Peace Through Capitulation: A False Peace, At Best

From Human Events--Guns & Patriots:

Peace through Capitulation: A False Peace at Best


by Major Gen. Jerry Curry



10/19/2010







An excellent example of what happens when a free and democratic nation adopts a weak defense policy is illustrated by Great Britain’s reaction to Hitler’s rise to power in the 1930’s. Chamberlain, then Prime Minister of Great Britain, was so determined to keep the British out of war with Germany that he adopted a policy of appeasement and capitulation. Along with negotiation and limited sanctions, it was not unlike the kind of foreign policy President Obama has currently adopted in his dealings with Muslim nations.



In his excellent book on Churchill, William Manchester wrote, “The anesthetic effect of German promises to negotiate in these years was extraordinary. Hitler never negotiated. He lied, he bluffed, he blackmailed, but serious negotiation was a skill he despised, a refuge for weaklings.”



So it is today. Ahmadinejad (the President of Iran) despises western nations, President Obama, and the United States of America. He has no intention of honorably negotiating anything. But Obama is a slow learner and keeps holding out “unclenched fists” to Ahmadinejad who, in turn, spits on them.







On Oct 3, 1938, Duff Cooper, a member of the British Parliament said of Chamberlain that, “Chamberlain believed in addressing Herr Hitler through the language of ‘sweet reasonableness.’ I have believed that he was more open to the language of the mailed fist … we have taken away the defenses of Czechoslovakia in the same breath as we have guaranteed them.”



That is what the United States has done. We have taken away the missile defenses of Poland, Ukraine and Eastern Europe and, in the same breath, we have guaranteed them protection from Russian missiles.



Both Chamberlain and Obama have emphasized diplomacy over confrontation. As a result, Chamberlain got WWII and Obama, most likely in addition to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, will in all probability stumble into a Middle-East War, a confrontation in Pakistan, or a military engagement on the Korean Peninsula. If Obama cannot contain Iran now while it is non-nuclear, what chance does he have of containing Iran after it becomes a nuclear power?



In the “gathering storm” of WWII Churchill wrote of the danger Hitler posed and that it, “became apparent to British men in bars, women pushing baby carriages, shelf stackers in supermarkets, taxi drivers, businessmen, union shop stewards; to everyone, in short, except to the oligarchy in power.”



That very same saga is being repeated today here in our country. Mechanics, fire fighters, hair dressers, clerks, airline pilots, Tea Party members, and many other good, solid Americans are telling Obama and his sorry advisors that it’s time to remove the rose colored glasses and see the threat for what it really is. But the Obama Administration, in its misdirected first years of power, has been oblivious to the will and intelligence of the American people.



Much to Obama’s chagrin, America is still the greatest nation on earth. Without its continuous courageous and moral leadership, the free world and western civilization – as we know it today -- will collapse. For if the U.S. doesn’t lead the free world, who will: Russia, China, Hugo Chavez? Be serious! There is no other nation in the entire world that can adequately fill the shoes of the United States of America should we falter.



This brings us full circle as to why the United States of America, the world’s only super power, must maintain its military prowess and status. As history has rudely taught us over and over again, peace can only be secured and maintained through military strength, not capitulation.



Ironically, the world’s greatest guarantor of peace is an American war-ready military.







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Major Gen. Jerry R. Curry (US Army Ret.) Ph.D. is a decorated combat veteran, Army Aviator, Paratrooper and Ranger who has served his country both in the military and as a Presidential appointee in three administrations. He is also the author of "From Private to General" (Believe Books)