Human Flower Project
Hanoi, VIETNAM
Tokyo, JAPAN
Columbus, Texas USA
Saturday, August 02, 2008
Preemptive Peace Rose
Peace preparedness, in the Capitol or the nursery, takes foresight and work. Consider a French rosarian, a Texas libertarian, and thousands of people out today protesting conflict with Iran.
Originally “Madame A. Meilland,” this is one of
the most popular roses in the world and the parent
of more than 300 rose cultivars.
Photo: J. Scott Bovitz
Ron Paul, libertarian Republican, has not been our most favored candidate to be the next U.S. president, but his has been the clearest moment thus far in the campaigns. At a debate of Republicans in June 2007, Wolf Blitzer of CNN asked: “What’s the most pressing moral issue in the United States right now?”
Ron Paul answered without hesitation:
I think it is the acceptance just recently that we now promote preemptive war. I do not believe that’s part of the American tradition. We, in the past, have always declared war in the defense of our liberties or to aid somebody, but now we have accepted the principle of preemptive war. We have rejected the just-war theory of Christianity. And now, tonight, we hear that we’re not even willing to remove from the table a preemptive nuclear strike against a country that has done no harm to us directly and is no threat to our national security!
Paul was referring to the ongoing Iraq War, of course, and to the threat of war on Iran. From bizarre rumblings last year, there is now legislation soon to come before the U.S. Congress that would demand that the president initiate sanctions against Iran. House Resolution 362 also calls for --