Short Quiz - Future Peace: Technology, Aggression and the Rush to War

[johnkarls]

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1. Does our author, Gen/Prof Robert Latiff, exhibit an understandable ambivalence about what his military career embraced – the development of new weapons?

2. Might he have been happier as a “conscientious objector”?

3. BTW, what is a “conscientious objector” under U.S. law?

4. Also BTW, did Sargent Shriver (brother-in-law of President Kennedy and driving force behind the creation of The Peace Corps, The Job Corps, Head Start, VISTA, Upward Bound, etc.), as the First Director of The Peace Corps 3/22/1961 - 2/28/1966, REFUSE TO MAKE PEACE CORPS PARTICIPATION AN EXCEPTION TO THE MILITARY DRAFT because he did NOT want The Peace Corps to become a haven for “draft dodgers” who did NOT qualify as Conscientious Objectors???

5. In other words, did Sargent Shriver demand that volunteers for The Peace Corps join it “for the right reasons”???!!!

6. On 4/28/1967 at the height of the military draft for the Vietnam War, did reigning World Heavyweight Boxing Champion, Muhammad Ali, refuse induction into the U.S. military with the claim that he was exempt because as a Minister of Black Islam, he qualified as a “Conscientious Objector”?

7. Indeed, had Muhammad Ali changed his name from Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. when he joined the Nation of Islam years earlier? In doing so, did he denounce his birth name, Cassius Clay, as a “slave name”?

8. His Conscientious Objector claim having been previously rejected by his draft board, was Muhammad Ali convicted of draft evasion on 6/20/1967 and given the maximum sentence – a $10 thousand fine (about 2 years of wages for an assembly-line worker) and 5 years in prison?

9. Was Muhammad Ali stripped of his World Heavyweight Boxing Championship and banned from boxing for 4 years while his appeal made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court?

10. Through both World War I and World War II, had members of religious groups opposed to war (e.g., Quakers, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mennonites) been able to claim Conscientious Objector status?

11. BTW, even though your religion is not opposed to war, can you still claim Conscientious Objector status on the basis of your own personal beliefs?

12. In Clay vs. United States (403 U.S. 698 (6/28/1971)), did the U.S. Supreme Court rule unanimously 8-0 (Thurgood Marshall having recused himself because of previous involvement in the case while at the Dept/Justice) that the government had failed to explain why Muhammad Ali’s C.O. application had been denied, noting that his beliefs were founded on tenets of Islam AS HE UNDERSTOOD THEM?

13. Was Muhammad Ali NOT imprisoned while his appeal was pending? Did he win while his appeal was pending a lawsuit against the New York State Boxing Commission? Did this result in his becoming the top contender for his old Heavyweight Crown?

14. Accordingly, did Muhammad Ali fight Heavyweight Champion Joe Frazier on 3/8/1971 in Madison Square Garden in what was billed as “The Fight of the Century” because it matched two UNDEFEATED Heavyweight Champions? Did Ali employ his “rope-a-dope” routine for the first time? Did he lose a unanimous decision? Is that unexpected in view of the time-immemorial maxim that a challenger never defeats a reigning champion except by knockout?

15. BTW, did this 3/8/1971 “Fight of the Century” have an impact on the U.S. Supreme Court’s 6/28/1971 decision 3.5 months later?

16. Is this a good example of how politically sensitive the U.S. Supreme Court (which we have often called derisively America’s highest, though unelected, legislative body) is to public opinion???

17. Did it then take 8 fights for Ali to earn a second fight with Frazier in MSG on 1/28/1974? But had Frazier already lost his title to George Foreman, enabling Ali to win by a unanimous decision since the knockout-of-a-reigning champion “requirement” did not apply?

18. Did Ali then knock out George Foreman to regain his championship in “The Rumble in the Jungle” as Ali liked to “lip off” IAW his “Louisville Lip” moniker – even though he may have offended a few Zaire residents?

19. Did Ali then continue to defeat virtually all comers while reigning not only as Heavyweight Champion but also as the darling of the anti-war crowd, of the African-American community, and indeed of virtually all of America for his principled stands???!!!

20. Who developed the “Just War Doctrine”?

21. What are the requirements of a “Just War” per the Catechism of the Catholic Church?

22. Who coined the phrase “Peace Through Strength” meaning that the development of superior weapons will, at least hopefully, deter enemies from attacking?

23. Was the 1967 Arab-Israeli War really a “proxy war” in which American weapons used by the Israelis proved to be better than Soviet weapons used by the Arab countries?

24. Did the demonstrated superiority of American weapons preserve the world’s “Pax Americana” for at least another three decades?

25. Does “Peace Through Strength” mean that there is necessarily any “Justice”? For example, if Hitler had developed nuclear weapons before the U.S., does anyone think for a minute that the world’s “lingua franca” would NOT be German rather than English??? And that the ovens in Hitler’s concentration camps would not still be running full tilt to incinerate “Unter-Menschen”???

26. How is “Peace Through Strength” different from the Doctrine of Mutual Assured Destruction (aka “MAD”) championed by Henry Kissinger throughout “The Cold War”?

27. In theory, don’t both “Peace Through Strength” and “Mutual Assured Destruction” rest on the assumption that a national leader would NOT want to destroy her/his own nation???

28. Was this true of Hitler??? After all, in addition to all of his other actions that would arguably destroy Germany, DIDN’T HITLER ACTUALLY ORDER HIS RETREATING MILITARY DURING THE LATER STAGES OF WORLD WAR II TO DESTROY ANYTHING OF VALUE IN A “SCORCHED EARTH POLICY”???

29. Did his military commanders disobey Hitler’s “scorched earth policy???

30. Would any psychiatrist be able to guarantee that instead of Hitler merely committing suicide (whether or not his “scorched earth policy” had been carried out), Hitler would NOT have destroyed the entire world in a Nuclear Holocaust if he had had nukes???

31. Can you think of any other world leaders (e.g., Chairman Mao who also killed many millions of his fellow citizens) who would have had no qualms about destroying the world in a “fit of pique”???

32. In order to avoid this becoming a “Long” (vs. “Short”) Quiz, since I had so much fun in Questions 6-19 with Conscious Objector status and one of my all-time civil-rights idols, Muhammad Ali –

(32-A) In addition to the requirements for engaging in a “JUST WAR,” are their also extensive rules for the “JUST CONDUCT” of a War (such as the treatment of POW’s, the use of certain weapons such as chemical weapons, the treatment of civilians, refraining from torture, etc., etc.)???

(32-B) And extensive requirements for ensuring a “JUST PEACE” (such as the just treatment of defeated populations while prosecuting “war criminals” since you can’t (or at least shouldn't) execute everyone, helping with rebuilding such as the Marshall Plan for Europe following World War II (which may only be “self-interest” since festering poverty can lead to more wars), etc., etc.)???