Peace Through Strength

PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH

By Maj. Gen. Jerry R. Curry (ret'd)
CurryforAmerica.com

An excellent example of what happens when a world power adopts a weak defense policy is the United Kingdom in the 1930s when Hitler was rising to power. As Prime Minister of Great Britain, Chamberlain was so determined to keep England out of war with Germany that he adopted a policy of appeasement, negotiation and sanctions, not unlike the foreign policy which President Obama has adopted.

In his excellent book on Churchill William Manchester wrote, “The anesthetic effect of German promises to negotiate in these years was extraordinary. Hitler never negotiated. He lied, he bluffed, he blackmailed, but serious negotiation was a skill he despised, a refuge for weaklings.”

So it is today. Ahmadinejad, the President of Iran, despises Obama and the United States of America and has no intention of honorably negotiating with us. But Obama is a slow learner and keeps holding out “unclenched fists” to Ahmadinejad who, in turn, spits on them.

On Oct 3, 1938, Duff Cooper, a member of the British Parliament said of Chamberlain that, “Chamberlain believed in addressing Herr Hitler through the language of ‘sweet reasonableness.’ I have believed that he was more open to the language of the mailed fist … we have taken away the defenses of Czechoslovakia in the same breath as we have guaranteed them.”

That is what the United States has done. We have taken away the missile defenses of Poland, Ukraine and Eastern Europe and, at the same time, we have told them that they can count on America’s missile protection.

Both Chamberlain and Obama emphasize diplomacy over confrontation. As a result Chamberlain got WWII and Obama, most likely, will stumble into a Middle-East War. If Obama cannot contain Iran now while it’s non-nuclear, what chance does he have of containing Iran after it becomes a nuclear power?

The “gathering storm” of WWII, as Churchill called it, “became apparent to British men in bars, women pushing baby carriages, shelf stackers in supermarkets, taxi drivers, businessmen, union shop stewards; to everyone, in short, (it became obvious) except to the oligarchy in power.”

That very same saga is being repeated today in our country, mechanics, fire fighters, hair dressers, clerks, airline pilots, Tea Party members (I Prefer to call them “TEA SIPPERS”) and many other good, solid Americans are telling Obama’s Government that enough is enough and it’s time to “Wake up and smell the coffee!” But the Obama Administration, in its shabby first year, has been oblivious to the will of the American people.

Much to Obama’s chagrin, America is still the greatest nation on the face of the earth. Without its leadership, the free world and western civilization – as we know it today -- will collapse. For if the US doesn’t lead the free world, who will: Russia, China, Hugo Chavez?

This brings us full circle as to why the United States of America, the world’s only super power, must maintain its military prowess. It is because, as history has rudely taught us, peace can only be secured and maintained through strength. Ironically, the greatest contributor to peace is a war-ready military.