November 9 marked 15 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall, built in 1961.

Amazing that it is 15 years. Our fathers defeated the Nazi and Japanese regimes in WW II. A great victory that most people recognize.

Our generation defeated Communism in WW III. We never really celebrated or understood, partly because it went out with a wimper. A very good thing. The Communists of the Soviet Union, China, South Vietnam, Cambodia, & Laos killed far more people than the Nazi / Japanese war machine, and were more dangerous because they had the power to destroy the world in a nuclear war.

We did it partly with military force, including numerous small conflicts plus Korea and Vietnam. We also did it in part with a very large military build up that the Soviets could not match.

But just as important was civilian engagement, where the Russians and Chinese got to know our country. They eventually saw that we were not so bad, and they saw that our system greatly outperformed theirs by virtually every measure.

Case in point - A high level delegation from the Soviet Construction Ministry, including the top guy, visited Chicago. My wife was the Director of the South Suburban Mayors and Managers Association. They wanted to see our Federally funded new towns. Beth and I took them to University Park, where we lived at the time. UP is 90% African American, with very low housing values, but still provides nice homes and a fine community. The Soviets could see that we provided quality homes and communities for our lower income people - much better than they could provide for their middle class.

We took them shopping at our malls. They liked KMart the best, and bought all kinds of things.

I think these contacts eventually convinced their leadership elite that their system was broken, and could not be fixed. They had the courage to change. And they have a long way to go, but the world is a far better and safer place today than 20 years ago. And I am optimistic that over time they will convert to quality democratic countries with good economic performance.




> From: "susan”

> Subject: war
>
> Last night while watching the news on the fighting in Fallujah, I couldn't help but feel a sense of insane futility of this war in Iraq. This is not the American Revolution, the Civil War, WWI, or WWII, whereby we're fighting for the freedom of OUR country, or fighting for the freedom of the ENTIRE world, with the assistance of the ENTIRE world. I am appalled that this government of ours would stoop to such levels in sending American men and women over the age of 45 to Iraq! Has common sense taken a holiday at the highest federal levels in our government? Just how effective would someone over the age of 45 be on a battlefield?



Craig - I volunteered, but apparently they agreed with Sue. Several of my Vietnam era friends are serving in Iraq now. Most of the old guys are not charging up hills, but then most of the guys in any war don’t do that. All kinds of people making the airplanes fly, moving men and machines around, providing support.



>Susan

> I see parallels between this war in Iraq and that of Vietnam. Both were political in nature and both were fought against perceived evils. Fighting Communism with human lives was just as insane as fighting a dictator's perceived threats. Iraq use to be a dictator state, now it's a terrorist state-ly playground and our presence there has accerbated an already dangerous and volitile situation.

>

> It will not happen, at least not for several generations. To do so, would require a dismantling of the ENTIRE Middle East, but not with combat or physical force.
>
> The policing of the World by the United States of America is the forerunner to our decline.
>
> Susan.




Craig replies. Our current war is certainly divisive, and reasonable people can disagree on whether it makes sense or not. A large percentage of the world think we are crazy to be doing this. They could be right.

The argument for the war is complicated, but goes something like this.

We are now engaged in WW 4, having won WW 2 against the Nazi/Japanese, and WW 3 against communism.

WW 4 is the war against terrorism, primarily Islamic.

What were our choices after 911 and numerous other attacks - our embassies, ships, civilians, etc.

1. Do Nothing - always governments first option
2. Turn the other cheek. Forgive the terrorists. Very Christian. Hope they stop killing us.
3. Use diplomatic means and foreign aid to convince the terrorists to be nice to us.
4. Hire Hollywood to make movies to improve our image in the Islamic World
5. Convert to Islam, confess the error of our ways, eliminate our hedonistic ways, and put women in their place.
6. Increase police and security in the US
7. Hunt them down and kill them
8. Bomb them back to the stone age

We chose options 6 and 7. I think that was probably the best choice.

Where did we choose to fight? First in Afghanistan, where the bad guys were in charge. We quickly whipped them, but are still searching for the remaining bad guys in their caves and hideouts.

Then we invaded Iraq. Virtually everyone thought Saddam was a bad guy, who raped and murdered and started wars, and tried to assassinate our President. He paid the families of terrorist suicides $25,000 to encourage more killing. We also thought he had or wanted weapons of mass destruction and that he might provide them to terrorists to use against us. WMD and terrorist links appear to be less than was thought.

Saddam was the kingpin in a very bad neighborhood of countries that hate us. Iran, Syria, Sudan, and Libya are also quite bad. By taking Saddam down, the other countries learned a bit of fear, which hopefully will help them not to support terrorists or provide them with WMD. Libya was the first shoe to drop- Kadafi had bombed our airplane over Lockerbie. Now he is promising to go straight.

The plan is to try to create a stable, affluent, peaceful democratic Iraq which will be a model for the Middle East. The Middle East would become prosperous, and drop their hatred of the west. Palestine could even become a stable democracy, and develop peace with Israel.

Now, this is certainly not easy. Maybe it is impossible. We may fail.

I am hoping that we prevail. We probably won’t know for 10 to 30 years.

Just like our war with Communism, it will either go out with a quiet wimper (We will gratefully accept that outcome).

Or it will fail. And we will find that out when terrorists get their hands on serious WMD, and deliver it to our cities. Hoping Chicago is well down that list. I would think New York, Washington, LA, and San Fran are ahead of us.

Keep your fingers crossed, and Prayers flowing.