War is hell.

Tuesday, July 13, 1999

War is hell.

Specifically it is hell for the soldiers fighting and the citizens caught in the middle.

Here in America war is far from hell. Certainly that isn’t to exclude our soldiers or those families who have sons, daughters, moms, dads serving, but the reality is most of us have zero contact with those involved in the current conflict in Yugoslavia

Perhaps that’s why it is often so easy for the United States to get involved in the foreign affairs of other nations. The average American doesn’t have to deal with the hardships of war, the losses caused by war and ultimately the results of war.

Instead the average American’s contact with war is the nightly glimpse of CNN, or some other news outlet. We get to see bombs and explosions, perhaps a few victims and perhaps a few demonstrators.

After a few minutes, however, we can push the button on the remote control and zip over to view the Timberwolves game, or to Friends, or to whatever. The point is we have the ability to leave war behind and not give it a second thought.

Now none of this is to say that our actions in Yugoslavia are inappropriate.

The genocide and other atrocities being committed by Serbians against ethnic Albanians register as crimes against humanity and everything in our power should be done to prevent more killing.

But if we’re going to promote our being in Yugoslavia as a mission to prevent further atrocities, we need to take a look around the world and wonder why aren’t we doing the same in Rwanda, or Indoneisa.

At the same time the average American needs to understand what the impact of launching a cruise missle or sending a B-52 on a bombing sortie really is. The impact is not the puff of smoke CNN shows us, it is pain and suffering.

Preventing atrocities is a worthy mission. Yet we can’t prevent them all. Some nations need to be allowed to struggle and grow just as this country was allowed to more than 200 years ago.

The people caught in the middle of this conflict in Yugoslavia understand what’s being fought for. We have not a clue. Let’s see, it’s not about oil. It’s certainly not about communism. And it most certainly is not about our national security. What are they fighting for?

Well, Yugoslavia is fighting to keep Kosovo a part of it. Mind you Kosovo has been a part of Serbia since 1389. The Serbs are also fighting to keep ethnic Albanians out of the area. Apparently Albanians have found things better in Kosovo than in their own county. Albanians are fighting to stay where they are at.

How many honestly believe if Kosovo, which is no bigger than Delaware, falls tomorrow that some how the United States is in danger or one of our more powerful allies is? That’s right, none of us, because we just can’t relate.

So where does this leave us?

Perhaps doing the right thing, but with little understanding of what it is we’re interferring with.

Maybe in Yugoslavia it won’t matter that average Americans don’t understand and don’t seem to care. However, the nonchalant attitude most of us have possessed during the first four days of NATO bombing suggests we don’t have the stomach for war.

The guess here is if average Americans better understood war and its impact we wouldn’t be as quick to interfere with the affairs of other nations. Of course sitting idly and watching innocent people being slaughtered is perhaps a greater sin than doing the actual killing.

Wait, war is hell. It raises questions most of us rarely have to think about.

Neal Ronquist’s column appears Sundays