The Art of War

In "The Art of War"- the ancient Chinese treatise
on military strategy, considered the greatest of its kind-
Sun Tzu begins his discussion by saying that the best
tactic is to avoid war altogether, since it is devastation.

Looking at Barack Obama we see brilliance in motion:
withdrawing from Iraq; standing down from Afghanistan;
not rushing into Syria but being willing to use force unless
they junk their weapons of mass destruction; and, also,
using sanctions to get Iran to stop making nuclear arms.

All this is done without violence and without losing lives,
taking the path of peace where possible, yet not shirking
from the inescapable responsibilities of exercising power.
In short by using brains instead of brawn.

What a difference from "W's" Administration- which
took us to war on the basis of lies; which wrecked our
economy and wasted hundreds of thousands of lives
(or millions?) with the damage still accruing!

When people blither nonsensical conspiracy theories
or castigate anything other than their own idea of perfect
conduct, it's well to recall what Bismark said about
alternatives to war: "diplomacy is the art of the possible,
the art of the second best."

In this respect, Obama is succeeding brilliantly.