With the impending assault on Iraq fast approaching, the rhetoric level has been upped significantly in the past few weeks.
Despite all the rhetoric, one thing remains clear: The American public remains skittish. Several people have tried to nail down the reason, but few have come close.
The one person who has come closest is rock legend Ted Nugent.
Nugent was asked by radio talkmeister Sean Hannity why the public is finding it hard to get behind the effort to disarm Saddam Hussein. Nugent's point-blank response was that the American society has become insular, not wanting to be bothered by things that don't affect their daily lives. Nugent's reply to this is that he finds that position to be "vacuous" and complacent.
Thomas Sowell recently wrote about the clear failure to hold Nazi Germany to the Treaty of Versailles. Germany was rearming in direct violation of said treaty and Great Britain's intelligence services knew about it. Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin had the onus of deciding to act on the information.
Baldwin decided to do nothing about it, choosing career security over national security. After Baldwin caved, Neville Chamberlain kept up the laissez-faire approach. The problem was, Hitler raised the stakes with more forces. Chamberlain soon capitulated and sold out a country to appease Hitler.
This didn't quench the hunger, and Hitler had the green light to proceed unchecked. The opportunity to stop him slipped by. War broke out soon after.
The apathy of those who could stop Hitler allowed him to proceed, despite the evidence. This happened because nobody wanted to stick a neck out and deal with the problem in the present tense.
Fast forward to now.
Nugent's observation is that we don't want to deal with the problem. The crux of the problem is that if we don't deal with it now, we'll have to deal with the full fury of it later.
It is easy to go home, lock the door and hide. It's not so easy to confront a belligerent enemy. The problem is, if you don't confront the belligerent, the belligerent will soon kick your door down.
Saddam Hussein has been stealthily building up his stockpile in clear violation of the agreement signed at the end of the Gulf War. Saddam Hussein, who has openly admitted to admiring Hitler, has been testing the United Nations for years.
The United Nations has pulled a Stanley Baldwin and decided it doesn't want to deal with the immediate need for action. They have called for more inspections, which don't deal with the problem; they defer it.
The courage to act in the face of a menace such as Saddam Hussein is not easy. But the other side of the coin is if we don't, we face a far greater danger in the future. Saddam Hussein has used weapons of mass destruction multiple times and has gone so far this time to say he'll use chemical weapons (which he claimed not to have) on the Kurdish village of Kifri if the United States attacks.
President Bush is leading by example -- he's confronting an enemy who wants to harm the United States (read: you). Tony Blair, unlike Stanley Baldwin, is risking his career for his country.
These leaders are willing to confront the enemy now to prevent future devastation (see the World Trade Center site for an example). We should be, too.
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