Mitch Landrieu: “on the eve of the gathering of all of NATO to celebrate the successful completion of our first 50 years, I wanted to…”

“on the eve of the gathering of all of NATO to celebrate the successful completion of our first 50 years, I wanted to take this opportunity to comment on the current situation in Europe. As you know, we are blessed to live in a country which enjoys a deeply rooted democracy and a deeply rooted sense of equality. However, these same characteristics and qualities which make America a model for the world also present very real challenges in times like these. It is often said that the most difficult task for any democracy is deciding to go to war. The reasons are self-evident. When you live in a nation that believes all people are created equal, how do you ask some citizens to sacrifice so much so that others may continue to enjoy their freedom? When you live in a nation where human life is sacred, where, in fact each individual life has dignity, how do you build a consensus for the sacrifices that may be necessary to achieve the victory that we hope for? The task is even more complex when the challenge to American freedom is more indirect, as it is in this case. We have confronted this reality since the beginning of the war in Kosovo. No one in America believes that Serbia intends to invade the United States. We will never look out of the window and see Yugoslavian tanks driving down Pennsylvania Avenue to squelch American liberties.”