How Do You Stop War?

In history, we learned about war, and there were always winners and losers, there were always good guys and bad guys. In the past, or so we learned in school, America won. In the wars of my lifetime, there seems to be a major difference, the absence of a definitive ending, and never a clear victor. In Vietnam, we never really knew why we were at war, the consensus was we were losing our young people to prevent the spread of communism. We didn't exactly lose the Vietnam war, but we certainly didn't win. If the population hadn't protested the conflict so vehemently, we might have been there much longer. We won the first conflict in Iraq, but yet we find ourselves after a mere decade, embroiled in another situation much like Vietnam, without a clear objective, fighting the spread of another ism, this time terrorism, and the situation deteriorating in much the same way that we witnessed in Vietnam.

Today's war in Lebanon seems like a repeat of all of the other conflicts in the last 4 decades, with Israel the favorite to win the battle, but the prize of lasting peace floating further out in a sea of bombings, and missiles. Americans admire the military might of Israel, we admire the way the Israelis respond to acts of terrorism with brute force, but we fail to look at the long term, we don't realize that these brute acts of force don't make Israel more secure, they aggravate the problem, and that Israel is facing a security problem that may stretch into the next century if there is no serious move towards peace in the near future. We have had war in the Middle East since before I was born, and there is no reason to imagine that this will change in my lifetime.

Would either side in this conflict consider changing strategy in order to have peace?

The best way to stop war is to never start. But once the tanks are rolling, and the missiles are airborne, there needs to be a decisive victor in order to end the hostilities. There may be a victor in this current conflict, and that may stop the killing for six months or a year, but don't hold your breath waiting for a lasting peace.

Until each side realizes that losing lives is not worth the victory, this conflict will rage on indefinitely.

Americans will never be free of war until we decide that our sons and daughters are more important than ideology, or some ism.

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