Green Energy
A fantastic article in The New Republic of all places comparing the War in Iraq to the Civil War. A must read. Here are some quotes (emphasis added):
Today our forces and Iraqis are fighting together and, slowly, winning a good and noble war that holds the hope of bringing to millions a measure of freedom they never knew before. And yet today, America seems ready, even eager, to concede defeat and withdraw: a sad twist on the famous George Aiken formula for extricating American soldiers from Vietnam. It sounds bizarre--why would anyone want to throw away the chance of such a great victory, when victory seems within reach? But it isn't bizarre. On the contrary, it has happened before.
... In 1863 ... New York saw the worst rioting in our nation's history. The rioters' cause was ending the draft on which Lincoln's war depended. A year later Lincoln seemed headed for electoral defeat, even as Grant's and Sherman's armies seemed headed for decisive military victories. Victory often seems most elusive to civilians when it is most nearly within soldiers' grasp. And noble causes often do not sound noble to the nation whose sons must fight for them. ... In many American towns and cities, then as now, the cause of freedom for others did not seem a cause worth fighting and dying for.
But it is, partly because--as Lincoln saw better than anyone--others' freedom helps to guarantee our own. ... Lincoln had it right: Either democracy and freedom would go on to new heights or they might well "perish from the earth." So too today. A world full of Islamic autocrats is a world full of little bin Ladens eager to give their lives to kill Americans. A world full of Islamic democracies gives young Muslim men different outlets for their passions. That obviously means better lives for them. But it also means better and safer lives for us.
None of this excuses the bungling and bad management that have plagued the Iraq war. The administration has made some terrible mistakes that have cost precious lives, ... But bungling and bad management were far more evident in Lincoln's war than they have been in Bush's. Most wars are bungled ... Sometimes, error gives rise to larger truths; nations can stumble unawares onto great opportunities. So it was in the 1860s. So it is today in the Middle East.
Two-and-a-half years ago, our armed forces set out to fight a small war with a small objective. Today we find ourselves in a larger war with a larger and vastly better purpose. It would be one of history's sadder ironies were we to turn away because that better purpose is not the one we set out to achieve. Either we fight the fight our enemies have chosen until they are defeated or (better still) dead, or millions of Muslim men and women may lose their "last, best hope"--and we may face a mushroom cloud over Manhattan, the work of one of the many Mohamed Attas that Middle Eastern autocracies have bred over the last generation. The choice belongs not to the president alone, but to all of us. Here's hoping we choose as wisely as Lincoln's generation did.
Here's hoping.
- The Maine Caucus Is Tomorrow Afternoon
Consider this in the news today. The hospital in Lincoln Maine is laying off MORE people. Full time hospital workers. Lincoln Maine lies about 40 minutes north of Bangor on I-95. Lincoln has a population of 5000, Bangor between 25 and 30,000 Hospital...
- Paul Calls Awlaki Killing 'assassination' Imagine What This Gavone Thinks Of The 15th Prez
Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul is condemning the Obama administration for killing an American born al-Qaida operative without a trial.Abraham Lincoln, John Merryman and Roger Taney, Ron.Abraham Lincoln and Ex Parte QuinnAbraham Lincoln and...
- November 19, 1863
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any...
- Nuge!
Human Events: Barbecue The Taliban by Ted Nugent Posted 11/17/2009 ET It all boils down to this simple question: Do you want to win the war or not? Barry O, Sen. Kerry and others are frittering the days away while the man that knows -- General McChrystal...
- The Most Successful Military Campaign In American History
This from the Gateway Pundit: Before President George W. Bush leaves office it's only fitting to give credit to where credit it due. Although you would not know this from the anti-Bush media or democrats, the US military has waged the most successful...
Green Energy
Lincoln and Iraq
A fantastic article in The New Republic of all places comparing the War in Iraq to the Civil War. A must read. Here are some quotes (emphasis added):
Today our forces and Iraqis are fighting together and, slowly, winning a good and noble war that holds the hope of bringing to millions a measure of freedom they never knew before. And yet today, America seems ready, even eager, to concede defeat and withdraw: a sad twist on the famous George Aiken formula for extricating American soldiers from Vietnam. It sounds bizarre--why would anyone want to throw away the chance of such a great victory, when victory seems within reach? But it isn't bizarre. On the contrary, it has happened before.
... In 1863 ... New York saw the worst rioting in our nation's history. The rioters' cause was ending the draft on which Lincoln's war depended. A year later Lincoln seemed headed for electoral defeat, even as Grant's and Sherman's armies seemed headed for decisive military victories. Victory often seems most elusive to civilians when it is most nearly within soldiers' grasp. And noble causes often do not sound noble to the nation whose sons must fight for them. ... In many American towns and cities, then as now, the cause of freedom for others did not seem a cause worth fighting and dying for.
But it is, partly because--as Lincoln saw better than anyone--others' freedom helps to guarantee our own. ... Lincoln had it right: Either democracy and freedom would go on to new heights or they might well "perish from the earth." So too today. A world full of Islamic autocrats is a world full of little bin Ladens eager to give their lives to kill Americans. A world full of Islamic democracies gives young Muslim men different outlets for their passions. That obviously means better lives for them. But it also means better and safer lives for us.
None of this excuses the bungling and bad management that have plagued the Iraq war. The administration has made some terrible mistakes that have cost precious lives, ... But bungling and bad management were far more evident in Lincoln's war than they have been in Bush's. Most wars are bungled ... Sometimes, error gives rise to larger truths; nations can stumble unawares onto great opportunities. So it was in the 1860s. So it is today in the Middle East.
Two-and-a-half years ago, our armed forces set out to fight a small war with a small objective. Today we find ourselves in a larger war with a larger and vastly better purpose. It would be one of history's sadder ironies were we to turn away because that better purpose is not the one we set out to achieve. Either we fight the fight our enemies have chosen until they are defeated or (better still) dead, or millions of Muslim men and women may lose their "last, best hope"--and we may face a mushroom cloud over Manhattan, the work of one of the many Mohamed Attas that Middle Eastern autocracies have bred over the last generation. The choice belongs not to the president alone, but to all of us. Here's hoping we choose as wisely as Lincoln's generation did.
Here's hoping.
- The Maine Caucus Is Tomorrow Afternoon
Consider this in the news today. The hospital in Lincoln Maine is laying off MORE people. Full time hospital workers. Lincoln Maine lies about 40 minutes north of Bangor on I-95. Lincoln has a population of 5000, Bangor between 25 and 30,000 Hospital...
- Paul Calls Awlaki Killing 'assassination' Imagine What This Gavone Thinks Of The 15th Prez
Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul is condemning the Obama administration for killing an American born al-Qaida operative without a trial.Abraham Lincoln, John Merryman and Roger Taney, Ron.Abraham Lincoln and Ex Parte QuinnAbraham Lincoln and...
- November 19, 1863
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any...
- Nuge!
Human Events: Barbecue The Taliban by Ted Nugent Posted 11/17/2009 ET It all boils down to this simple question: Do you want to win the war or not? Barry O, Sen. Kerry and others are frittering the days away while the man that knows -- General McChrystal...
- The Most Successful Military Campaign In American History
This from the Gateway Pundit: Before President George W. Bush leaves office it's only fitting to give credit to where credit it due. Although you would not know this from the anti-Bush media or democrats, the US military has waged the most successful...