JR>At the time, Germany was the most prepared country in the world for war.
CM>And why was that? During th 1930s, Hitler built up Germany's military in direct violation of the Treaty of Versailles. What did the world do about it when it had the chance? Nothing.

Agreed. of course Versailles was insulting and very severe on Germany, which is another lesson we need to learn. German people responded more eagerly to the Nazi call because of what had gone before.

Presumably we also agree that SH is not the most prepared country in the world for war in 2003, so this cannot be applied to SH.

JR>Churchill opposed Chamberlain's actions as "complete surrender . . . to the Nazi threat of force". IOW the Nazis were not under threat of force, they were the ones doing the threatening. Chamberlain made a mistake caving in to the threats.
CM>And why were the Nazis doing the threatening? Because nobody made them abide buy the treaty they signed.

Agreed. Presumably we also agree that SH is not threatening to invade other states in 2003, so this cannot be applied to SH.

JR>Nobody, not even Churchill, proposed a pre-emptive strike on Germany. It was the other way around; the Nazis demanded and received concessions (including the Czech Sudetenland) as a condition for only occupying Austria.
CM>And what does that teach us? That appeasement does more harm than good.

Agreed. Presumably we also agree that SH is not demanding concessions, so this cannot be applied to SH.

CM>You are making my points for me. 12 years of ignoring 17 U.N. Resolutions has made Saddam confident. Starting with U.N. Resolution 687 in 1991, which banned him from having weapons of mass destruction. He has by all accounts continued to develop these weapons, and the world has done nothing.

??!! Having agreed that we cannot apply these points re Appeasement to SH, you go ahead and do it.

CM>Where did I say I was blaming the French?

Surely you jest.

CM>>Where did you get your information that New Zealand declared war first.

Hint: NZ is 12 hours ahead of the UK. We all declared war at the same time and date.

CM>We have learned from history and are not going to appease a dictator. If France chooses to repeat that mistake, that's their problem.

I'm sure you aren't blaming France for anything there... but how can you "appease" somebody who is confined in his own borders, gets bombed with impunity, is forced to disarm by foreign inspectors picking over his country?

JR