Le Sabot Post-Moderne

Get Some Perspective, Part III

Last week I wrote about the attempts by the Left to delegitimize the War in Iraq by magnifying a handful of wrong actions by our troops. It is profoundly stupid to imagine that even genuinely terrible things such as Abu Ghraib could outweigh the liberation of 25 million people.

I pointed out then that if you want to insist upon such a moral scale, then World War II must be revised in our memories as a truly horrid and immoral war, rather than as the 'last good war.'

I wanted to substantiate what I said in the last post about war crimes in WWII. Here is Stephen Ambrose on the Pacific Theater:

"From beginning to end the Japanese-American war in the Pacific was waged with a barbarism and race-hatred that was staggering in scope, savage almost beyond belief, and catastrophic in consequence. Each side regarded the other as subhuman vermin. . . Atrocities abounded, committed by individuals, by units, by entire armies, by governments. Quarter was neither asked nor given. It was a descent into hell." - Americans at War, page 125

As I said before:

"None of this is said to enoble some of the bad things which have been done during the Iraq War -- prison abuse, military obfuscation, etc. It is said to provide perspective, however.

More importantly, none of this is said to denigrate the service or accomplishments of the men who served in WWII. NOTHING EVER COULD. And that's the point. These incidents cannot detract from the honor due the overall war effort. These men saved millions of lives, rescued nations from a vicious dictator, and restored human rights to countless people.

Hey, that sounds a lot like our troops in Iraq."

Posted by Discoshaman at novembre 29, 2005 12:37 AM | TrackBack