Growing A Backbone, And Growing Up
By Michael R. Bowen (03/30/04)
Two events this week tell us all we need to know.
It's less than a month since Spain sent the terrorists a strong message. Responding to the Madrid terror bombings they promptly unseated a government which stood up to terror, and replaced it with socialist appeasers. The new government all but waved the piece of paper and declared it had brought "peace in our time". The memory of Guernica is clearly gone, and with it the lesson of Munich: like Chamberlain, Spain chose dishonor over war, and she will now recall the words of Churchill: "He had to choose between dishonor and war. He has chosen dishonor. He will have war." For no sooner had Spain capitulated than a fresh bomb was discovered yesterday, planted in a Madrid railway to let the Spaniards know the bitter truth: al Qaeda will never be satisfied with any concessions. They will not rest until we are all dead or all Muslims. There is no gesture of goodwill, no ferreting out of "root causes", and no withdrawal, except withdrawal to the grave, which will quench their hatred.
Half a world away, in Fallujah, the Iraqis in turn sent us a message. American civilians helping to rebuild Iraq were slain with grenades and dragged from their burning vehicles. Then the Iraqis mutilated them, and danced on their bodies, their faces contorted with malignant joy. A year after they were freed, helped to form their own government, and bathed in a tremendous outpouring of American material and technical assistance, this is their reply. Mark Twain had an expression for such spectacular acts of ingratitude: "It was downright French of them."
Americans still naively expect, if not gratitude, at least some abatement of enmity when we are magnanimous in victory. Why we haven't learned is hard to say, but it probably has a lot to do with something Europe and the Middle East, as well as our own Leftists, refuse to recognize: that America is a fundamentally decent and kind nation, slow to anger, reluctant to make war but very good at it when pushed, and quick to return to the ways of friendship after the battle. But we must overcome that naiveté, and learn not to expect gratitude along with peace. It is enough that we have deposed Saddam, established a strategic foothold in the center of militant Islam, and begun to make clear to the world that terror inflicted on Americans brings terror in return. The rebuilding of Iraq need not, and should not, be an act American kindness. It is simply an act of strategic prudence.
The Spaniards have learned that extending understanding to this enemy does not bring understanding in return. The Americans have learned, again, that kindness to the conquered does not bring gratitude. Europe needs to grow a backbone, and America needs to grow up. Appeasement makes you cowardly, and cowards die. Gratitude is foreign to some peoples, and expecting it only makes you angry.
Angry people make mistakes.
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