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The War That Isn't

By Gordon Francis Corbett

What we have in Iraq is a war that isn't.  That is to say, it is a limited war.  Limited wars are not true wars.  They are clever and costly diversions that let politicians focus citizens' attention on combat while their diplomats bargain secretly.  When third-rate countries like North Korea, North Viet-Nam, Syria, or Iran are involved, the bargainers include the belligerents' patron-sponsors.  Here, as in the past, the patron-sponsors include Russia and Red China.

For some sixteen years, partly to please the American Establishment, American companies have invested in these totalitarian regimes.  The idea was not so much to make money for the respective firms' stockholders, but to "civilize" the nations' totalitarian leaders.  So far, the payoffs include Red Chinese threats to conquer the Republic of China and to blow up Los Angeles, and Russia's murder by poison of one defector in Great Britain.

The Russian Federation has sold Sukhoi Su-30 pursuit aircraft to Venezuela.  This sale's importance far outstrips the loss of revenue to American firms that would otherwise have sold Venezuela F-16's or F-22's.  Arms sales often accompany other kinds of agreements.  Neither Russia's Putin nor Venezuela's Chávez has announced what other pacts they have made, but they may have inspired Chávez's increased boldness.

Red China's Hutchison Whampoa company has installations at both ends of the Panama Canal.  Recent reports indicate that the Red Chinese have infiltrated that entire area, and that, at any time, they could limit traffic on that waterway.  Too, as I said, Red Chinese generals have threatened to blow up Los Angeles if they attack Formosa and we interfere.  Representative Peter de Fazio has remarked that the Chinese Reds could make us abandon Taipei merely by threatening to put our debt instruments on the world market.

The reports of "Project Civilization"'s success are greatly exaggerated.

Any Constitutional conservative worth his salt, any Libertarian, and any Objectivist, foretold these results.  All knew that giving tyrants wealth and knowhow resembles a bank president's handing Jesse James a Thompson sub-machinegun and limitless drums of cartridges.  All knew that we were strengthening these dictatorships and endangering our future.  And all broadcast these facts to all who would listen.

The problem is not ignorance on our part.  It is neither lack of philosophy nor failure to apply it.  The problem is an inability to communicate our knowledge to our fellow citizens.  When we can do that, we will convince them of our rightness and persuade them to oust our "democratic" socialist-fascist elite.

The question is, "How?"

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