2) History Repeats Itself, Part 2

Greetings my fellow Americans and welcome to another edition of the Hawks Press. If you haven’t tuned in before, I encourage you to download our last (and first full length) podcast. Also, don’t forget you can email us at hawkspress@yahoo.com, h-a-w-k-s-p-r-e-s-s at yahoo dot com.

In case you missed out last week, I talked about a theme that is becoming increasingly more important as General David Petraeus brings us the signs of good progress in Iraq. We constantly hear from the Democratically-controlled congress that there’s no hope for Victory, our troops are ill-prepared and ill-advised and we’re on a course for disaster. Last week, I discussed comparisons that can be made between Iraq and Vietnam, and the theme History Repeats Itself.

Today, I would like to follow up on this theme. My friends, when we look back on History, we see recurring patterns. We see how very different people make very similar mistakes, but we also see how the manner of the later made his mistakes compared to the earlier. By studying History, we can look at the mistakes made during the most critical challenges of the times, such as during the Civil War, the World Wars, Vietnam, and so on, but we shouldn’t stop there. We should look at how to fix these mistakes.

Think way back to the 1860s, during the American Civil War-a true Civil War if there ever was one. The nation was divided into two separate nations and we were in, what many consider, the most profound crisis in American History. General McClellan had started out a very successful general for the Union. His successes in Ohio and West Virginia led to his becoming commander of the Military Division of the Potomac, which he brought A high degree of organization and greatly increased morale among his soldiers. However, McClellan had a weakness.

McClellan failed to attack when openings were available. McClellan was slow and cautious and failed to adapt properly. What happened to George McClellan? He was replaced after failing to pursue the enemy after the bloody battle of Antietam.

With several missed opportunities in the War in Iraq and the Global War on Terror, we can easily compare the replacement of our generals to such instances during the American Civil War. We see that this worked during then, and it just may well work now. The Union won then, and the Union can win now. Lincoln replaced his generals when he saw the need, and Bush has replaced his, seeing an increasing need.

After months of the Democrats demanding the President for a change in leadership, after months of calling for a change in strategy, Bush has done so. It’s hard to tell that from the way the Democrats are talking now, though. They insist there is no new plan, which is a liberal faulty in its own right, and they keep trying to bring the advice and the warnings from the old generals to the President’s attention, despite the fact that they previously portrayed them as incompetent to the American people. Why? Because the political wind is blowing in a new direction and they are on a mandate to end the war.

I ended last week on a very important note. History does not repeat itself so mistakes can be made twice. Mistakes are made to be corrected. And this idea works the other way around, too. Success are achieved, and if we follow historical examples, we can achieve success again.

I believe I speak with America’s best interest at heart when I say we can not accept defeat in Iraq or any other major front on the Global War on Terror. We turned a bunch of unorganized nobodies into a Continental Army that could defeat the mightiest of empires. We overcame the greatest brother versus brother struggle in history. We took on the powerful Japanese fleet and the Third Reich. We won the Cold War against the might Soviet Union. We can defeat Islamo-Fascism.

To succeed, though, we must first have the desire. The Democratic pessimism does not allow for this, regrettably, but we must fight back. The same pessimism brought us defeat in Vietnam, and we can not allow it to overtake us again.

We must fight. We’re not fighting the Care Bares. We’re fighting radical extremists who will stop at nothing to bring bloodshed to the unbelievers. Regardless of what the opposition might say, we need more troops to help clear, regain, and hold the cities of Iraq. We can not stop and rethink about how we might offend people. The ancient Hammurabi Code had one firm statute that some don’t seem to care about anymore: Eye for an Eye. I’m not saying we, too, should resort to hostage taking and beheading, but it’s hard to fight a war if we are fighting with the strict Rules of Engagement we have place on our troops.

Now, I know I’ve strayed off topic, but there are many people who just don’t understand the scope of the conflict we’re in. People want to cry out about Guantanomo Bay because we’re holding known or suspected terrorists in prison cells so they can’t carry out their Jihad against the Western World. But then again, I guess as long as it’s a Democrat that wants to bash Bush, I guess it’s ok.

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~The CreepyNerd