“History teaches that wars begin

When governments believe

The price of aggression is cheap.”

Ronald W. Reagan

Some claim that those who crave peace

Are extremely naïve and idiotic

But I believe the gentleman in the picture on the left

Might think that notion to be extremely unpatriotic

He patriotically faced a far greater threat to this nation

With a far more powerful foe than insurgents in Iraq

And he patiently resolved this grave conflict peacefully

Never once did he hurriedly order a full scale attack

If this President had rushed us to war

And had been as eager as so many are today

If he had believed that peace is never an option

Not many of us would be here now to speak our say

The nuclear missiles on both sides

Would have been launched years ago

And the Soviet Union’s weapons

Outdistanced Iraq’s Scuds by 5,000 miles or so

Contrary to what so many

Now so loudly proclaim

History does not teach us

That War is the Only Way

This country’s allies and enemies

Constantly change throughout each age

And war is not always the answer

Especially when our leaders have been sage

If Ronald Reagan had been in charge

On the day of the dreadful 9-11 Attack

Many believe he would not be sacrificing our troops

In what many believe to be a very ineffective war in Iraq

Are we still looking for weapons of mass destruction?

Are we hoping to root out a few terrorists?

Are we trying to force an election on Iraqis?

Do we even have a cohesive plan for any of this?

Instead of lowering the threat of terrorism

As so many now seem to believe

Our continued aggression may spawn new enemies

And help those who hate us to further achieve

As most who knew Ronald Reagan

Would most probably agree

He’d be vigilantly pursuing Osama bin Laden

To bring him to Justice for all the world to see

There are often justified reasons for war

And there are wars that never need to be

And we must differentiate between the two

If mankind hopes to enrich World History

Communism was once viewed

As the greatest threat to our nation

And we should all applaud Reagan’s forbearance

It should forever fill all our hearts with elation

Now Terrorism is widely seen

As our nation’s greatest threat

Yet only bin Laden has attacked us

And sadly today he’s on the loose yet

Fourteen of the nineteen terrorists

On 9-11 were supposedly Saudi Arabians

And none of the remaining five

Were identified as Iraqi citizens

Perhaps we invaded the wrong country

In this so called urgent war on terror

Perhaps our leaders should have pondered this

Before rushing our troops over there

Our valiant soldiers will not find bin Laden

Hiding out anywhere inside Iraq

He was last spotted in Afghanistan

More than three years back

And being a veteran myself

I truly believe deep in my heart and soul

That our troops would rather pursue bin Laden

Than chase some Iraqi insurgent down some hole

We have now embroiled ourselves

In yet another long protracted war

And even patriots like Ronald Reagan

Might find this something to abhor

And what will History eventually record

When the final body count is sadly tallied,

That the Vile Perpetrator of 9-11 Gleefully Escaped,

And yet for another war we eagerly rallied?

Call me an unpatriotic ‘Peacenik’ if you must

For this tribute to a former peace-loving leader

But I will never believe that war is always necessary

Since all my life I too have been a History reader

“Our forbearance should never be misunderstood.

Our reluctance for conflict should not be misjudged

As a failure of will.

When action is required to preserve our national security,

We will act; but not until then.”

“The men of Normandy had faith that what they were doing was right, faith that they fought for all humanity, faith that a just God would grant them mercy on this beachhead or the next. It was the deep knowledge -- and pray God we have not lost it -- that there is a profound moral difference between the use of force for liberation and the use of force for conquest.”

“I call upon the scientific community in our country, those who gave us nuclear weapons, to turn their great talents now to the cause of mankind and world peace, to give us the means of rendering those nuclear weapons impotent and obsolete.”

“You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We will preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we will sentence them to take the first step into a thousand years of darkness. If we fail, at least let our children and our children's children say of us we justified our brief moment here. We did all that could be done.”

Ronald Wilson Reagan