The (Idiot) Mouth of the South Speaks

Ted Turner delivered a guest lecture at Kansas State University yesterday as part of a prestigeous lecture series the school hosts. He pushed the same liberal talking-point that Iraq is "no better off" following the U.S. led liberation. We know that argument is bunk. Just check out any of the blogs written by servicemen and women in Iraq, or speak with a soldier who's been there. Here's where Teddy lost me:

He said the U.S. and Russia still have thousands of nuclear weapons pointed at each other on a "hair trigger." He said if he were in charge - making it clear he was not and never would be - "we'd be rid of them."

He warned that a nuclear war could "kill everything on the planet" and said it could take place in an afternoon. Turner said he was afraid someone in power could make the mistake to launch a nuclear war, including President Bush.

"You have to question... the president on a lot of decisions he's made," Turner said. "He might just think launching those weapons would be a good thing to do..."

Turner said war is an outdated form of diplomacy that has stopped working.

Turner also said the authority of superpowers of tomorrow will be derived from education, health care, and science and technology. He encouraged the United States to focus on those areas.

Let's take that last bit. Superpowers of the future will gain their authority from education, health care, science and technology. I'm thinking the U.S. is pretty high on the list for each of those. Do we not have the highest standard of living in the world? Aren't we one of the world's leaders in scientific and technological discovery and innovation? Where else in the world would you want to be admitted to a hospital for treatment of deadly disease or injury? I'm betting the good old USA is near the top of everyone's list.

The war we're fighting is against Muslin extremists, people who believe the killing of "infidels" is a free ride to Paradise. Explain to me how they are going to recognize any "authority" based on education, health care, science or technology. That's the same mindset that believes all problems can be solved by talking. Sorry, it doesn't work that way. That philosophy only works if all parties are willing to talk. Somehow, I don't see representatives of Islamic terrorists sitting down at the negotiation table to discuss their needs. These animals only understand one thing - dominance. Anything less is a sign of weakness, and they work to exploit any weakness.

Ted mentions nuclear weapons and our "hair trigger." Sorry, but I don't buy it. We haven't used a nuke in battle since 1945, and those two were used to (1) prevent the loss of potentially a million Japanese and Amercian lives in an American invasion of Japan; and (2) demonstrate the ultimate doomsday device. I'd say they worked on both fronts. The Soviet Union was held in check throughout the Cold War ONLY because they knew we had a nuclear arsenal that we were prepared to use. Since the nuclear bomb was presented as a deterrent, it's achieved that very goal. Elimintaing our nuclear weapons would be foolish at best, fatal at worst. And to think that any president would mistakenly launch a nuclear war... that's just naive. Or stupid.