A Few Notes on the War
Saturday Night Latham's statement that the U.S. is currently experiencing "record levels of unemployment" (March 6) is false. It's completely false. The current recession isn't as severe as the recession of 1981-82 nor the stagflationary era of the late 1970s. I feel Saturday Night's being influenced by his own unemployment; I have to believe this, as he is not an idiot and yet the above statement isn't even a little true.

Saturday Night also wants to know why the U.S. is going ahead in Iraq without our allies France, Russia, and Germany. Because, Scottie, is we listened to them, there wouldn't be any weapons inspectors in Iraq at all. Also, Russia isn't really a U.S. ally; while we are strategic partners and cooperate on many issues, one must remember that they have vehemently opposed the expansion of NATO into Eastern Europe. France is not even a full member of NATO; in 1966, France militarily withdrew from NATO. So, please don't buy into France's argument that they have always believed in collective security. And Germany? Well, the Germans know all about not stopping a genocidal dictator until it is too late.

The upcoming "The Last Angry Man" column in The Newsletter will no longer we titled "Marching on Baghdad," but rather "Peace In Our Time."

On that note, Saturday Night Latham will hereafter be known as Neville Chamberlain (also: Neville C-Dawg, Saturday Neville Latham, et alii).

If the United Nations is unwilling to stop threats to international security, how exactly is it different from the failed League of Nations?

When President Theodore Roosevelt engineered the Panamanian revolt against Colombia, which allowed the United States to build the Panama Canal (see "A Man, A Plan, A Canal, Panama" from RCY's Good or Suck!), he did so despite being roundly condemned by international opinion, including France and the United Kingdom. He broke off part of a sovereign nation because that sovereign nation refused to allow us to build the Canal. And he wound up on Mount Rushmore; God bless the Old Lion!

Remember, the populations of most countries, the weight of international opinion, supported the 1938 Munich Accord, which sold sovereign Czechoslovakia to Nazi Germany. Just because something is popular, that doesn't mean it is right.

"Britain had the choice between war and dishonor. She chose dishonor; she will have war." Sir Winston Churchill, 1938, after Chamberlain engineered Munich.

It was once said, not by me, that the problem with arguing with me is that I know so very much. Yes, it is difficult to argue with me when I have a superior grasp of the facts, a superior knowledge of history, and the truth as my ally.