I love it when crap like this bobs up! Lets review the facts, as it is still a "reality-based" world. Let's take down two howling wing-nut talking points for starters...
World War I: US entry speeded by German torpedos at US shipping. I guess that wouldn't bother Mr Odom any.
World War II: Pearl Harbor? And on Dec 10 Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy declared war on us as well. Oh, I'm sorry!
Korean War: Truman may have committed us, but John Foster Dulles and the cave-man wing of the GOP were jacking off furiously at the idea of nuclear war with the Soviets. Truman's greatest sin for these clowns was sacking MacArthur, who had been gamed thoroughly by the North Koreans at Inchon. Of course MacArthur thought crossing the Yalu was a splendid idea, which brought the Chinese into the war. And that is where it all truly went to hell.
Vietnam: In 1954 Eisenhower took over the financing and arming of the South Vietnamese from the French after Dien Bien Phu. For the French-haters out there, it is useful to remember that the French lost over 50,000 men in Indo-China between 1945 and 1954. Never mind the Vietnamese, who were mainly trying to get their country back. By French law, draftees could not serve in Indo China. It was left to the professional soldiers and the French Foreign Legion [a manpower funnel that had every fugitive from across Europe of whom no questions were asked] along with the colonial conscripts.
We'll fast-forward past the blunders of JFK and LBJ, who deserve no mercy, to the august Richard Nixon. Any opportunity to end the war was ignored or blundered, which continued the hang-over until April 1975, under the Ford Administration.
Jimmy Carter seems to have gotten off lightly in the preceding analysis, which surprises me. I expected some Ludendorffian "stabbed-in-the-back" rhetoric there.
Now we have the unspoken interlude of Reagan I & II.
Reagan's most poisonous gifts to the American legacy was that an empire could fight on the cheap. He got away with it, and I suppose that's why the GOP likes to name everything that isn't nailed down after him. After 280+ Marines died in Beirut [cf Marcinko, 1991] he pulled out [or is that 'cut and run'?]. Got me!
Bush I. Let's see—Desert Storm, coalition, planning, teamwork, and a clear exit strategy. All things his prodigal son doesn't have and never had.
Clinton I & II. The body count is down on Bubba, I suppose convulsing a government over a knobber is the way to go on that.
Bush I & II. Distinguished by a claque that got everything wrong every time, but managed to make sure its paychecks kept coming.
1] No WMD
2] No Nukes
3] No connection of Iraq to Al-Qaeda
I love it when crap like this bobs up! Lets review the facts, as it is still a "reality-based" world. Let's take down two howling wing-nut talking points for starters...
World War I: US entry speeded by German torpedos at US shipping. I guess that wouldn't bother Mr Odom any.
World War II: Pearl Harbor? And on Dec 10 Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy declared war on us as well. Oh, I'm sorry!
Korean War: Truman may have committed us, but John Foster Dulles and the cave-man wing of the GOP were jacking off furiously at the idea of nuclear war with the Soviets. Truman's greatest sin for these clowns was sacking MacArthur, who had been gamed thoroughly by the North Koreans at Inchon. Of course MacArthur thought crossing the Yalu was a splendid idea, which brought the Chinese into the war. And that is where it all truly went to hell.
Vietnam: In 1954 Eisenhower took over the financing and arming of the South Vietnamese from the French after Dien Bien Phu. For the French-haters out there, it is useful to remember that the French lost over 50,000 men in Indo-China between 1945 and 1954. Never mind the Vietnamese, who were mainly trying to get their country back. By French law, draftees could not serve in Indo China. It was left to the professional soldiers and the French Foreign Legion [a manpower funnel that had every fugitive from across Europe of whom no questions were asked] along with the colonial conscripts.
We'll fast-forward past the blunders of JFK and LBJ, who deserve no mercy, to the august Richard Nixon. Any opportunity to end the war was ignored or blundered, which continued the hang-over until April 1975, under the Ford Administration.
Jimmy Carter seems to have gotten off lightly in the preceding analysis, which surprises me. I expected some Ludendorffian "stabbed-in-the-back" rhetoric there.
Now we have the unspoken interlude of Reagan I & II.
Reagan's most poisonous gifts to the American legacy was that an empire could fight on the cheap. He got away with it, and I suppose that's why the GOP likes to name everything that isn't nailed down after him. After 280+ Marines died in Beirut [cf Marcinko, 1991] he pulled out [or is that 'cut and run'?]. Got me!
Bush I. Let's see—Desert Storm, coalition, planning, teamwork, and a clear exit strategy. All things his prodigal son doesn't have and never had.
Clinton I & II. The body count is down on Bubba, I suppose convulsing a government over a knobber is the way to go on that.
Bush I & II. Distinguished by a claque that got everything wrong every time, but managed to make sure its paychecks kept coming.
1] No WMD
2] No Nukes
3] No connection of Iraq to Al-Qaeda
and this is the kicker:
4] Iraq didn't invade us, sink our ships, nothing.
However:
5] Now the entire Arab world has reason to hate us, forever.
Lets also remember that before the invasion, Iraq provided 15% of our oil. Gas used to be $1.46 a gallon, remember?
CONCLUSION:
Numbers alone do not tell the story. Think about it when you gas up next time.