Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site psc70.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!harvard!talcott!panda!genrad!decvax!dartvax!psc70!tos From: tos@psc70.UUCP (Dr.Schlesinger) Newsgroups: net.politics,net.flame Subject: Re: We've GOT to do somethin' for Peace Dept. Message-ID: <147@psc70.UUCP> Date: Tue, 13-Aug-85 07:45:53 EDT Article-I.D.: psc70.147 Posted: Tue Aug 13 07:45:53 1985 Date-Received: Sun, 18-Aug-85 20:41:46 EDT References: <3459@decwrl.UUCP>, <124@unc.unc.UUCP> Organization: Plymouth State College, Plymouth, NH Lines: 21 Xref: linus net.politics:9765 net.flame:10643 The suggestion that we are soft about the destruction of innocent life is ludicrous. I suppose we gave a damn about how many millions of Vietnamese we butchered to avoid admitting we'd made a stupid mistake by retrieving a former French colony under the guise of containment. I realize the writer means the deliberate willingness to let hostages be destroyed. But seriously the facile assumption about the "Ruskies" reveals the kind of white hats vs. black hats delusions on which the Cold War feeds. The idea of the brutal Ruskies, of course, rests on the Gulag and Stalin, and other aspects of Russian history. But our history of the last 200 years isn't that reasuuring either... some would say that the Union's "democratic" way opf settling the little problem of 1861 wasn't exactly humanitarian... then comes Hiroshima with all of its questions, and heaven knows what other humanitarian wonders we'll yet bring to the world. The Soviets/Russians seem brutal to us, but they know what suffering and the death of millions us like... all Russian families have suffered untold hardships. Only a handful of Americans, and not an inch of the American mainland, have ever suffered similarly since 1865! So we shouldn't be too sure about who may be really willing to be ruthless and brutal for their beliefs at a certain momen.