| The following comment I found on-line at the Free Republic. I thought it was worth copying and reposting here. The author is only listed as Axhandle. I changed the link on the "Original Article" to the Project Gutenberg download page. I also highlighted the John Stuart Mill quote. BTJ Airborne Hog Society ^ | 30 April 2005 | AHS MilBlogger Posted on 04/30/2005 9:41:47 AM PDT by Axhandle John Stuart Mill was a utilitarian philosopher in the 19th century. While his most significant contributions to humanity were in the fields of philosophy and economics, his most well-known quote is one cited, correctly and incorrectly, by many in the military and many who have an interest in military affairs. I have seen so many different versions of that quote that I decided to do some research into the correct quote, a few months ago, before we deployed to Iraq. I found it on my computer today. Here is the actual quote and the source: “But war, in a good cause, is not the greatest evil which a nation can suffer. War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things: the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks nothing worth a war, is worse. When a people are used as mere human instruments for firing cannon or thrusting bayonets, in the service and for the selfish purposes of a master, such war degrades a people. A war to protect other human beings against tyrannical injustice – a war to give victory to their own ideas of right and good, and which is their own war, carried on for an honest purpose by their free choice – is often the means of their regeneration. A man who has nothing which he is willing to fight for, nothing which he cares more about than he does about his personal safety, is a miserable creature who has no chance of being free, unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. As long as justice and injustice have not terminated their ever-renewing fight for ascendancy in the affairs of mankind, human beings must be willing, when need is, to do battle for the one against the other.” John Stuart Mill (1806-1873), “The Contest in America.” Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Volume 24, Issue 143, page 683-684. Harper & Bros., New York, April 1862. The article was written in England about the US Civil War, as Mill attempted to sway public opinion to support the Union north. Original article The second sentence of that quote is the most noteworthy, in my opinion. You do not need to look far to read weblogs, editorials, and other writings in which people will acknowledge the evil of Hussein but who still think that the war that we waged was an even greater evil. This defies all common sense and rational thought. Saddam Hussein violated the terms of the Desert Storm cease fire, ordered the slaughter of thousands of Kurds, invaded Kuwait, had his real and imagined political opponents imprisoned, tortured and murdered, and directed the assets of his authoritarian regime towards the extravagant lifestyle of his Ba'ath Party elites, rather than providing sustenance to his impoverished country, when Iraq was under international sanctions imposed for its failure to comply with UN inspectors. And what are the criticisms of the war? That Bush lied, that we were just doing this to steal Iraq's oil, that our intelligence was faulty. So, we should have sat by as Hussein continued his brutal authoritarian ways? Seriously, how does one justify the notion that we were wrong to topple his regime? Let us assume that all of their arguments are correct - that Bush lied, that we are just here for oil, that there never were any weapons of mass destruction. What does any of that have to do with Iraq violating the terms of the Desert Storm cease fire? What does it have to do with Iraq being run by a brutal authoritarian regime? The hatred that the left wing in the US has for President Bush blinds them to the evil that we defeated and to the freedom that we have brought. If you believe any of the left-wing arguments, then speak out against the President for lying or against ill intentions or against bad intelligence. But to degrade the sacrifices of our Servicemembers who have been killed in the process of liberating this country and beating back the insurgency is sick, in my opinion. The idea that war is the ultimate evil ignores the true evil that we defeated in this endeavor - the brutal regime of Saddam Hussein that waged constant terror, murder, and torture against his own people. To criticize the liberation of millions and the defeat of pure evil is idiotic. The idiots who will make the outlandish claims that we are evil for liberating a country need to get a grip on reality. The extent of their knowledge of evil seems to be what they see on television and in movie theaters. I saw the aftermath of evil in Bosnia-Herzegovina, when we witnessed the exhumation of mass graves. This is my second tour in Iraq and I have seen evil in action here. Evil is what motivates people to detonate car bombs and improvised explosive devices with no regard to innocent civilians in the area. Evil is in the hearts of those who kidnap journalists and contractors, to hold them prisoner, videotape them for propaganda, and then kill them. Evil is what we fought during our first deployment, in 2003, when we toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein and what we continue to fight against today. I suppose that I am "judgmental", to call evil by its name. I am judgmental because I have spent enough time here to make an accurate judgment. Some people back home will complain that I am accusing them of being anti-American or un-patriotic. I make no such accusations. There is nothing more American than having the freedom, time and energy to whine and gripe about a topic that you know nothing about. I understand that leftists hate the President and it is their right to feel that way. I see nothing un-American or unpatriotic about that. I do think that it is idiotic to decry the liberation of millions. The reason that so many people fail to recognize the absolute evil that we defeated is because they have no grasp of reality. They do not understand that evil exists outside of movies, television and novels. It does, I have seen it, and it does not wear an American flag on its shoulder. It wears a suicide belt; it carries an igniter attached to a car bomb; it kidnaps and murders innocent people; and it draws aid and comfort from those who refuse to call evil by its name. If you ignore reality, if you think that evil is just and that just is evil, then you are not un-American or unpatriotic - you are just an idiot. And, for those who continue wage an insurgent war in Iraq, you a useful idiot. Congratulations. You have taken the torch from Lenin's legions of useful idiots and you now march proudly on the side of evil, once again. If you think that we are on the side of evil, then you are not un-American and you are not unpatriotic. You are an idiot. Be offended or get a clue |
