. The primary reason that wonderful Democrat Harry Truman authorized its use against Japan which ended WWII in the Pacific, was to save the hundreds of thousands of American lives which would have been lost had we done it the hard way and invaded with ground troops. It was *not* to 'punish' the hapless Japanese people whose war-mongering leadership plunged them into that war. Even though I can assure you that the atrocities visited on the peoples of countries they invaded - from the Rape of Nanking to the treatment of POWs - was as evil as anything being done today in Kosovo. And we did *not* use it in North Korea when we were desperately trying to hang on - and spent over 50,000 dead Americans to defend South Korea. Against a tyrannical communist regime just as evil as Milosovic and his cronies. Still. We did *not* use it against North Vietnam, even when a Presidential candidate Goldwater suggested we should 'bomb them back into the Stone Age.' Even though we were losing Americans at an unnacceptable rate and knew those South Vietnamese who had cast their lot with us would be severely punished if North Vietnam occupied South Vietnam. We did NOT use it against Pol Pot and Khmer Rouge, whose killing fields were far beyond what the Serbs have done. And I did not let my handful of angry, trembling, tearful men shoot the 192 Chinese prisoners we had taken after 600 of them had tried to kill us all, and succeded in killing, wounding or capturing all but 29 of my 167 men and 6 offiers. When several of my men *wanted* to kill them all under circumstances where it would have been justifiable, nobody would have made a fuss, and we were in imminent danger of being overwhelmed by the 192 against our 15 on a very forward (into Chinese lines) hill. Why didn't I? Because I am an American soldier, not just a soldier. I think we last, as a nation, pursued a policy of extermination only during our western expansion across Native American lands and peoples. We outgrew it, actually. Something deeper than 'The only good Indian is a dead Indian' finally moved us. Americans take a long time to do the right things, but they eventually do. Among the German people, the committed Nazis were evil, and tolerated evil. And even today, with the skinheads there, the latent impulses within German society to look down upon, and punish, 'other peoples' is quite alive. The Japanese are *still* feared and hated by the Chinese (I know, with my daughter in law Chinese, and my face to face discussions with her parents, I have seen it up close). And many Japanese would be perfectly willing to exterminate others, even today. And we still have our KKK and elements of our society who would, if king, drive out the blacks and browns from America. The hatred of Arabs for Jews, (and the willingness of many Jews to deny Arabs their own 'self determination') is obvious. As is the ethnic and religious animonsity between Pakistanis, and Indians. I wouldn't trust either one of them if they had unlimited power. The innumerable tribal hatreds in Africa are legend. Thats the way the world is, and has been, and will continue to be. Yet America, as one of the only great powers to NOT carry over racial or religious hatred into a permanent policy of annihilation, stands almost alone. We *could* exterminate the Serbs. (though anyone who thinks the Albanians, especially through their militant arm the KLA is clean, is uninformed. Their atrocities are there too. And *they*, unlike the Serbs, collaborated with the Nazis, and assisted in German tyranny over the people of occupied Balkans.) But we are not, and I condemn anyone who seriously suggest that as a policy. So while Clinton is misguided in his strategy, still unable to overcome *his* hatred and mistrust of US military, naive about just how evil others can be, and their willingness to oppose him with determination and arms, nevertheless his basic reason for committing our blood and treasure to the fight in Yugoslavia comes from the best, not worst, American political instincts and moral values. The worst I can say of him in this fight is that he and his advisors are venal and incompetant. And only now, late in his life, is he learning - at the expense of hundreds of thousands of Albanian muslims - and the US taxpayer, as well as three young American soldiers, what Armies are for, and why they are necessary and why their blood often has to be spilled for the United States to pursue a moral policy. A lesson, had he not dodged the draft, and got caught up with demonizing the military for the sins of their political leaders, he might have grasped earlier. And not have gotton himself this much into the fix we are in. And when its all over, the one organization which will have performed as it was asked to do, committed no excesses, rose in no political revolt, and whose commanders command without personal or ethnic anger motivating their use of deadly force. Who can go to church on Easter in Aviano, or the border of Macadonia with a clear conscience. And will stand ready for the next war, will have been the officers and men in the US military of all services. Who understand more than most Americans how hard it is, yet how important, to do their job limited by such moral considerations deeply rooted in the Judeo-Christian tradition on man's relationship to his fellow man. And NOT, motivated by the dark impulses of a frustrated Kurtz in Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" who finally lashed out after fruitless years in the Congo and finally concludes - "Exterminate the brutes." Have a sobering Easter - and remember who you are. Dave Hughes dave@oldcolo.com