Birthday Bonanza!

"I suggest that if you know history, then you might not be so easily fooled by the government when it tells you you must go to war for this or that reason -that history is a protective armor against being misled."

And of course today marks the anniversary of Japan’s attack on our Pacific fleet in Pearl Harbor. No doubt the airwaves will be saturated with the obligatorily vacuous 9-11 comparisons. But do not be fooled – if we sufficiently broaden the definition of attack to allow for the contrast, we must also include the leadership of the counter-response. Facing a legitimate threat, FDR swiftly secured and lead an international coalition to disarm the enemy – and nothing more. If Bush had followed Roosevelt’s lead after capturing Kabul, we could have maintained our vast international coalition, saved the lives of thousands of U.S. troops as well as hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, and staunched the recruitment and indoctrination of future terrorists. We needed a leader and we got an ideologue [1]. Where will it end? How much must we and our children undo [2]?