We can now look back over the last century with the benefit of hindsight and consider just what we have achieved with international appeasement and timidity.  Many threats we face today have origins that can be linked back in time to decisions that were made many decades ago.
 
Following WWI the victorious allies met to design a new Middle East following the collapse of the 400 year—old Ottoman Turkish Empire.  Three separate groups, Kurds, Shites and Sunis were arbitrarily brought together to create Iraq based on England's oil interests rather than the needs of the local people.  The British also sabotaged the amicable Arab—Jewish agreement for the Jewish National Home, ratified by the League of Nations, to occupy less than one percent of the vast territories promised to the Arabs.  British imperialism and Arab despots were appeased, and today we have the Arab—Israeli conflict plus a fractious Iraq with Americans bearing the main burden in blood and expense.
 
During the Bolshevik revolution in Russia in 1917—18, America and England recognized that potential danger to the West.  They sent small forces in an attempt to overthrow the new dictatorship; but the forces were too few and their mission failed.  Ultimately the Communists assumed total power and were now more hostile than ever against the West.
 
After WWI, Germany was to be disarmed under terms of the peace treaty.  The Allies chose to ignore subsequent German violations and its illegal re—arming, even after Hitler came to power in 1933.  Western companies were even allowed to trade with Germany under Hitler.  Why not have both appeasement and profits?
 
Nazi influence even reached the Middle East when the radical Arab Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt absorbed Nazi ideology and the British—appointed Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Muhammed Amin al—Husseini, became a strong supporter of Adolph Hitler.  It was this infamous Mufti who urged Hitler to embrace the 'Final Solution' and exterminate European Jews so they would not be able to find refuge in the Land of Israel.
 
We can now trace the origins of the three great world threats that emerged during the last century, namely the Nazi threat, the Communist threat and Islamo—fascism (with its Nazi connections).
 
The West repeatedly failed to seize multiple opportunities to get rid of Hitler and the Nazi ideology when it was relatively easy to quash.  Later, when a re—armed Germany threatened Austria and Czechoslovakia, it was Neville Chamberlain and timid appeasement that again ruled the day.  Nazi Germany then formed alliances with Fascist Italy, Imperial Japan and Communist Russia.  Our side consisted mainly of England and America — both poorly armed and ill prepared to fight.
 
When we were ultimately forced to fight we ended up fighting for our very lives, because early in the war the odds favored the enemy and victory was very uncertain.  The cost of victory included some 50 million dead, including one third of world Jewry, a devastated Europe, and the subsequent loss of Eastern European countries to Soviet Communist domination.
 
The end of WWII saw a greatly strengthened Soviet enemy.  They seized German factories and German scientists for their own war machine.  They stole our nuclear secrets and were soon a nuclear power.  China and North Korea also fell into the Communist orbit.  Communist ideology penetrated Western countries, such as France, Italy Greece and even America, for a time.  North Korea, Vietnam and Cuba also came under Communist influence, with limited wars and near—nuclear conflicts on more than one occasion. The Communists gained influence in parts of Africa, and with Arab countries such as Egypt and Syria.  They fomented local wars in Korea, Vietnam, the Middle East, Africa and Central America.  A little appeasement and timidity way back has gone a long way by now.
 
A terrible human price has already been paid because we did not, or could not, prevent the Bolshevik/Communist ideology from surviving past its birth following WWI.  Under Stalin and his successors tens of millions of Soviet and East European victims were put to death.  Communist ideology also guided Mao Tse—tung, the Chinese dictator who also put tens of millions of Chinese to death.  Millions more died in communist—related wars in Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia and in numerous smaller wars on other continents.
 
Under Bill Clinton, ex—president Jimmy Carter crafted an agreement with North Korea.  In return for billions of dollars in food aid, fuel and peaceful nuclear reactors, the North Koreans 'solemnly promised' to suspend all efforts towards seeking nuclear weapons.  Surprise, surprise, they lied!  Now they have nukes and missiles that can reach us and we are fearful of the unstable Kin Jong il, the 'Dear Leader' of a barbaric regime where some two million were allowed to starve to death in the interests of that fanatical despotism.  We now in a dilemma in choosing between further appeasement and the terrible cost of any military solution.  Meanwhile the North Koreans are busy building more nukes and more missiles and may be exporting these deadly weapons to Iran and any other rogue state willing to pay for them. 
 
In the 1970's French leader Jacques Chiraq committed to build a nuclear power plant in Iraq for Saddam Hussein.  It would enable this murderous dictator to embark on the path to nuclear weapons.  U.S. officials had to know this and also that Israel would be the first target.  Nonetheless we failed to slap down our French betrayers in time and only reacted in anger against Israel when they surgically neutralized this threat, the likes of which we would never tolerate to ourselves as demonstrated in our response to the Cuban missile crisis of October 1962. 
 
