Europeans Are Not Cowards. It's That We Know War.

The International Herald Tribune ^ | January 28, 2004 | Fletcher Crossman

[quidnunc]

Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina – Listening to Richard Perle on the radio recently was a little hard for a European like me. Perle, a former chairman of the Defense Policy Board, stated that European nations "do not have the most courageous of instincts," with the implication that America has to intervene in international affairs because Europeans are afraid to. Perle's comments take place against a chorus of similar sentiments to be heard on America's airwaves in recent months.

An average listener would be forgiven for believing that Europeans are a cowardly bunch of ungrateful wimps, whose anti-American bombast is a merely a cover for their complicity with evil regimes.

It may be true. But as a European myself — I'm from Britain — it doesn't feel true. And I wonder if our cultural disconnect comes from two very different experiences of war.

-snip-

[jpsb]

Oh No, not C-Nile. And I still have to go to work everyday. Now when all I have to do is drink beer and pinch pretty behinds C-Nile would almost be OK.

[Alberta's Child]

There's nothing emotional about my post at all. I was responding to Perle's quote in the original article -- in which he stated that European nations "do not have the most courageous of instincts."

Who the hell is Richard Perle to comment on anyone's courage?

It's amazing, isn't it? We've reached the point where "courage" is now defined as having the will to send someone else into harm's way.

[marron]

The European veterans are more than entitled to take offense at a dandy like Perle lecturing them on courage...or lack there of.

Which European veterans would those be?

[Alberta's Child]

You shall both be pinged! Probably tomorrow, assuming I can stay home from work in this snowstorm.

[Doc On The Bay]

It Appears, "You Got IT Right!!"

"Good On You!!"

Doc

[Alberta's Child]

You ever been there? I don't think I've ever seen a place where a high degree of civil order and an utter lack of respect for any form of outside authority have co-existed so well as it does there.

[Lucky Dog]

And sometimes you die sleeping in a Marine barracks in Beirut -- because for some reason that nobody can ever seem to explain, the guards at the guard post don't have any ammunition in their guns when the suicide bomber drives his truck through the gate. I make this point because THIS, more than anything else, is what kept me out of the service.

So you'd rather let someone else guard in your place?

[Alberta's Child]

It didn't quite get that far, but if I knew you better I would even tell you the Congressman's name.

[lainde]

bttt

[Sockdologer]

It may be true. But as a European myself — I'm from Britain — it doesn't feel true.

And of course, that's all that matters!

[jpsb]

Actually it is, if you are the commander. Great commanders work long and hard planning the battles that will be the death of many of thier men. Yea, it takes courage to lead too.

[VaBthang4]

Right.

~wink~

Some could surmise that your unwilingness to serve the United States in a life and death capacity while it was engaged in the single greatest struggle of our age, bringing down the Soviet Union [Perle serving as Assistant SECDEF under Reagan] would qualify you as a coward.

And as such a bit of a hypocryte considering your weak attempt at impugning Perle for not having the experience you also lack.

[pierrem15]

Within a few short years we were forced into a World War II, and this time there was none of the flag-waving; instead there was a stunned gasp of: "Are we really going through all this again?"

Note the use of the passive voice.

You were not forced-- you walked right into a hell of your own making that a blind man could have seen, on a path paved with demagoguery, cowardice, and appeasement.

As a consequence of your stupidity, we were attacked, and we saved your sorry butts not once but three times (counting the Cold War) in one century.

You could at least have the decency to shut up.

[Twinkie]

Oh, we know war on this soil! Our first one was the
bloody one with Britain for independence. I'm from the
South. Oh, we know war here. Our men have died on
foreign soil by the thousands fighting European tyrants.
My father had battle fatigue from WWII from the time he
was 21 yrs. old until he died at the age of 81. I know
firsthand about living in the house with a man who
automatically falls into sentry duty mode at a certain
time of night. We know about war. Chamberlain's ideas
were just like the liberals here today. They didn't learn
anything from all the history they studied in those fancy
ivy league universities they attended after all.

[cibco]

Thanks, snow doesn't affect me... I wish it would warm up to over freezing though...

[Alberta's Child]

Ask someone who lived in Spain during the Spanish Civil War -- in which the competing factions were supported by the Germans and the Soviets -- which side they would have preferred. Hint: it was the Soviet-backed Republicans who desecrated and pillaged churches, killed members of the Catholic clergy, etc.

[saradippity]

There were a lot of things at play. One was the financial position Germany was in because of the terms of the Versaille (sp) Treaty.

People on the continent were also more cognizant of the threat of communism. Many of them knew that the murder of the Tsar and his family was communist inspired,and brutal and horribly wrong.I believe the average European was far more informed about the ideology of Marx than Americans were.

Remember too,America was the country that was fed fabricated news from Russia that the lying Times reporter Duranty was sending back for public consumption.

[sarasmom]

Are you married?
If not,do you want to begin a beautifull platonic flirtatious online relationship?
If so, tell your wife that somebody besides yourself, thinks you are right, at least sometimes.
;^)

[tracer]

"An average listener would be forgiven for believing that Europeans are a cowardly bunch of ungrateful wimps, whose anti-American bombast is a merely a cover for their complicity with evil regimes."

No, an average listener would be correct.

But, then, we Americans know nothing of wars Europe, do we, Fletch?

Do you speak German? Oh, well then, you're welcome, old boy.....