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Appeasement

“Our loyal, brave people... should know the truth. They should know that there has been a gross neglect and deficiency in our defences; they should know that we have sustained a defeat without a war, the consequences of which will travel far with us along our road... and do not suppose that this is the end. This is only the beginning of the reckoning. This is only the first sip, the first foretaste of the bitter cup which will be proffered to us year by year, unless by a supreme recovery of moral health and martial vigour, we arise again and take our stand for freedom as in olden time."(Winston Churchill before Parliament following Chamberlain’s return from Munich)

As I begin this piece, the media are doing their very best to stir up a real donnybrook between Senator’s McCain and Obama over the role of negotiation in our foreign policy. The igniter of this fracas is President Bush’s speech before the Israeli Knesset. The President in paying tribute to Israel’s 60 years of democratic rule, listed their many accomplishments in fashioning a thriving country from arid lands, all while continuously under Arab pledge of annihilation.

In this troubled part of the world, appearance begets reality as surely as sunrise begets the day. The president spoke to those who would weaken our firm stance of support for Israel’s fragile hold on their piece of ancient soil. “Some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along. We have heard this foolish delusion before. As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: "Lord, if I could only have talked to Hitler, all this might have been avoided." We have an obligation to call this what it is -- the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history”

While the president’s press secretary made it clear that it was not directed at Senator Obama, the candidate, perhaps with nervous self consciousness, was quick to disclaim any interest in negotiating with terrorists. "George Bush knows that I have never supported engagement with terrorists, and the president's extraordinary politicization of foreign policy and the politics of fear do nothing to secure the American people or our stalwart ally Israel."

The Senator’s response was one of the milder Democratic responses. The President particularly, and Republicans generally have been vilified in the most demeaning terms by many liberal lawmakers eager for the adoring attention of the media. While many of today’s voters have forgotten the harsh cost referred to above in the quote from Winston Churchill, there are enough voters who do to create a challenge for Obama in the fall.

For Obama‘s handlers, The President’s speech sent a shudder up their backs for Obama’ s dovish posture and seeming diplomatic naiveté. Democrats know that in order to get to 271 electoral votes in the fall, Senator Obama is going to have to convince either some Southern states or rock ribbed Midwesterners that he is up to the task of protecting this country.

Convincing the country on that score, even in a “Democratic Year” is a tall order. Contrary to what he says above, Senator Obama began his campaign by making it clear he intends to have the bulk of our troops in Iraq back on U.S. soil as quickly as they can be withdrawn from in an orderly fashion. As he nears the nomination, he has moderated that position somewhat, but his intent remains the same, and he has compounded his stance by comments that he is prepared to sit down during his first year in office without preconditions to speak directly to a number of the world’s bad boy leaders of terrorist regimes. If any president were so foolish, it would undermine our efforts with responsible Mid Eastern regimes and add prestige to the rogue regime no matter what is said there. The Senator’s ease and seeming lack of sensitivity to geopolitical niceties has done much to make his hill to the White House a steep one to climb.

The Senator does have one thing going for him; however, an electorate battered by the economic effect of our own dependence on foreign crude, that just wants it all to go away. It is to those in our electorate who feel this way that Senator Obama wishes to appeal. There are many of them, and they bear much in common with Europeans of the 1930’s who, while recovering from a ruinous war that wiped out much of a generation on both sides of the armistice, wanted only to forget. Churchill’s words above stand as testimony of the stark dangers and harm that follows such lassitude.

Regrettably that generation turned its back on the lessons of the first Great War. Europe of the “tween” years was left saddled with an unjust peace, victor’s anguish and loser’s anger that lead inexorably to an even more devastating reprise in 1939. Those in our society, who look to the lessons of both world wars and to our eventual victory in the Cold War, remain alert to those who would do anything to put our country in a similar situation today. While it is not clear who wins such a contest, there are enough who do remember, that this promises to be the central question of the campaign.

While the family breadbasket normally trumps all other issues, several factors may move the spotlight back to our national security before Election Day. The first is that though the economy is weaker than it has been, American workers remain the most productive in the world. The actions taken by the government and the financial sector to correct the liquidity issues and financial abuse that have been revealed are taking hold, and the economy appears primed to gather steam before the end of this year. This and likely unanticipated actions by our enemies in the interim will lead back to our international posture as the primary issue on the minds of the electorate.

Negotiation per se is not the issue. We do have contact in Iraq through diplomatic and military authorities with Iran and elsewhere in the world with outlaw regimes at international organization meetings to which we and they belong. While these informal contacts in third countries often are of little consequence, they do occur and are available to start more serious talks. To paraphrase President Kennedy, It is standard American diplomatic policy that we do not negotiate from fear but do not fear to negotiate.

To be successful, however, negotiation must proceed from strength, demonstrated exercise of capacity and willpower by both sides. This generation appears to believe that wishing our enemy were different will make it so. Sadly this is not true. While “Jaw, Jaw may be better than War, War,” we need to recognize there are forces in the world with whom we cannot reach agreement so long as they cling to their messianic world view.

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Bartlett’s accords George Santayana the honor of this oft quoted truism. Its basic truth, however, resonates well before him in recorded history. It is so oft repeated because we so often forget. The Mideast presents just such a situation. I view with exasperation the honest but naïve questioning of the President by international reporters who want him to accept that Hamas, The Iranians and Ben Laden too would not behave as they have if we had not been in the Mideast to say “Enough.” It is also totally false that they are stronger because we oppose them.

The forces with whom we are now engaged are our enemies not because of anything we have done, but because we pursue an approach to life that is totally at odds with their world view and their sworn duty to their god. We are not going to change them. We are truly at war and must either sign on for the fight or suffer the kind of silent defeat that Churchill refers to and the cost that will be with us for generations. The American People are a good people, but our patience, maturity and strength of character to see what is a winning hand through to completion is seriously in question in this year’s election. I pray that we will not be found wanting.

Copyright © 2008 by Robert E. Freer, Jr. All rights reserved

About the author: Robert E. Freer, Jr. is President of The Free Enterprise Foundation. He is a Visiting Professor, at The Citadel and elected in 2005 to be their first John S. Grinalds Leader in Residence. A regular contributor to the Mercury, He can be reached by E-mail at The Citadel . Copies of his earlier columns can be found The Free Enterprise Foundation.

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