A Postscript To My Last Submission

I believe what has been lost since 9/11 is any real discussion of peace as a component of our foreign policy. You almost never hear anyone talk about peace now. I understand that there are malignant forces who want not only to be out from under what they perceive as American Imperialism, but want to execute, in collegiate wrestling terms, a "reverse." They want us on our backs on the mat. They want to destroy us, not simply negotiate with us more effectively.

There are wars that need to be fought. I get that. I was simply never sure that this was one of them. That this was the best way to proceed. That it would ultimately achieve our long term goals. Which, in the end, should include... peace.

 

Comments

[jmjsmith]

11:28 AM on 09/24/2011

Alec Baldwin said on TV: “Would one prefer to have a hotdog in Maspeth or be in Paris?” Maspeth lost the most firefighters in the rescue effort on September 11, 2001: Nineteen firefighters, among the first to respond, from Squad 288/Hazmat 1 firehouse. His remark makes him sounds like a hoity-toity filleting fish, one pinky raised, looking with distain at the hoi polloi, where only Paris will satisfy. That's not him. Alec Baldin needs to think more carefully about his sense of humor.

[Texasskier]

04:57 PM on 09/14/2011

Some people wrote here, that wars are good for economy. I don't think so. Every war takes american money. Government could create jobs another way, instead of speding money for wars outside.

[klear1]

04:09 PM on 09/13/2011

Any long term politician has gone through enough battles in their career to know that an olive branch must be accompanied by the sword and the wielder must not be afraid to use either one when necessary. Both peace and war have had its place in story of the human condition. Both concepts when practiced to its extreme have led to ruin for its followers.

In the case of world affairs I believe that President Obama and Sec of State Hillary Clinton has offered the branch many times. Maybe you want him to offer it more or maybe less, but he/she has offered it as many times as he/she deems necessary based on information none of us have access to or would (should) want access to.

[Keith Austin]

03:45 PM on 09/13/2011

Mr. Alec Baldwin:
I completely agree with you.

[Valery Satterwhite]

02:14 PM on 09/13/2011

Ah, finally a shift towards what we want instead of what we don't want. With the politics, positioning and pontificating, I've stepped out of the kabuki dance of fear-based pining on what we DON'T want (terrorism, bad economy, etc.). Sometimes its hard to be heard above the noise of negativity when you're focus and intention is to be profoundly powerfully positive. Rising above the challenge takes Moxie. Taking a page from Mother Theresa, I'll have no part of beating the drum for what I don't want. When we're aligned and engaged with what we DO want (peace, prosperity, well-being, compassion, understanding, etc.) I'll gladly add my voice. Thanks Alec for taking a stand for what you want.

[Edward Wilkes]

10:45 AM on 09/13/2011

The price of freedom will always come at a cost; this is a right thing to do especially when threat of loosing our freedom is real, but when we war for big corporations and the Banking Cartel for reasons that have nothing at all to do with our true freedom, the cost of American and foreign casualties are a total waste. Also the economic investment for false reasons that, put us into wars we should not belong drains America's resources and puts us needlessly into surmounting debt.

[rues]

08:33 PM on 09/12/2011

It is unfortunate that War or threat of War (real or not) generates jobs. Aerospace, Weapons facilities, you name it...Suddenly the threat creates need for more weapons, more missles, etc. People are happy when they are working and not much left in United States to build or make.War creates jobs....Manufacturing is disappearing from the United States..Other countries are making the good we wear, use, play,drive, there is no end. I get the feeling everything that happened is like the movie "wag the dog" ...the fear of war brings us together. Leaders get to standup Pontificate and sound like hero's. In another fifty years there will hardly be any Americans owning anything in our beloved Country...What will we do, make war on our foreign next door neighbors. I sometimes go to the Veterans Hospital and visit forgotten hero's....No one comes to see them, no one cares. And more will fill the rooms as time goes by...Peace is such a beautiful concept. Beautiful!. I wish we humans were cabable of such a concept. History says we are not...peace

[quovadiszero]

03:08 PM on 09/12/2011

War is how man keeps his primal instincts honed razor sharp.Always will be the necessary contrast to his humanity.
Peace is only the bridge we tread during the intervals between wars.
I wish for longer bridges..

[Ann Purcell]

02:40 PM on 09/12/2011

Alec, Please read an approach to peace written in the following article on Huffington post by Jeanne Ball:
9/11: Have We Overlooked the Most Effective Way to Prevent Terrorism and War?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeanne-ball/post_2384_b_956963.html

[Aryeh Melaris]

01:52 PM on 09/12/2011

Thanks for the clarification Alec Baldwin. War is bad, unless it isn't. These ones are bad. So there should be peace. Okay. Got it.

[Hawklord Tst]

01:47 PM on 09/12/2011

i don't want to belabor the point that the war in irag was decided before bush jr became president. he became president to fight the war in irag, but 9/11 gave a more palatable excuse. i wonder sometimes, if 9/11 hadn't happened, what gulf of tonkin type resolution would have been concocted.
"we haven't found evidence of weapons of mass destruction because he manufactures them in vans that drive around bagdad 24 hours a day, in small quantities these quantities are so small they have to be handed off to small people under cover of darkness. the next day, these small people meet and hand their load off to bigger and bigger people, until, it's a lot"

[Dawg1000]

01:06 PM on 09/12/2011

The MIC does not want peace. It does not fit their agenda!

[SemperVeritas]

01:27 PM on 09/12/2011

No peace. No corporate taxes. No loose cannons in the WH
and Congress. What a beautiful world. War and MIC über alles.

[Larry Aleshire]

01:00 PM on 09/12/2011

Waging peace is a lot cheaper than waging war. but try and tell that to the weapons makers and sellers in this and any other country... try and resolve decades or centuries old conflicts with a peace branch. i don't hold much hope for humanity if peace is not part of the on-going dialog.

[idcsys]

01:45 PM on 09/12/2011

"Waging peace" Never heard the phrase, but it would be a nice concept.

[salmo]

12:30 PM on 09/12/2011

Peace? Can our rentier class make a profit on it? Can our politicians swagger while waving it around? Well then, why would that be part of a Washington consensus?

[Fractal122635]

12:05 PM on 09/12/2011

Alec you effectively summed up the problem in your "American Imperialism" line. No, there is no concern for that, only a convenient excuse. There have always been excuses starting with the other tribes in Arabia in the 600's until today. "They" have always preached world conquest and the inevitability of the Waqf, and until we accept THAT, and confront THAT, which we did for about a minute on 9/11, we will not have peace.