I Like Ike

“When people speak to you about a preventive war, you tell them to go and fight it. After my experience, I have come to hate war. War settles nothing.”

Who might be the author of that quotation? What limp-wristed, pansified liberal weakly coughed it up? Perhaps it was that shameless craven John Kerry, who betrayed so many of his comrades by suggesting that the war in Vietnam was a less-than-noble cause? Was it he that secreted such seditious drivel, or was it some other left-leaning, U.N.-loving, Michael Moore-worshipping wimp?

The author of the quote was Dwight D. Eisenhower, a two-term Republican president and, moreover, the Supreme Commander of Allied forces on D-day -- the man who led us to victory in the “Good War,” WWII. Eisenhower, who could speak to the reality of war with more authority than any of his contemporaries, what with his having borne on his shoulders the terrible burden of sending countless thousands of men to their deaths.

“When people speak to you about preventive war . . .” Sound familiar? Listen. “Yet the war on terror will not be won on the defensive. We must take the battle to the enemy . . . . And our security will require all Americans to be forward-looking and resolute, to be ready for preemptive action when necessary to defend our liberty and defend our lives.” That is President George W. Bush on June 1st, 2002.

A preventive war. Is that not an exact description of the war in Iraq? We invaded Iraq not in response to an attack but supposedly to prevent a future attack. We invaded another sovereign nation to disarm a man who turned out to be unarmed. Will History be kind to us on this point? What are the chances?

“ . . . you tell them to go and fight it.” Again, what are the chances? What are the chances that George W. Bush and the other makers of this war will actually go and fight it? Or send their children to fight it?

George Bush, of course, had his chance to fight in a preventive war, the Vietnam (fought to prevent those dire dominos from falling). Did he take that chance? No, he did not. Instead, he used his daddy’s influence to jump over about a hundred guys ahead of him in line and get into the Texas Air National Guard just before his number was up (his draft number, that is) so he could check a box that read “Would prefer not to do overseas service.” And his VP, Dick Cheney, did he fight? No, he had “other priorities.” And Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld? Did he fight? No, not really.

In fact, with the exception of Colin Powell (the Reluctant One), none of the major architects of this war in Iraq ever saw combat in Vietnam. Yet they all thought Vietnam a good war, a just and noble war, a war worth dying for—as long as other folks were doing the dying. Thus the expression “chicken hawk.”

“After my experience, I have come to hate war. War settles nothing.” Have you, dear reader, been following the war in Iraq? Are you sick of the experience? Are you sick of the casualty counts, the images of dead Iraqi children? And the recent flattening of Falluja, was that a victory? Did it settle anything? Can the war in Iraq settle anything? What are the chances?

What do I think of Bush and his war? With all due respect, I like Ike.