I think you have Americans confused with the French. Oh, don't get me wrong. I have the utmost respect for you, and have always appreciated what you have had to say. That is until I read your article, "A fatal trajectory," at http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/sowell022409.php3. I am greatly disturbed by your following assertions:
"Although, in some sense, the United States of America is still the militarily strongest nation on earth, that means absolutely nothing if our enemies are willing to die and we are not.
It took only two nuclear bombs to get Japan to surrender — and the Japanese of that era were far tougher than most Americans today. Just one bomb — dropped on New York, Chicago or Los Angeles — might be enough to get us to surrender.
If we are still made of sterner stuff than it looks like, then it might take two or maybe even three or four nuclear bombs, but we will surrender."
Mr. Sowell, it is obvious that you don't know me. I don't care how many cities the Islamists, or the North Koreans, or whoever, blow up, I will never surrender. I am an American, and Americans DO NOT surrender their country. Ever.
We are a warrior nation. We are not like our enemies. We never allowed ourselves to be subjugated and ruled by dictators or mullahs for generations. We are free men born in revolution, and have fought our way across the face of this planet for more than 200 years. We even fought ourselves in one of the longest and bloodiest wars in history. We Americans may be slow to anger, but we are the meanest, toughest SOBs in the entire world. And that's just our military.
The American children I grew up with spent hundreds of hours playing Yankees vs. Rebs, Cowboys vs. Indians, Cops vs. Robbers, and GIs vs. Japs and Krauts. Every kid had a toy gun. Then as we got older, we got real guns. During World War II, Japanese Fleet Admiral, Isoroku Yamamoto, very wisely observed: "You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind every blade of grass." He was right. And, it is no different today. America has always been an armed camp, and God willing, shall always remain so.
Mr. Sowell, how dare you tell our enemies that we will surrender our country to them? The American people will never surrender this country. You have made a very dangerous and inflammatory claim that can only serve to encourage our enemies to do us great injury. There is nothing helpful in your assertions.
We don't have an enemy with sufficient manpower and resources to defeat the American people. It will simply never happen. And about that "willing to die" thing, I suggest you spend a quiet afternoon at Arlington cemetery. Perhaps that will help organize your thoughts on the matter.
Thank you for your attention. I look forward to reading your future columns.
Vegas George
Las Vegas , Nevada