The Independent Voice of Southern Methodist University Since 1915

The Daily Campus

The Daily Campus

The Independent Voice of Southern Methodist University Since 1915

The Daily Campus

The Independent Voice of Southern Methodist University Since 1915

The Daily Campus

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Brian Richardson, Contributor • March 28, 2024
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Mideast conflict

Careless rhetoric will lead to costly war

The power of rhetoric is most evident in the escalating atrocities unfolding in the Mideast. Speech and silence have prodded historic adversaries to the brink of a sure-to-be devastating conflict. The contenders are far from equal in resources, but neither can succeed unscathed. In war, there are no winners.

The disintegration of the peace process began with silence. Bush sat on his thumbs in the former un-burst bubble of U.S. isolationism. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat turned his thumbs down to the hard-fought compromise that could have brought stability to the region. Vocal minorities seduced both.

Arafat could have signed the peace agreement but held out for a Palestinian flag over Jerusalem. He might well have suffered the same fate as Anwar Sadat, who was murdered at the hands of his own people. History has come to see his unpopular (at the time) decision to be very wise. Arafat’s determination has now passed the point of wisdom, and he will quite possibly become the martyr he seems to want to be. Either choice included the possibility of Arafat making the ultimate sacrifice, but one could have prevented needless sacrifice on both sides. The consistent and continual pressure from the United States might have pushed the teetering Arafat towards the sound choice of peace.

Sharon’s rhetoric is full of sound and fury. One sure way to the discourse is to say that you should have killed the other party at an opportune moment 20 years ago. Anyone wanting to settle an old conflict post-Sept. 11 justifies his actions by calling his opponents terrorists. Sharon’s opponents are not terrorists. They are a people fighting by whatever means they can to bring to bear against their alleged “terrorist” adversaries.

Hungarians once rose up against Soviet oppression with knives, forks and garden implements. They weren’t terrorists, they were desperate. The Palestinians use rocks, small-arms and car bombs because that’s what they have. If we supplied their war machine, they too would be lining up their tanks.

The unquenchable thirst for power and control comes at a cost. What’s lost is hindsight – and foresight. How easily we forget that war has never proven any ultimate sacred postulate to be true. The only truth in war is death, devastation and lingering contempt. For shame. We haven’t the wisdom to see we are headed there again.

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