Do you talk of anything else besides war?
Reader comment on item: Bibliography – My Writings on the Changing Face of Warfare

Submitted by Daniel Dubei (United States), Aug 21, 2006 at 16:40

Mr. Pipes,

I've read many of your quotes and thoughts on the subject of the Middle East, and while your thoughts are logical, I wonder, do you talk of anything else besides war? Can you talk of how peace can be achieved? What is "victory" in the Middle East to you? The entire destruction of the Arab world? Is peace not victorious? Must our "enemies" be trodden under our feet like the mighty colonial powers of old attempted?

I ask sincerely, because I am troubled by how easily some speak of warfare in the Middle East. I wonder, do you look forward to the violence? Do you anticipate excitedly what violence in the Middle East prophetically will bring us? Are you a rapturist? Why advocate war instead of advocate peace? Why not put your efforts in pursuading those who want war to see other ways of existing besides picking up a gun and shooting people down or a bomb and blowing up others? Are you so blind to the fact that peace actually exists between two Arab states and Israel, and that those peace treaties were achieved by those now labeled "weak", "cut-and-run losers", etc? How come there is peace between Israel and Egypt? How come there is peace between Israel and Jordan? What were the reasons that those two countries formed peace, and how come you don't talk about pursuing a similar path with Israel's other neighbors! Why instead do you discuss war war war?

Thank you,

Dan

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Daniel Pipes replies:

Lots of questions here. I discuss war because there is a lot of it - in Iraq, in Lebanon, perhaps in Iran, and many other places, including Heathrow airport.

I suspect it's not so much my discussion of war that this writer minds but my calling on the civilized world to win the wars it is in.

As for what victory means, see two recent stabs by me to explain this, with reference to the Arab-Israeli conflict, at "Israel Shuns Victory" and "How Israel Can Win."