Cry for war drowns out common sense [BARF ALERT]

Seattle Post-Intelligencer ^ | 3/29/02 | HUBERT G. LOCKE

[ppaul]

The problem with incessantly beating the drums of war, as this national administration is currently doing, is that the noise begins to drown out reason, common sense and, eventually, sanity.

Reason was the first to be sacrificed when Bush proclaimed his "axis of evil" and put Iran, Iraq and North Korea -- and possibly Russia and China -- on a list of suspect-nations with which the United States would prepare to do battle in the name of demolishing weapons of mass destruction. In at least one of the three pariah countries, a fierce political battle is being waged between moderation and fanaticism; consigning the country to the ash bin of evil managed to ineptly breathe more life into the fanatics and their cause.

Common sense quickly followed when it was announced that Vice President Cheney would make a grand tour of the Middle East in order to convince Arab leaders of the importance of joining America in the effort to topple Saddam Hussein -- or at least not to stand in the way while we did so. Most Arab leaders sit on a tinder-box of poverty, illiteracy and religious fundamentalism for which no spark would be greater than the prospect of the United States trying to overthrow the leader of an Islamic nation -- no matter how much he might be despised. (Lay aside, of course, the question of how -- in the absence of a declared war -- we justify going into someone else's country to wipe out its government.)

Now -- with the news that the Pentagon is considering the development of a new generation of nuclear weapons that can perform feats that our current arsenal of nuclear bombs apparently can't manage -- comes the sacrifice of sanity. The world entered the nuclear age less than 60 years ago. Most of the subsequent six decades have been spent in feverish efforts to find way of avoiding the possibility that -- after the devastation wreaked on Hiroshima and Nagasaki -- these horrid instruments of mass destruction would ever be used again. The best the two superpowers could do during this period was to develop a strategy quite appropriately named MAD (for "mutually assured destruction" or the knowledge that both sides had sufficient arsenals of nuclear devices that if one unleashed its stockpile, the other side could still retaliate with enough destructive force to annihilate the aggressor.)

For those of us old enough to remember this ghastly era in world politics (and that includes just about everyone over the age of 40), it produced a collective anxiety on this planet that was palpable. In the 1950s, people actually built bomb shelters in their back yards, thinking that such primitive devices would protect them from nuclear fallout. In the '60s, we held our breath while John F. Kennedy forced Nikita Khrushchev to remove nuclear weapons from Cuba. Until the collapse of the Soviet Union, we lived with a relentless barrage of articles, movies, essays and novels -- all describing, imagining or depicting what might happen if a nuclear war broke out.

That era also produced a mounting wave of protest, in this country and all over Europe, from students, clergy, labor union members and other intensely concerned citizens. People poured into the streets in city after city and on every occasion possible to decry the idea that the world could be made safe by the threat of blowing it to bits. There was a relentless pressure on the leaders of government to find other, saner means of defense and national security. And long before the Soviet Union collapsed, discussions, negotiations and treaties were undertaken and concluded that began to reduce the nuclear arsenal in the stockpiles of both superpowers.

That an administration of the United States of America could blithely consider proceeding as if the history of the past 60 years had never occurred and risk plunging the world back into a period of nuclear insanity is not only morally reprehensible, it is politically monstrous.

Around Seattle and elsewhere in the nation, voices are beginning to be raised questioning this course of affairs. I had the privilege of hearing one such collective voice read from the pulpit of my church on Palm Sunday. May those voices rise to a crescendo of protest and dissent. The world does not need to be put through another round of nuclear madness.

Hubert G. Locke, Seattle, is a retired professor and former dean of the Daniel J. Evans Graduate School of Public Affairs at the University of Washington.

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[ppaul]

This is the same type of scum who spit on soldiers when they returned from 'Nam. A traitor - already encouraging sedition against America, giving aid and comfort to the forces of evil. Somebody needs to remind him who was attacked on September 11. But then, I'm afraid that doesn't matter to him one bit. And, to think this bozo was a professor and former dean at the University of Washington!

[ohioman]

You are exactly correct. This guy is nothing but a pile of excrement that has learned how to talk.

[onedoug]

Another academic. And so it goes....

[ladtx]

The problem with incessantly beating the drums of war, as this national administration is currently doing, is that the noise begins to drown out reason, common sense and, eventually, sanity.

