Posted on 08/18/2007 4:41:05 PM PDT by DakotaRed
I ran across a speech this evening from a prominent anti-war activist, made shortly before we went to war. Some excerpts for all,
“There are many viewpoints from which the issues of this war can be argued. Some are primarily idealistic. Some are primarily practical. One should, I believe, strive for a balance of both. But, since the issues that can be covered in a single address are limited, tonight I shall discuss the war from a viewpoint which is primarily practical. It is not that I believe ideals are unimportant, even among the realities of war; but if a nation is to survive in a hostile world, its ideals must be backed by the hard logic of military practicability.”
“It is not only our right, but it is our obligation as American citizens to look at this war objectively, and to weigh our chances for success if we should enter it.”
“Our Army is still untrained and inadequately equipped for foreign war.”
“But everything I mention here has been published in our newspapers, and in the reports of congressional hearings in Washington. Our military position is well known to the governments of Europe and Asia. Why, then, should it not be brought to the attention of our own people?”
“There is no better way to give comfort to an enemy than to divide the people of a nation over the issue of foreign war. There is no shorter road to defeat than by entering a war with inadequate preparation.”
“While we should have been concentrating on American defense, we have been forced to argue over foreign quarrels. We must turn our eyes and our faith back to our own country before it is too late. And when we do this, a different vista opens before us.”
“War is not inevitable for this country. Such a claim is defeatism on the true sense. No one can make us fight abroad unless we ourselves are willing to do so... Over a hundred million people in this nation are opposed to entering the war. If the principles of democracy mean anything at all, that is reason enough for us to stay out. If we are forced into a war against the wishes of an overwhelming majority of our people, we will have proved democracy such a failure at home that there will be little use fighting for it abroad.”
“The time has come when those of us who believe in an independent American destiny must band together and organize for strength. We have been led toward war by a minority of our people. This minority has power. It has influence. It has a loud voice. But it does not represent the American people.”
“Whether or not we do enter the war rests upon the shoulders of you in this audience, upon us here on this platform, upon meetings of this kind that are being held by Americans in every section of the United States today. It depends upon the action we take, and the courage we show at this time.”
Although the words sound eerily like something said as we prepared to enter Afghanistan or Iraq, they are from a speech given on May 23, 1941 by Charles A. Lindbergh.
http://www.rightwingnews.com/speeches/lindy.php
History shows just how wrong he and his America First Committee were.
Wasn’t Lindbergh a communist or a communist sympathizer? Much the same as the anti war groups in the usa today?
I wouldn’t say a commuist, but he was Liberal. He somewhat redeemed hiimself during WW2 by working with the Military on Aviation matters, even to the point of taking part in strafing and bombing runs, including actually shooting down one Japanese plane.
However, in 1970, an article was published with him claiming that America had lost WW2.
A book was made from his journal kept during the war, cited in the article of 1970, also eerily similar to today,
“I am shocked at the attitude of our American troops. They have no respect for death, the courage of an enemy soldier or many of the ordinary decencies of life. They think nothing whatever of robbing the body of a dead Jap and call him a “son of a bitch” while they do so.
“I said during a discussion with American officers that regardless of what the japs did I did not see how we could gain anything or claim that we represented a civilized state if we killed them by torture.”
“Your ask what my conclusions are, rereading my journals and looking back on World War II from the vantage point of quarter century in time? We won the war in a military sense; but in a broader sense it seems to me we lost it, for our Western civilization is less respected and secure than it was before.”
“In order to defeat Germany and Japan we supported the still greater menaces of Russia and China - which now confront us in a nuclear weapon era. The British empire has broken down with great suffering, bloodshed and confusion. France has had to give up her major colonies and turn to a mild dictatorship herself.”
“Much of our Western culture was destroyed. We lost the genetic heredity formed through eons of many million lives. Meanwhile, the Soviets have dropped their Iron Curtain to screen off Eastern Europe, and an antagonistic Chinese Government threatens us in Asia.”
“More than a generation after the war’s end, our occupying armies still must occupy, and the world has not been made safe for democracy and freedom. On the contrary, our own system democratic government is being challenged by that greatest of dangers to any government - internal coordinating and unrest.”
“It is alarmingly possible that World War II marks the beginning of our Western civilization’s breakdown...”
http://www.charleslindbergh.com/ny/106.asp
>>>>Has America Lost The Will To Win?<<<<<
No, America not only has the will to win, we will win!!
The anti-american left didn’t lose their will to win as they never had it to begin with. What the left has is a strong desire for America to lose.
That’s interesting, I am going to have to read up on this. Thanks
The shocking paralell to me is that his words are repeated today, almost word for word by the left.
An article on the similarities of then and now,
http://www.411mania.com/politics/columns/53830
We were attacked by a nation state...not a gaggle of international misfits. We had a defined enemy to fight instead of a slogan. Even at that point we did not declare War on Germany until they declared war against us. Once again, another well defined nation state...not elusive shadows without one country of their own and little military ability to damage us in any meaningful way...compared to what an actual military attack from a nation state such as Germany or Japan could do. Therefore WW 11 was deemed a "Just War" by all the Christian religions in the world.
This war, however, would not just be condemned by Charles A. Lindbergh. He would be joined by nearly all the Christian leaders in the in condemning the preemptive War against Irag an Unjust War.