What we face today has its roots many decades ago.  We now have very few allies, many enemies, many vulnerabilities and powerful trends that are going against us.
 
In Iraq, England under Tony Blair really stood with us; and now Blair is distancing himself to move closer to France and Germany.  Our other treaty allies such as Poland, Italy, Australia, Japan, South Korea, etc. provide valuable support, but leave the U.S. with the overwhelming burden.  Europe, led by France and Germany, is busy becoming a rival to America while we humble ourselves to gain their approval and pretend that all will soon be well. 

Our only true and loyal friend is the nation and people of Israel, which George Bush is pressuring to appease her Arab enemies.  His Road Map to peace may end up being in reality 'assisted suicide' under 'friendly' American pressure.  Except for Israel we have NO friends of any consequence that can offer substantial help and which will never betray us — although we like to pretend otherwise.
 
We may be short of true friends but we are truly 'rich' in the number of our enemies.  The U.N. has some 191 member states.  Most of them are morally corrupt, including a number of so—called democracies like France, which itself often acts more like an enemy than a friend.  The dictatorships dislike us because we attempt to spread democracy which they view as a threat to their personal interests.  Many of the Arab/Islamic regimes and peoples dislike us intensely because of what we stand for. Communist China is increasingly hostile, even as they steal our technologies, overwhelm our manufacturing base, grab our jobs (all with our own complicity) and maintain a ruinous trade imbalance now running over $130 billion annually and growing).  China just announced a new strategic military partnership with Putin's Russia, which will allow an even faster military build—up of the most sophisticated weapons in all categories, including post—nuclear and nano—weapons.
 
Our principle adversaries now include Russia, China, North Korea, militant Islam including Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia, much of Europe, Mexico under Vicente Fox, Venezuela under Hugo Chavez and many other countries whose attitudes range from cool to hostile.
 
In the face of this daunting array of enemies we also face serious internal problems.  We have become the world's greatest debtor nation, requiring some two billion dollars of net borrowing each and every day just to sustain us.  This borrowing comes from China, Japan and Europe, including countries that are not all friendly and which could — if they cared to bear the ruinous consequences for their own economies and wealth — cut us off at any time and send interest rates soaring and our (and their) stock market crashing.  Our saving rate is dangerously low, much of our traditional manufacturing base is already gone, with so many household items 'Made in China.'  Our budget deficits are high.  Our growing medical bills now consume over 15% of GDP, the world's highest share, with no commensurate level of national longevity.  Our borders are out of control with some three million illegals entering our country last year alone and with no end in sight.  We also depend on importing about 6 million barrels of oil daily to support our wasteful energy appetite including dependence on hostile oil producing countries.
 
On top of all this we have additional internal problems of a socio—political nature. The international left, including our own leftists, has joined forces with Islamo—facism to subvert freedom and democracy from within.  The political left works from within like an enemy fifth column to weaken us.  And prominent among the leftists are misguided Jews, those betrayers of their own heritage, who throughout history have joined forces with the revolutionary rabble to turn order into chaos in the name of a false idealism.  Today they can be identified as those who are obsessed with undermining the security and survival of Israel, our most loyal and most valuable ally in the struggle to preserve civilized society in the face of the new barbarism.
 
Today, as in the past, the strident voices of appeasement and timidity are never silent.  They accuse those who oppose tyranny of making things worse and of causing trouble.  They cry 'compromise!' even in the face of uncompromising evil. Taking vigorous action early will cost some lives and some treasure and the timid appeasers will suggest that their way will be virtually risk—free and cost—free.  In hindsight wouldn't we now be willing to sacrifice a few thousand to have stopped Hitler early on instead of losing 50 million souls and opening the door to decades of communism and their tens of millions of additional dead plus, the trillions it cost us in money alone?
History is rich in valuable lessons, including the dismal lesson that we rarely learn from history.  If we fail this time around we will not merely recycle through another expensive lesson.  This time failing to learn could mean Al Qaeda armed with nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, backed by China, along with North Korea and Iran that would aim for a knockout blow in the heart of our country.  'Simply unimaginable,' some would say.  The 9/11 Commission declared in its report that we remained vulnerable before 9/11 because of 'a failure of imagination.'  That meant that we in our naiveté were too limited in our thinking and could not imagine what our enemies were capable of doing to us.  We may have one last chance to finally get it right.  Whether or not we can disarm Iran in the very near future will likely determine if we have learned anything.