Photon and Sun-Tzu:

Interesting sub-topic you two have begun, IMHO. I keep wondering if there is something more to the Democrat “anti-war” position than a simple ABB reflex and a “NOTHING is more important than returning to power” mindset.

For some portion of the “anti-war” crowd (or its Cousin in Drag, the “For the war before the war but against in now that we’ve gone to war”) there may be (I’m not convinced yet) a semi-honest idea that there is no war and, therefore, no reason to fight any enemy.

Sun-Tzu makes an interesting analogy with the British upper classes during the early part of WWII.

I’ve been pondering a potential analogy with the British and French attitude toward the Barbary Pirates…

The British and French governments seemed completely unwilling to deal with the problem because they apparently felt it was cheaper and easier to pay tribute and ransom and lose some ships and cargo. Jefferson, on the other hand, seems to have thought the situation unacceptable and sent the fledgling US Navy to war to defeat the “pirates”.

There seems to be a certain portion of our “elites” (the leadership of the Democrat party machinery to be sure) here in the US (and most definitely in Europe) who believe there is no need to fight those whom you can pay tribute and ransom to. Almost certainly a weak analogy and I would really need to refresh my understanding of the world at the time of the Barbary Pirates, but its been rattling around in the spaces between the knuckles between my ears.