Pope John Paul II calls War a Defeat for Humanity:
Neoconservative Iraq Just War Theories Rejected
In the weeks and months before the U.S. attacked Iraq, not only the Holy Father, but also one Cardinal and Archbishop after another at the Vatican spoke out against a "preemptive" or "preventive" strike. They declared that the just war theory could not justify such a war. Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran said that such a "war of aggression" is a crime against peace. Archbishop Renato Martino, who used the same words in calling the possible military intervention a "crime against peace that cries out vengeance before God," also criticized the pressure that the most powerful nations exerted on the less powerful ones on the U.N. Security Council to support the war. The Pope spoke out almost every day against war and in support of diplomatic efforts for peace. John Paul II sent his personal representative, Cardinal Pio Laghi, a friend of the Bush family, to remonstrate with the U.S. President before the war began. Pio Laghi said such a war would be illegal and unjust. The message was clear: God is not on your side if you invade Iraq.
BTW...Just War Theory is more about ethics in humannity then it is about religion and I am not Catholic, On This though, I agree with the Pope.
Grooming a successor is what kings, emperors, and dictators do. The succession question is up to the people, for better or for worse.
Excepting the U.S., Christianity the world over has condemned this premptive police action as an unjust war.
They don’t want democracy.
They live in a world where a few mullahs make pronouncements about what Islam is, and what is the responsibility of the faithful.
There is no evidence to make us or anybody else believe that they will ever be able to divorce their politics from their religion.
‘Christianity the world over’ is represented by the World Council of Churches, devoted to Satan for over 50 years.
The question was not "Have YOU lost the will to win?" ~ it was a question asking collectively if America has lost the will to win -- and the answer is "Yes".
It takes more than military might and patriotism to win, it takes among other things a willingness to do what you think that you can't and a determination to accept nothing but victory. But most importantly, it takes "moral righteousness and self-confidence" two essential elements that America lacks and which are needed to win.
Shorty after 9/11 the war on Islamic totalitarianism was lost. The first indication should have been when Americans couldn't name their enemy for fear of offending Muslims around the globe. Americans chose the term "War On Terrorism" - thereby going to war with an "intangible tactic" rather than an enemy and it was completely downhill after that - even before the attacks on Afghanistan began, Americans once again felt themselves compelled to change "Operation Infinite Justice" to "Operation Enduring Freedom" .... and why might you ask? You guessed it... once again to avoid offending Muslims.
You might think that we would have learned our lesson after WW2 but we didn't. The Constitutions of both Afghanistan and Iraq now written by the West DO NOT separate church and state and needless to say are destined for failure.
From a recent post of mine:
"In the aftermath of the attack on Pearl Harbor, it's almost impossible for us to image that Americans would have found themselves on their knees constructing "giant penis-venerating shrines" in the nation's airports to accommodate pious Japanese travelers or that our president Franklin D. Roosevelt and the State Department would be donning kimonos and yukatas as they flitted around from sushi bar to teahouse shouting "kampai" and sipping sake and green tea. Surely none of us could ever imagine our President at the time profusely and tirelessly professing the glorious wonders of Shintoism as he removed his shoes and dedicated a plethora of new Shinto shrines around the country."
"If you find yourself outraged and asking what the hell went wrong, then you are not alone. In a previous post here I would offer an opinion on what went wrong which can pretty much be summed up in the following --
and that is the belief "that all cultures, from that of a spirits-worshiping tribe to that of an advanced industrial civilization, are all equal in value."
If we can affirm the preceding statement, one of the central tenets of multiculturalism, then the hypocrisy in our mission and our self-proclaimed vocation to spread freedom and democracy in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere around the globe becomes painfully evident.
In other words, we've lost."
continued...
Your answer is: yes. My answer is: we cannot win fighting a PC war.
And we will continue to tolerate your ever present negative views on everything and every subject. (((smooch))).
America hasn’t lost the will to win. What has happened is the medias “if it bleeds it leads” approach to journalism and their use of wire services comprised of foreign correspndents who hate America have worn out Americans.
The American people are tired of day in and day out anti-America hacks with BDS spewing their meaningless drivel on the 6 o’clock news. It plays in blue cities because that is where the beautiful people are and it makes them feel special that they can hate America, call the President names and then hide behind the media when called out on it.
The NY Slimes, Washington Compost and the rest of them are rapidly losing readership. The Alphabets are losing viewers at an alarming pace. The cable news channels would do better showing reruns of Barney.
We haven’t lost our will to win. The media is telling us we are losing and 1,029 Democrats in San Francicko who are polled will never convince me otherwise.
It should have been recognized that it was needed a long time ago.
It was but Rummy nixed it and if you mentioned it on FR you got ass raped.
Even if successful, the newly empowered democratic Arabs will elect the Muslim fundamentalist entities that are our enemies.
That’s the way i see it.
You didn’t go to Iraq for nothing! Never think that for one minute. This is a long and horrible war, likely to get worse, and we’re desperately fighting a fifth column here at home...the scoundrelly dems and MSM. It’s very difficult to try and live a normal life, go to work/school, raise kids, and at the same time know we’re all fighting for the survival of western civilization. Make no mistake, we’re in this together. What’s that quote when they signed the Declaration of Independence? ‘We hang together or we hang separately’...something to that effect. Most of us long to pick up a gun and actively join the fight any way we can, but we’re told to live as normal a life as possible. So we speak out, we use the internet to make our voices heard worldwide, we vote, and by God, we’ll vote in ‘08.
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