For those who think that being a conservative means that you reflexively support war and spurn peaceful intiatives might want to read Nicholas Kistoff's column today in the New York Times. Kristoff talks about the Suez Crisis of 1956. In that case, France along with Britain and Israel attacked Egypt after that country nationalized the Suez Canal. Europe saw Egypt's leader Nasser as we Americans see Hussien today: as a Middle Eastern Hitler. In a twist, it was the conservative Eisenhower that forces the allies to back down and find a peaceful solution through, you guessed it, the United Nations.

There was a time when conservatives believed in institutions like th UN to solve problems like the one in Iraq. Conservatives also knew that one must be militarily strong, but always willing to make peace. After reading this, I came up with a few conclusions. First, Europe and France in particular have not always acted like the "Surrender Monkeys" that we think they are. Second, that todays conservatives sound like they are getting their lessons from the John Birch Society instead of from great Americans like Eisenhower.