You mean the way we beat the drums that drowned out all the reason and common sense that helped us defeat Naziism during WWII? This guy needs a healthy dose of reality. There is another world beyond the ivy-covered walls of academia. Living in his sheltered world, he finds it hard to believe that we are actually at risk and something that some find repugnant must be done to alleviate that risk.

[chachacha]

Wouldn't yuh know it. Mr Locke is another Liberal College Professor acting out his anti American Studies class. American college professors have turned our colleges into breading grounds of descent. The last 50 years of Liberal dominance in the congress of the USA has direct bearing on todays Moral decay.Wake up America

[steve-b]

Lay aside, of course, the question of how -- in the absence of a declared war -- we justify going into someone else's country to wipe out its government.

If that's the issue, by all means declare war (on the grounds of repeated violation of the 1991 cease-fire accord).

[dbehsman]

"Iran, Iraq and North Korea -- and possibly Russia and China"

Can anybody tell me when Bush mentioned Russia and/or China? Were does this guy get Russia and/or China? Did this knucklehead even listen to Bush's speech?

When I started reading this "piece", I thought that I was reading a leftist anti war propaganda leaflet. Of course, when I saw "Professor" at the bottom, I realized that it was just an op ed "piece".

Just think ladies and gentlemen, our tax dollars are paying for these "professors". Can anyone tell me why?

[moodyskeptic]

And imagine that, if CFR goes through as written, these academics would be given full access to TV and newspapers as guests or experts for 60 days prior to elections... without any rebuttal. (shaking head)

[boris]

This guy's right. It would be better just to surrender immediately.

< /sarcasm>

--Boris

[pray4liberty]

This 'professor,' and I use the term loosely, wouldn't be shooting off his mouth like a loose cannon if the West Coast was hit instead of New York City and Washington D.C.

Some people just don't get it until the day trouble lands in their backyard.

[hauerf]

Hubert G. Locke, Seattle, is a retired professor and former dean of the Daniel J. Evans Graduate School of Public Affairs at the University of Washington and a monumentally huge twit.

[Steve_Seattle]

"nuclear insanity"

Apparently Mr. Locke regards Mutual Assured Destruction - the doctrine he is defending - as "sanity."

[Steve0113]

Bush proclaimed his "axis of evil" and put Iran, Iraq and North Korea -- and possibly Russia and China -- on a list of suspect-nations with which the United States would prepare to do battle in the name of demolishing weapons of mass destruction.

Bush never mentioned Russia or China. Nor did he mention doing battle with these countries. This guy is delusional.

[Dan from Michigan]

Mr Locke is a chickensh*t.

[Kermit]

"In at least one of the three pariah countries, a fierce political battle is being waged between moderation and fanaticism; consigning the country to the ash bin of evil managed to ineptly breathe more life into the fanatics and their cause."

Just as Reagan's denunciation of the Soviet Union as the Evil Empire electrified the opponents of that totalitarian regime, Bush's calling Iraq, Iran and North Korea has probably had the same effect.

We do know that the reporter, who got to the anti-Saddam Kurds were vastly encouraged by Bush's description of Saddam Hussein as evil. The Iranian anti-Mullahs are stronger than ever, even though, this has only been reported by Michael Ledeen as far as I can tell. The author of this piece is a foreign policy doofus, like many at the State Dept today.

[wattsmag2]

Shot for brains is the best thing I could say about this writer.

[DonPaulJones]

When do we say enough is enough and put scum like this where it belongs, on the garbage heap?????

I am sick and tired of these anti-US sh*tbags. They lead a life of relative leisure, bad mouth anything pro-US, while working stiffs pay taxes which in turn fund their salaries. HANG THEM BY THE NECK UNTIL DEAD, I SAY.

[Brett66]

Oooooh nuclear scary, bad bad bad. Saddam Hussein with nukes is even scarier. This guy has head-up-the-buttitis.

[vannrox]

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LOCKE, Hubert G.

John and Marguerite Corbally Professor,
Graduate School of Public Affiars

Appointed: 1976

Education:

B.A. 1955, Latin, Wayne University.
M.A. 1961, Comparative Literature, University of Michigan.
B.D. 1959, New Testament Studies, University of Chicago.
Teaching Specializations: Race, Religion and Public Policy.

Field Experience/Research/Awards:

L.H.D (hon. causa),
University of Arron;
University of Nebraska at Omaha;
University of Bridgeport;
Richard Stockton College.

Recent Publications:

The Black Antisemitism Controversy. .
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