Greetings listeners and welcome to the Hawks Press. Today, I would like to talk about a theme of history that has never been more important for us to understand than now.

History Repeats Itself

When you were in elementary school, you probably asked your history teacher, on several occasions, "Why do we need to know this?" You probably also pointlessly, and incorrectly, added "It's not like we're ever going to use it." If your history teacher never answered your fatuous question, I'll answer it for you with a phrase you may have heard a few times in your life: History Repeats Itself

If you've never understood that or never really paid attention in History class, now has never been a better time to start learning. With the increasing unpopularity to the Iraq War, we find ourselves in the middle of the most challenging crisis of our time...again. Failure to overcome the Anti-America, Anti-Semite, and Anti-Freedom Islamo-Fascist movement could very well be the end of the United States as we know it.

Political shortsightedness is probably the biggest factor that is hurting our chances of winning this war and if it were not for the adamant stubbornness of George W. Bush, the democratically-elected Commander-in-Chief of the United States, and his administration, we probably would have already lost the war. What makes this even worse is that the Democrats are playing politics with this war. Since being kicked out of power, we have witnessed some of the worst ad hominem fallacies in our political history, and there appears to be no end in sight.

Why do I say this war is being played as politics? Because I'm a member of the quote/unquote "Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy"? No. Listen to the statements. Listen to the rhetoric being used. Rather than supporting the troops and giving their commander a chance, the tone the Dems are using portray a message that we should not have ever invaded Iraq, which they voted to authorize, and now we're stuck in an impossible-to-win situation, despite the progress the new U.S. Commander in Iraq, David Petraeus, reports to us. This may not sound too new to our older audience.

Vietnam. Vietnam is often used by both sides of the political spectrum. This goes back to the theme I mentioned earlier: History repeats itself. Comparisons can be made that show some shocking similarities between the Civil War, World War II, Vietnam, and the Iraq War. If our newly elected leaders do anything at all, it had better be to remember history. Those who use defeat in Vietnam as an excuse to leave Iraq are just wrong. Rather than taking a look from the perspective that Iraq is turning into Vietnam, we should take every opportunity to correct the mistakes that we made then so that we CAN now. There were efforts made then that seem to be coming up now. The resolutions being sought after by the Democrats are not too different from those passed during the Vietnam Era. What happened then?

The situation in Vietnam was bad, but securing the independence of South Vietnam wasn't very far out of reach. But no! The war wasn't winnable, the Democratic Congress said. Starting with showing their displeasure to the war, the opposition continued to go through resolution after resolution until "peace with honor” wasn’t possible. They cut off funding, which they are proposing to do now, despite the fact that situation was beginning to turn around and victory was at hand. They ordered all troops back home by 1973, despite the fact that victory was at hand. They cut off all military support to the South Vietnamese, no matter what the reason, despite the fact that victory was at hand. Sound familiar?

Iraq, as the President has admitted, has had some mistakes. But it is not a "debacle". President Bush announced his new plan in January. David Petraeus said he would need until summer of this year to tell if it would work, but he reports signs of significant progress. Violence in Baghdad is down, and the Iraqis are stepping up and taking control...so much for those who say more Americans would lead to the Iraqis becoming more lazy. Yet the House has passed a nonbinding resolution condemning this plan and if this progress continues, politically-speaking the Democrats have made a huge miscalculation and they will not keep that which they have struggled for over a decade to regain. Their continued use of restrictive language isn't helping anyone. If they continue, they WILL create another Vietnam.

Passing a War Spending Bill loaded down with pork and a timeline doesn't help either. Congress knows President Bush is going to veto the bill, yet they continued to press on with it. Why? So the President wouldn't have the funds he needs to keep the well-thought out strategy running its course and to hurt his and the Republican Party's image. So they can win the White House in 2008.

I don't have the time to go into the Civil War and World War II today, so I will continue this next week. But remember, defeat is not imminent. Defeat is not acceptable. Our Congress must remember this. History does not repeat itself so the same mistakes can be made twice. Mistakes are made to be corrected.

~The CreepyNerd

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