Molly Ivins looks back at the pre-war debate and digs up an interesting quote from Thucydides, the Father of History:
"To think of the future and wait was merely another way of saying one was a coward; any idea of moderation was just another attempt to disguise one's unmanly character; ability to understand the question from all sides meant that one was totally unfitted for action; fanatical enthusiasm was the mark of a real man... Anyone who held violent opinions could always be trusted, and anyone who objected to them became a suspect."
Thucydides was writing about the day in 415 B.C. when Athens sent its glorious fleet off to battle in Sicily. The fleet was decimated.
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