By Hector Flores
He has a background in education, and in 1995 retired from that field leaving the post of principal from a junior high school in New York City.
As a teacher he taught science, history and math. But now, the former educator is taking on a new role ‹ as an author. In his first book, ³Cowardly America, How We Became a Paper Tiger,² he endeavors to explain how American citizens are held in low esteem through out much of the world, and why other countries rarely respect Americans anymore.
³The main reason for this is because after World War II we have acted timidly and cowardly in world affairs,² Gerber, 79, said during an interview with the Herald.
Gerber explained that the world¹s respect for America began to decline during the Pueblo incident of 1968. It was the time of the Korean conflict and the Cold War. An American ship, the USS Pueblo, was boarded and seized by North Korean soldiers.
At the time, the ship¹s mission was to get as close as possible to the North Korean coast and gather data concerning radio and radar transmissions while still in international waters. The data would go to the National Security Agency, not the Navy. There it would be analyzed and reanalyzed to determine what North Korea was up to, how many missiles and anti aircraft weapons it had, how they worked and how they could be thwarted.
³The North Koreans seized our ship in international waters,² Gerber said. ³They took the ship and tortured the men to get confessions out of them, which is a violation. The men were kept in captivity for 11 months. When they [North Koreans] couldn¹t get any more publicity out of it, the soldiers were let go.²
According to Gerber, the United States could have taken a more stronger stance in getting the American soldiers out of North Korea.
³We could have blockaded their harbors and prevented any ship from coming in and out from its harbors,² he said. ³They are mainly a fishing economy, but we did nothing. We just let them overwhelm us. We [were] looked upon as a paper tiger. We had all these planes and weapons and we didn¹t use them.²
For Gerber the next American embarrassment occurred in Teheran Iran on Nov. 4, 1979, when a group of Iranian college students seized the American Embassy and held 53 Americans hostage.
³They refused to let the people go,² Gerber said. ³The president then was Jimmy Carter. He acted as a wimp. We again begged and pleaded and they ignored us.
³They [the hostages] were kept in captivity for 444 days, November 1979 to January 1981. What could we have done? We could have done so much more. We could have mined their harbors or bombed their oil well and pipe lines. After begging and pleading, we tried to sent in our covert troops and failed. And again the world saw as a soft.²
In the book, Gerber¹s first chapter deals with terrorism. In it he argues that America¹s handling of terrorism can also be described as cowardly.
³Al-Qaeda attacked two embassies, one in Kenya and another in Tanzania, both blown up on the same day [Aug. 7, 1998],² he said. ³Two years later, in 2000, the USS COLE was nearly sunk. Two major incidents and our response was very weak. [President] Bill Clinton, bombed empty [Al-Qaeda] tents in Afghanistan and an aspirin factory in Sudan. This was done just for show.²
Gerber added that Al-Qaeda saw America¹s weakness and took the next step to attack the World Trade Center.
³Again, because we were so weak in our actions,² Gerber said. ³It was only after Sept. 11, 2001 that the U.S. finally took action and invaded Afghanistan.²
Gerber¹s book was self published last year. It took him 14 months to research and complete. For his preparation, Gerber searched through newspaper clippings, books, encyclopedias and other sources. ³Sources that would have given me the information I needed,² he said.
Gerber explained that he took on the subject matter because he was angry at the way America has been treated after WW II. ³There has been a complete lack of respect to America,² he said. ³The reason we are at where we are with terrorism is because we have been acting timidly.²
As for the future, Gerber believes that Iran is a country to watch very closely. ³Iran is developing a nuclear bomb,² he said. ³Once they have the bomb they can intimate other countries, or worse they can give a smaller version of the bomb to terrorists.²
In response, Gerber said that the United Nations is trying to pass economic sanctions against Iran, which he believes will never work. ³And again we are acting as a paper tiger,² he said. ³We are afraid again to take any real action. In order to stop Iran we have to bomb their nuclear sites. That is the only way to stop them.²
Anyone interested in ordering Gerber¹s book can purchase it for $28 at their nearest bookstore, Barnes and Noble or Amazon. com.
Gerber plans on writing other books and this time he will take on Congress. ³They are bought by big corporations,² he said. ³It is very sad and they are very dishonest.²
Comments about this story? HFlores@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 283.
