Democrats who attempted to use this brave man as a political pawn have no shame. He reminds me of this scene from a recent movie about Churchill:
Politicians, and politics, are necessary evils. Pure patriotism, as exemplified by maimed veterans, is a good. To seek to use veterans in service of a political agenda, even one I support, always nauseates me. Lee after the Civil War was in great financial need. He refused lucrative offers to write his memoirs because he viewed it as trading on the blood of my men. That is the way I view the political use of veterans. Other views are possible on the subject but that is how I feel about it.
Let this sink in: Trump peace deals = 3. Trump [unconstitutional, unnecessary] wars started = 0. Go tell Pope Francis.
I could be wrong.
I think the last POTUS who didn’t start a war was the second worst in US History: Carter.
Carter started a war with the toppling of the Shah in Iran. Our part however under Carter consisted of us losing .
True. January 1977 to January 1981 was a dark period in our history; almost as bad as the horrid eight years under the zero and China Joe. .
Excellent post. Good clip. Yes, it is humbling.
I am concerned about “useless foreign wars” being currently a term in use. It devalues the KIA and wounded.
We forget about Kuwait, an ally overrun by ruthless and cruel Sadam. The first bombing of the World Trade Center and the fact that we won in Iraq. But of course the victory was short lived because of Obama.
I’ve seen the slogan “9-12 America United”. It’s neither R or D, Left or Right. It’s simply a good reminder to those who wish to tear down our society. Also to have pride in our country which is like no other.
Carter didn’t topple the Shah and likely could not have prevented the toppling of the Shah, even if Carter did play his cards badly. The Shah’s penultimate prime minister said that the Shah’s capacity to make decisions was so compromised by the latter part of 1978 that the situation was hopeless. He was terminally ill and less than a year from death. His son at age 17 was quite a crap shoot to succeed him, though he did have a fairly capable brother who could have functioned as regent.
One curio about Iran’s political society is that the same man has been at the top of the heap since 1981. Imagine Mao Tse-tung’s sidekick had been the boss of China in 1990 with a satisfactory prospect of knocking about for another eight years. The closest analogue is Castro’s Cuba, a country frozen in amber in important respects. This has surely inhibited any regression to a more businesslike relationship with the rest of the world.
When we discuss war, we need to understand that there is a military component, and a political component. The military is the means by which the use of military force is used to subdue an adversary and to secure its defeat. In order for this to be a long term success it has to be a part of a longer term political policy. Many of the post World War II conflicts have been police actions that in many instances transitioned into insurgencies where the adversary never really surrendered, or was willing to admit defeat. World War I ended in an armistice. I’ve heard it said that both World Wars were really the same war with a twenty year hiatus for rebuilding. For military action to be effective it has to be part of a larger coordinated political strategy. It is possible to politically squander a military victory. Military action by itself cannot be a substitute for a well thought out political strategy. We owe it to the troops to learn from our mistakes.
“We owe it to the troops to learn from our mistakes,” Amen! Excellent comment, GREGB