Enemies in the Heat of Battle, Friends for 60 Years describing how an American marine treated a Japanese prisoner of war as a human being, starting a friendship that has lasted 60 years.
That could not have happened had the marine seen the Japanese soldier the way President Bush sees terrorists, as evil and barbaric. See my recent comments on this subject.
In the second world war, we fought against a country that launched a surprise attack against us. Yet this marine managed to avoid seeing all enemy soldiers as embodying evil.
Contrast this with President Bush, who apparently spoke his mind when, shortly after 9/11, he said, "this crusade, this war on terrorism, is going to take awhile." (See, for example,
Europe cringes at Bush 'crusade' against terrorists | csmonitor.com.)
Bush has stopped using the word crusade, but apparently he hasn't stopped thinking in those terms.
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