History is replete with examples of how a small, limited war quickly descends into total war. The Oxford Reference definition is “a war that is unrestricted in terms of the weapons used, the territory or combatants involved, or the objectives pursued, especially one in which the laws of war are disregarded.”
We are on the brink of just such a war.
Since the disastrous retreat of U.S. forces from Afghanistan, which has led us to a war in Ukraine and now a war in the Middle East, the Biden administration has tried to manage them as a limited war, but we are on the brink of total war. The beginnings of World War II, for example, where British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain appeased Adolf Hitler to the point where he thought himself invincible against the hapless democracies. That ultimately led to the slaughter of six million Jews and millions of combatants.
We are now at a moment of repeating the same mistakes.
An appeasement of Iran by this administration has led us to a point where an expanding war in the Middle East is inevitable. A war that is unrestricted in terms of the weapons used, and one in which the laws of war are disregarded.
The Oct. 7 slaughter of some 1,200 Israelis and taking of 250 hostages by the Iran-backed Hamas terrorists is proof of this and is just a prelude to the horrors of the war to come.
Lawrence Everett, South Paris
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