Some critics of the NATO bombardment of Kosovo say that the United States could face another Vietnam if it pursues the course it is on.
They argue that the nationalistic fervor that is gripping Yugoslavia is centuries old and that the Albanians and the Bosnians are just as ruthless as the Serbs when given the upper hand.
They say that the United States has no exit strategy from the current conflict, and might have to commit ground troops to battle in the mountainous Balkan region.
Those critics also dispute President Clinton’s assertion that the troubles in Kosovo could spread to other parts of Europe.
They might very well be right on all counts. The only problem is — the critics offer only dissent and no solution.
So what if the ethnic bloodbaths in the Yugoslavia are centuries old? Does that mean that we should just ignore the situation?
Our silence only allows, and even encourages, the Hitlers of this era to continue their ethnic cleansing.
A superpower must practice tikkun olam, making the world a better place. And to do so, the United States — in actuality, the only superpower left in the world — must actively combat those who have no regard for the sanctity of human life, people such as Iraq’s Saddam Hussein or Yugoslavia’s Slobodan Milosevic.
As Jews, we have had too much familiarity over the centuries with being scapegoated, with being ethnically cleansed, even if it wasn’t labeled exactly that way.
No matter how you translate the word genocide, no matter what context you place it in, it is a horrible concept and an even more horrific reality.
War stinks. It is heartbreaking that we have to ask American men and women to possibly sacrifice their lives halfway across the globe for total strangers.
But if we made that same commitment 50 years ago, possibly 6 million other strangers might still be alive today.
As Jews, we can never forget that.