People have varying views about war and particular wars, but it seems people with a wide spectrum of beliefs think that World War II was a ‘good war’. As a ardent pacifist myself, it is indeed a very difficult case. Nazi Germany was indeed a brutal and expantionist force and I also believe that the USA should have acted against it. The question that I think about a lot is, was massive, brutal, and devistating war the only possible response? This is something that Howard Zinn, who happily served in World War II, has talked a lot about, and has brought forth many valuable ideas on the topic.

One thing that has always struck me is why didn’t immigrant nations like the USA, Canada, Britain, etc. allow refugees from Nazi controlled areas to come to their countries? Indeed the British in particular were very actively preventing jewish refugees from coming to British territory during that period, perhaps most notably in Palestine. The Nazis were letting jewish people leave Germany in the thirties, so if the USA has thrown open its doors to jewish refugees, we could have not only saved millions of people from the concentration camps, but also perhaps prevented the need to start a massive war against the Nazis, with its massive cost, destruction, and millions of people killed.

Economically, it is likely that the USA would have been better off with these millions of jewish refugees. Jewish european immigrants have been some of the most successful immigrants in this nation of immigrants by many measures: increased education, entrepreneurial activity and public service.

I’ve recently been thinking about a certain angle on World War II which I am not sure if Zinn has discussed. One thing that has struck me about that era is just how widespread anti-semitism really was. The myth that we are taught these days is that it was the Nazis who were the only anti-semites of that era, but that is far from the truth. Our very own Henry Ford was a huge and outspoken anti-semite, including writing and publishing The International Jew. The British King Edward VIIII was a big admirer of the Nazis and there is evidence he was forced to abdicate because of his complicity with the Nazis ([1]). Many of the Dutch royalty were also Nazi sympathizers. France’s native Vichy regime and indeed many French people were very active participants in the Holocaust. Russia also had a long history of pogroms against jewish people, though the Soviet Union was much better in that regard. So it seems quite plausible then to deduce that really it was widespread anti-semitism outside of the Nazi controlled areas that forced war as the only viable option.

One thing that has clearly changed since Obama became president is the level of goodwill around the world towards the USA. Obama’s story is indeed inspirational to many, and represents a good side of the USA: he is the son of an immigrant from a far off land who is black, and he is now the president. This goodwill has made many people around the world start to give the USA the benefit of the doubt when considering the USA’s actions. I think that this is roughly parallel to Kennedy, and the goodwill towards him that people around the world felt. So it is then interesting to see what Kennedy did with this goodwill.

And there comes the troubling part. In the word’s of Kennedy’s advisor Arthur Schlesinger, “the character and repute of President Kennedy constitute one of our greatest national resources. Nothing should be done to jeopardize this invaluable asset. When lies must be told, they should be told by subordinate officials.” And the worst part of it is that many lies were indeed told, and unfortunately lies that began some massive and horrendous actions. The CIA invasion of Cuba in 1961, aka “the Bay of Pigs” was built upon such lies, with Kennedy knowing full well what was going on. Then far more massive, the Vietnam War was started with such lies with the fabrication of the Gulf of Tonkin incidents. They were used as an excuse to begin a massive and brutal war against Vietnam that would last more than a decade and take the lives of millions.

But surely, Obama is different? I do most sincerely hope so, but we cannot leave him be because power corrupts, and there are already signs of some things going a bad way. One good sign is that Obama officially apologized for the 1953 CIA coup against Iran’s democratic government and installation and support of the Shah’s regime. Also, Obama did not overtly get involved in the Iran election (though we only can really know if there was secret involvement after enough decades have passed and the documents are required to be released).

There are two things that Obama inherited and that he so far continues to support that we should be wary of. First is the war in Afghanistan. In recent centuries, no foreign power has defeated native forces there, and yet we think we can. The British Empire conceded defeat there in the thirties, and Soviet Russia did the same in 1988. On top of that, both discussed the futility of the whole idea in the aftermath. The Taliban isn’t entirely a native force, but at the very least they do have strong support in many parts of the regoin. And if you look at Afghanistan during our presence there, we did indeed succeed in removing the Taliban from official, national-wide power, and there is some nominal elected government there. But this government barely has any power, the warlords have regained control over much of the country, corruption is rampant, and the Taliban is resurgent and even spreading to parts of Pakistan. This is sounding more and more like the quagmire of the Vietnam war, where Laos and Cambodia also got sucked in, and this directly lead to the rise of the Khmer Rouge and the resulting genocide there.

Another thing that Obama inherited is the billions of military aid that we are sending to Colombia, a country that has a long history of using brutal force against its own population, both directly by the military, who are known for commonly killing civilians and dressing them up as rebels to reach their body quotas, and also exerting force by proxy via many paramilitaries. Obama praised Colombia and asked for a continuation of that aid despite many people, like Amnesty International, who call for all of the aid to be stopped on humanitarian grounds.

And lastly, and perhaps the most alarming: Obama has started a new war in Pakistan. During the campaign Obama even said that he would direct our forces to attack even if it was against the will of Pakistan’s government. Like Afghanistan, there are large portions of Pakistan that have never been subdued by foreign forces. This action is looking to be like Kennedy’s Vietnam, which will be covered up by Obama’s gentle manner and heart warming story.