December 22, 1997
In the words of the great philosopher Yogi Berra, it looks like deja vu all over again.
Consider the headlines chronicling our ongoing “negotiations” with a madman who is the leader of a foreign country who is trying to blackmail the supposedly intelligent leaders of the free world into making certain “concessions” in his quest for power. To that end, he is building up a quite formidable war machine using modern as well as futuristic weapons – an arsenal which he is forbidden to acquire by consent of the international community.
Saddam Hussein, you think? Nope. Adolf Hitler “negotiating” with the nations which defeated his country in 1918 at a cost of hundreds of thousands of lives and carnage unheard of in previous wars. Well, Adolf won the battle of diplomacy when milquetoast Neville Chamberlain assured us of “peace in our time” – giving Hitler a piece of this country, and a piece of that, while we turned our backs on his weapons buildup.
Fast forward to 1997 and the madman Saddam as he builds biological, nuclear, chemical and germ warfare weapons that could wipe out the entire population of his enemy – and the entire world is his enemy.
And who do we have standing between us and this modern madman? FDR? Eisenhower? Winston Churchill? Guess again. How about the world’s most famous draft dodger – Bill Clinton? Comparing him to Chamberlain would be an insult to our British cousins.
God help us if this draft dodger can’t see that history is repeating itself. And God help us if Saddam bluffs Bill into a modern version of “peace in our time.”
If you liked World War II, you’ll love what Saddam Hussein has in store for us!
JACK O’NEIL
Sewickley