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# Malibu Here’s hoping for a ‘bad peace’
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/malibu-heres-hoping-for-a-bad-peace-editor/
- Published: 2007-06-12T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T01:03:43.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Opinion, Malibu, #archive-import

*By Leo Walford London*

I was very struck by the reasonableness of Greg Foisie’s guest commentary in the SMDP (“Arlington West is appropriate,” May 31). I do agree that war memorials have an important role in reminding us of the horrors of war and the urgent need to prevent it. Anyone who has seen the memorials at Verdun to the French soldiers who lost their lives in WWI cannot fail to be moved by them. However, they also illustrate the point that war memorials do not prevent wars. I would like to suggest that one of the factors that enables wars to continue is precisely something that Foisie supports, namely “recognizing the merits of duty and sacrifice.” While we, as individuals, go along with the idea that duty is something that carries more weight than conscience, judgment or respect for our common humanity, we will allow ourselves to commit inhuman acts against fellow human beings. While we allow ourselves to believe that sacrifice is somehow noble, we will allow others to commit inhuman acts against us. I suggest that a refusal to accept the merits of duty and a refusal to sacrifice ourselves will make a difference, and may even make war more difficult.

After all, you can’t have a war if no one will fight. I think it was Ben Franklin who said, “There is no such thing as a good war or a bad peace.” Those words are as true today as when he said them.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 12, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/061207.pdf?ref=smdp.com)