[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 79 (Wednesday, June 21, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Page S5548]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               HONORING THOSE WHO HAVE SERVED OUR NATION

  Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, Tony Snow wrote an editorial in the 
Washington Times. In this editorial he captures the very essence of 
service to this Nation by those who have worn the uniform of our Nation 
throughout its history.
  This weekend, I and others will be attending ceremonies in 
recognition of those who served in the Korean war. A few days ago, the 
Commandant of the Marine Corps, the Presiding Officer, I, and other 
Members of the Senate and the House of Representatives attended a 
magnificent ceremony in honor of those who served during the Korean 
war.
  I was privileged to be in the Marine Corps and served in the 1st 
Marine Airwing for a brief period in Korea as a communications officer. 
I have an indelible memory of the sacrifices of many others, those 
particularly, not myself included, who had to serve in a position in 
harm's way and paid the ultimate price in life or in many cases in 
limb, and the suffering of their families.
  Upon their return home, unlike World War II, in which I served a 
brief period towards the end, America did not welcome them with open 
arms. They were returned home from an operation of our military which 
was indecisive and inconclusive. Those wonderful veterans, these 50-
some odd years, at long last deserve the recognition. I think Mr. 
Snow's article captures it exceedingly well.
  I ask unanimous consent to print in the Record the article to which I 
referred.
  There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed in 
the Record as follows:

               [From the Washington Times, May 28, 2000]

                             (By Tony Snow)

       On certain spring mornings, warm winds coax fog from the 
     waters of the Potomac River. Clouds rise in whisps from the 
     banks and march up nearby hillsides, sometimes as high as the 
     quiet hills of Arlington National Cemetery.
       At those times, the nation's most famous burying ground 
     takes on an ethereal look, its plain white grave markers 
     rising not from earth, but cloud. And on these rare mornings, 
     dewy and warm, one cannot help but feel a sense of sacred 
     awe, looking at the headstones, with the Potomac and the 
     nation's capital spread out below.
       Most of the men and women who rest here were of minor 
     consequence as far as the history is concerned. They did not 
     serve as presidents, or prelates, or executors of high 
     office. They did not invent great new machines or conquer 
     disease. Many died before they were old enough to make an 
     enduring mark on the world.
       Yet, they all earned their place among generals and 
     presidents because they did something few of us have done. 
     They marched willingly into battle for the sake of our 
     country.
       This kind of heroism is becoming increasingly unfamiliar to 
     us. We have not fought an all-out war in a quarter-century, 
     and the nation has not united behind its military in more 
     than 50 years. The draft expired long ago, and the bulk of 
     our young no longer consider service as a career or even as 
     an occupational way-station.
       Furthermore, technology has brought us the possibility of 
     ``bloodless'' wars, such as the Kosovo incursion--operations 
     in which we kill others from afar, while denying enemies the 
     chance to kill our own. We no longer speak of ``patriotic 
     gore'' or assume we pay for freedom with blood and treasure. 
     For that reason, we don't appreciate fully the lives and 
     deaths of those we commemorate on Memorial Day.
       But we owe it to ourselves to try. The rows of markers at 
     Arlington and other national cemeteries serve as stark 
     reminders that evil lives and thrives in the world. Humans 
     instituted and maintained slavery for centuries, and 
     Americans tried to maintain discrimination through force of 
     terror for nearly a century after the Civil War. Our fellow 
     humans venerated such butchers as Adolf Hitler and Josef 
     Stalin--treating them as living gods and worshipping them as 
     men of surprising vision and virtue.
       It has become unfashionable to talk in stark terms of good 
     and evil. We like to pretend they are antediluvian categories 
     that have given way to ``subtler'' distinctions--between 
     justice and injustice, for instance, or between fairness or 
     unfairness. But our own wooziness on matters of morality does 
     not change the fact that good and evil exist--and that most 
     evils flourish under the care of men and women who claim to 
     be doing good.
       The hills of Arlington attest to this.
       They tell us more. America became a superpower less than a 
     century ago. We are relatively inexperienced at the business 
     of maintaining peace. But history does disclose a few lessons 
     about how to avoid trouble. The most important is Teddy 
     Roosevelt's injunction that we carry a big stick.
       Potential enemies don't care much about our prosperity. 
     Many despise it. Would-be assailants worry instead about 
     whether we have the might and will to thrash those who attack 
     us. In the years following the First World War, we converted 
     our swords into plowshares. A grinding depression struck the 
     nation, leaving us both weak and poor--and this combination 
     of unpreparedness and irresolution emboldened the Japanese to 
     bomb Pearl Harbor.
       Today, we devote less of our federal budget to national 
     defense than we did on the eve of that attack. The president 
     and his party actively have opposed the development of 
     defenses that could protect us against such likely threats as 
     random ballistic-missile attacks. They sneer at strategic 
     defense--not because they have arguments against it, but 
     because they despise the fact that Ronald Reagan thought of 
     it first. And we seem scarcely interested in new forms of 
     warfare--technological espionage and the potential for 
     devastating bio-weapons.
       Military history teaches us an important lesson about such 
     attitudes. When great powers refuse to keep up with the 
     latest developments in technology, they fall. The best 
     example of the phenomenon took place centuries ago, when 
     Mongol hordes overran China. The attackers prevailed because 
     they moved more swiftly and nimbly on the battlefields. They 
     had adopted the very latest innovation--stirrups on saddles.
       Memorial Day delivers an important lesson to those who will 
     hear: When nations drop their guard or ignore the reality of 
     evil, innocent people die. Nations endure crises and 
     epidemics, but nothing sears the heart as much as war. If we 
     want to avoid the necessity of building more Arlingtons, we 
     should hear the testimony of those who repose there now: Walk 
     softly. Carry a big stick. And never forget.

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