Nobel Prize winner for bush...

[dude1394]

And no it's NOT the (hopefully dead by the time I write this terrorist) Yasser Arafat

betsy'spage

Listen to Elie Weisel. He is a Nobel Peace Prize winner from the time when the award meant something and wasn't a political gesture for certain trendy ideologies.

Wiesel believes Americans understand this. He disagrees with the view (popular among antiwar types) that the president dragged us into a war nobody wanted. "I think the support was there in the beginning, and then slowly things began to happen. Suddenly there were no weapons of mass destruction, which had been an important argument in the very beginning. And then the ups and downs. Let's be honest, every day American soldiers die, and we weren't prepared for that." Plus, he says, in Iraq right now we are dealing with a vicious enemy that shows little sign of relenting. "I don't like the term 'insurgents.' Those who kill are assassins, not insurgents. We are dealing with murder. That's why, I imagine, some Americans feel less enthusiastic about the war."

But even if the jitters are explainable, Wiesel doesn't think we should give in to them. The war on terrorism, he explains, is a worldwide human-rights struggle that Americans should be prepared to fight. "I have been trying to alert those who read me or hear me to the threat of terrorism for years," he says. "The whole world is now in danger." And America has a leadership role to play: "I believe the United States has been and must remain an example for other nations. [Promoting human rights] is about the celebration of our freedom, and our willingness to defend it."

Asked whether he thinks Americans have the staying power for a long struggle, Wiesel says, "I think the American people are idealistic. America came twice to Europe to save the continent. We had no economic or any other interest in the first World War and not even the second. America went to war against Hitler because he was evil and that was a just war. The American people have shown their willingness to accept sacrifices."

Still, he worries we'll grow listless over time. The greatest threat we face, he says, is "numbness. We become numb. That is a danger because of the numerous terrorist attacks that happen all over the world now. The danger is that so many tragedies will succeed one another we may become indifferent to them. I've been fighting indifference since I knew what indifference meant to my generation."

"I came to America from where I came from," Wiesel adds, "and therefore I am more sensitive to America's idealism than those who were born here. For them it is a granted condition to be free, for me it was not. To be free is important, but to bring freedom to those who are not free is even more important."


posted by Betsy Newmark 6:40 AM