As we head into another conflict, I want to say that I have no appetite for war. I remember watching excerpts from the Vietnam War on television while I was in high school. I knew people who lost their lives, their limbs, and their mental stability who served in that war.
I remember the Gulf War and seeing the final images of the road to Baghdad littered with burned-out jeeps, tanks, and military equipment. I will not forget that image. I remember the bombing of Torah Borah day after day as we looked for Osama Bin Laden. I remember the patriotism people felt when they sent their children off to Iraq and the resulting quagmire. Are Iraq or Afghanistan any better off after all of the American blood was spilled there?
And now, we are bombing various targets in Iran to smithereens. We are sending 5,000 Marines to the Straight of Hormuz. Is it any wonder I cannot get excited about it? Is all of it really necessary? Do we truly have a Cassus Belli that justifies this action? I don’t know. In 1918, Senator Hiram Johnson said, “The first casualty when war comes is truth.” It will take us several months, if not a year or so, to find out if we really were threatened by Iran with a potential nuclear strike in the near future. In the meantime, we will hear the inevitable phrases of war.
Casualties of War – meaning the dead and injured servicemen.
Collateral Damage – meaning the innocent people who were killed or wounded when a bomb or ordinance hit them or their homes or places of work.
Unintended Consequences – meaning the things that happened that we had not planned for, and the inevitable…
Quagmire – meaning we got ourselves into something and now we are going to have a difficult time getting out.
Wave the flag all you want, beat the drum, but for me, I have no appetite for war unless it is honestly necessary for our survival.
Gravitas is a word we don’t hear much of these days. It is a Latin word that has made its way into our vocabulary. It means, “dignity, seriousness or solemnity of manner,” according to Oxford Languages.
There is a lot to be serious about these past few weeks since Russia invaded the Ukraine. Unfortunately, thanks to the twenty-four-hour news cycle, some have made comments that show a lack of gravitas or at least good sense. I have heard remarks calling for the assassination of Vladimir Putin. Do not these people remember what started World War I? In 1914, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie were assassinated in Sarajevo. A chain of events followed and Europe was plunged into the First World War. This ended with the loss of 40 million lives and the devastation of Europe.
Many are calling for NATO to establish a No-Fly Zone over Ukraine. If just one NATO plane is shot down by the Russians, it will invoke Article 5, the commitment clause of the Alliance, forcing all countries in the Alliance to engage in the war. War is hell; there is no doubt about that. We are no longer talking about conventional war, though. Many of the nations involved have a nuclear capability, and heaven forbid, we could be talking about nuclear war.
Those of us who have lived in the nuclear age know that the possibility of nuclear war is very real and we should be ever so careful to not enter into a conflict that could trigger such a war. Words matter and we need to have a certain gravitas when discussing the possibility of actions that could indeed escalate into a nuclear conflict.
The Russian Bear has surrounded Ukraine with its arm. It is quickly drawing it into its orbit in order to annex it. How long will the Ukrainians be able to hold him off?
When Hitler began to annex countries into the Third Reich, those that were not well armed did not last long.
Czechoslovakia lasted 24 hours.
Poland held him off for 35 days.
France lasted six weeks.
Norway held the Nazis off for two months.
Please pray for our brothers and sisters in Ukraine. They are brave but not well armed, and every day they are able to stand against the might of the Russian army is a miracle. May God help them.
Valerie Cullers 