| James Carroll, whose OpEd column appears in the Boston Globe Monday's, wrote about the confluence of anniversaries that mark the sordid history of Twentieth Century warfare ... and, therefore, of our remembrances of veterans of all these wars. Carroll takes the time to explain why WWI was the signal event of the past century and the havoc created by that war and its undiplomatic aftermath. Truly the world could hardly have been worse served than it was by the Treaty of Versailles and the political leaders there ... including our stubborn idealists, who traded good common sense for a League we would never join.
I think that nearly every American understands that WWII was "caused by" WWI. At least they understand that the punitive treaty against Germany did nothing to insure peace or primacy of the U.K. and France. In fact, the horror of that war was absorbed by the populace of the winners and left them both angry (very much like America after Pearl Harbor and 9/11), vindictive, and irrational, but also very much unable to commit to peace-keeping (very much like America after the Iraq War).
As a combat veteran of the Vietnam War I take Veteran's Day as society's thanks for my service and for the service of those who survived or did not survive the wars they were in. Thanks to Carroll's essay I have a different view of the process now. It is not enough to deploy and undeploy troops. We must face each future when veterans come home with a resolve to fixing the problems that military force cannot.
JB |
