"Neutral"

clipped from www.davidwarrenonline.com As one of my heroes, Horatio Nelson, once put it, with characteristic succinctness: “Never break the neutrality of a port or place, but never consider as neutral any place from whence an attack is allowed to be made.” This is a point long lost on the “liberal” intellectual, who, even after he has admitted the need for war in some material form (such as the incursion into Afghanistan after the events of 9/11), turns his mind to limiting the action. Mere words will easily persuade him that the battle stops at some artificial line, corresponding to a national border. The notion of “hot pursuit” is held under suspicion, or rather, denied. Any power that has not explicitly declared war against us, even if he is harbouring our enemy, must be taken as “neutral” if he gives his word. (Or, in the case of Saddam's Iraq, or Syria, or Iran, even if he doesn't give it.)