Posted on 05/12/2004 1:37:12 PM PDT by DrDeb
Public opinion in America on the war in Iraq seems to be divided chiefly between those who think the cause is hopeless, and those who wonder why Iraq isn't Switzerland yet.
Those in the first group are further divided between those who think our cause is hopeless because we are undeserving (most prominent Democrats) and those who think it is hopeless because the Iraqis are undeserving (George Will, Richard Pipes).
Those in the second group tend to think that if we encounter any difficulties in Iraq, it has to be because some American (probably President Bush) was negligent.
Relatively few in our elites are those who recognize that what we are attempting in Iraq -- to build the first true democracy in the Arab world -- is both immensely difficult and immensely important. And -- given the difficulty of the task we face -- we're making respectable progress.
(Excerpt) Read more at jewishworldreview.com ...
NOTE: Many have asked me to identify the presidential election(s) that provides the best historical context for this year's election -- I agree with Kelly's assessment!
I also agree with the sentiment expressed in Kelly's concluding paragraph:
"Abraham Lincoln made mistakes during the Civil War. But the cause was just, and he had the courage and steadfastness to see it through. Our cause in Iraq is just, and vitally important. President Bush has the courage to see it through. Do we?"
We have lost less than 700 in the current war. I hope the numbers don't go too much higher, but these low numbers reflect an outstanding success.
I will send pat buchanan an e-mail through his website recommending it. He might find it refreshing to read something intelligent for a change.
It is a SLEEPER article that the left sure doesn't want people to see. TRUST ME!
Click on the link to read the whole thing. You won't be sorry.
I don't usually ping a lot of people to stuff, but I don't think you'll want to miss out on this one. It's that good. There were only 8 responses to it, so I know it was being missed. When you read it, you'll see why it is important people see it. Hope you don't mind the ping.
FRegards
It is a SLEEPER article that the left sure doesn't want people to see.
TRUST ME!
The United States Army lost 700 men in one day TRAINING for the Normandy landings when the weather turned on them and sank their landing craft!
I agree with Kelly as well that this election is shaping up to be most like the 1864 election. Like Lincoln, Bush is facing his toughest moments in the Spring before the election. And like the Democrats of today, the Democrats of 1864 hated Lincoln with a passion and used every "bad news" story from the front to rip both him and the war effort down. Many democrats -- The Copperheads -- totally opposed the war, sided with the enemy and provided either moral or in some cases tangable support for the Confederates. And like McClellan, the eventual Democrat candidate in 1864, Kerry is out of step with the vast majority of his own party in that he does not openly oppose the war effort (at least not to date) but instead snipes at how the administration is conducting it.The Price in Blood!
Casualties in the Civil WarAt least 618,000 Americans died in the Civil War, and some experts say the toll reached 700,000. The number that is most often quoted is 620,000. At any rate, these casualties exceed the nation's loss in all its other wars, from the Revolution through Vietnam.
The Union armies had from 2,500,000 to 2,750,000 men. Their losses, by the best estimates:
Battle deaths: 110,070 Disease, etc.: 250,152 Total 360,222 The Confederate strength, known less accurately because of missing records, was from 750,000 to 1,250,000. Its estimated losses:
Battle deaths: 94,000 Disease, etc.: 164,000 Total 258,000 The leading authority on casualties of the war, Thomas L. Livermore, admitting the handicap of poor records in some cases, studied 48 of the war's battles and concluded:
Of every 1,000 Federals in battle, 112 were wounded.
Of every 1,000 Confederates, 150 were hit.
Mortality was greater among Confederate wounded, because of inferior medical service. The great battles, in terms of their toll in dead, wounded, and missing is listed on this site:The Ten Costliest Battles of the Civil War.
Some of the great blood baths of the war came as Grant drove on Richmond in the spring of 1864- Confederate casualties are missing for this campaign, but were enormous. The Federal toll:
The Wilderness, May 5-7: 17,666 Spotsylvania, May 10 and 12: 10,920 Drewry's Bluff, May 12-16 4,160 Cold Harbor, June 1-3: 12,000 Petersburg, June 15-30 16,569 Source: http://www.civilwarhome.com/casualties.htm
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The biggest difference today is that it would appear that Bush is in a much stronger position than Lincoln was at this point in the 1864 election cycle. In May of 1864, few thought Lincoln had any chance of being reelected. He didn't think he had a chance and was doing all that he could to conclude the war and save the Union before he left office which in those days with the long transition period would not have been until March of 1865. Lincoln's fortunes did not brighten until Sherman took Atlanta in September, a stunning victory that all but broke the Confederacy and swung popular opinion back to Lincoln's side just in time for the election. Before Atlanta, he was not a popular president by any measure. Afterward, people began to consider him a great president and began to appreciate the moral dimension of the war.
I see no analogy between the sacrifice of the soldiers of the Confederacy and the terrorists of Al-Queda, and I don't consider Abraham Lincoln to have been a great President.
The Civil War was fought between Americans about their perception of rights, a far cry from the kind of war we're fighting today.
I go along with and applaud Kelly's castigation of the liberal Democrats, but I'll leave the Civil War out of my comparisons.
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