WITH THE May 29 dedication of the World War II Memorial, and June 6 marking 60 years since the start of World War II's decisive battle, D-Day, the time has been ripe lately for World War II nostalgia. And why not? World War II reminds us of simpler times. A time when our enemies were countries rather than amorphous entities. A time when our war was with decisive evil (whether it was the evils of German Nazism, Italian fascism or Japanese imperialism), rather than people that some even call "freedom fighters." Most of all, however, World War II was a time when honor, duty and love of country was the rule, rather than the exception. There is, after all, a reason that the Americans of World War II are called the Greatest Generation.
Unfortunately, however, this is where people's reflections on World War II seem to end. People ignore the great lessons of that war, lessons like the value of alliance or of understanding one's enemy, lessons which we could still use today.
Once again, we have been thrust into war by an attack on our country. Once again, we have answered the attack on our country with the strength and determination that Osama bin Laden had assumed we'd lost years ago. World War II taught us that the only way to defeat evil is to destroy evil, and so today, again facing an enemy that is decidedly evil -- whose goal is simply to kill -- we have shown our intent to destroy that enemy.
However, there are more lessons than just this one that World War II could teach us about our wars today. The Allied Powers could not have won World War II without the formation of one of the greatest alliances ever assembled. Without international support, we could not have defeated the Axis powers, and so too do we need international support to give us the resources, man-power and information necessary to defeat terrorism. However, instead of gaining international support for our fight, we have squandered the opportunity, and set the world against us.
World War II also should have taught us how to create a democracy. The highly successful occupation of Japan helped to create one of the world's most vibrant democracies, in a country that had never experienced democracy in its entire history. Like our modern critics of the policies in Iraq, many at the end of World War II declared that Japan was incapable of being run by a democracy, yet those critics were proven wrong.
However, it took a very specific set of actions to lead Japan to a successful democracy. Americans intently studied Japanese culture, to understand how democracy could fit into it. The decision to keep the Emperor on the Chrysanthemum Throne, and make sure that it was he who would direct the Japanese people toward their democratic future, was a stroke of genius that went against every natural instinct of the American mind. Yet because we were prepared for what to do when the war ended, this plan worked, and Japan's democracy flourished.
Unfortunately, our government's total ignorance of Iraqi culture, and a true plan for post-war governance in Iraq created a quagmire that will be very difficult to get out of. A simple study of Iraqi culture could have warned us of Iraq's staunch nationalism that wouldn't allow the people to "welcome" occupiers as "liberators." A simple study of Iraqi culture could have told us to ally with local clerics, instead of alienate them.A simple study of Iraqi culture could have told us that the Iraqis would never have accepted an exile who left Iraq as a teenager as their next leader. A simple study of Iraq's culture and history could have prepared us for everything we've faced in the post-war period, and perhaps, Iraq's democracy would already be in place.
Finally, so too must we learn from the less pleasant lessons of World War II. Our unnecessary and dreadful firebombing of Dresden must teach us to never use firebombing in a city again if we wish to be thought of kindly. But most of all, the forcible internment of 120,000 American citizens, just because they held Japanese ancestry, must teach us to never again use fear and ignorant bigotry as an excuse to take away the basic American and human rights of all people who live in our country. Hopefully John Ashcroft will remember this lesson as he continues his policy of "enemy combatants," or at the very least, the Supreme Court may remember the debacle of the Korematsu decision allowing the internment when they face their decision on this policy. Although the "enemy combatant" debacle certainly is not to the magnitude or blindness of the Japanese internment, it too will mar the history of our country if left unchanged.
In this time of reflection on World War II, it is an absolute necessity that our country remember the lessons of that war. The importance of alliance, the necessity of preparation for post-war occupations, the devastation of blind destruction of innocent civilians and the evil of the taking away of basic rights out of blind fear and ignorant bigotry were all the lessons of World War II. Unfortunately, however, our administration has disgraced the memory of World War II by ignoring this lesson, a low blow to the memory of those who are already dying at a rate of nearly 1,000 a day.
Sam Leven is a Cavalier Daily viewpoint writer.
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