Reader comments
Readers' forum: Column provides lessons

Anthony writes with great wisdom. Military power only engenders hate and resentment. This is much like the British presence in the American colonies. We have not learned much from our own history.

You attract more flies with honey than you do with vinegar.

But Mr. Arnason, that wouldn't do a thing for Haliburton stock prices, now would it?

So Anthony,
Are you willing to include a couple of other examples in your analysis?

Was it a good idea that our military forces stuck around and helped rebuild Japan and Germany after World War II?

I think so. They are allies today (instead of enemies) because we did this.

I served a mission in Japan in the late 70s and the people there had great respect for the Americans, even though we were their enemies during the war, because we stayed around and helped them get back on their feet after the war was over.

I don't know if that feeling still exists. I haven't been there in a few years, but I think it was a GOOD thing.

The current situations in the middle-east may be different, but you can't paint with too broad a brush and make blanket statements like, "occupying or helping rebuild a nation is NEVER good". Or like (Anonymous @ 7:28) with statements like "Military power ONLY engenders hate and resentment".

There have been times where military power has brought peace (ie cold war era). There have been times when military occupation brought better results than leaving (WWII, etc).