What Would Patton Say About the Present War?

Hillsdale College,IMPRIMIS ^ | 10-7-2004 | Victor Davis Hanson

[Dallas59]

Communists have taken over America.

[kingattax]

[TexasCajun]

"...Them Dirty Bastards!"

[cripplecreek]

I believe he would simply say "Nuke em".

[dmz]

Give me a division of men and a bunch of tanks and I'll take care of the problem.

[2banana]

Patton would have executed the terrorists on the spot and bombed any buildings that were being used for military purposes - including mosques.

[kingattax]

PING

[pabianice]

"Damn it! We're going to have to fight these bastards sooner or later! Why not do it now, when we have the men and material here to do it with?"

-- Patton speaking to a fellow flag officer about the Russians after the surrender of Germany

[JIM O]

He would not have said anything, Ted Kennedy would have him up on charges for slapping that solider and John Kerry would be claiming Patton ordered him to commit atrocities in Vietnam.

[roadrunner96]

I think, the most important part of the story.

A modern Patton would not be bothered by such inconsistency. Rather he would make sure that he had not only defeated the terrorists and their supporters, but had done so in such damaging fashion that none in the Middle East might find such a repugnant cause at all romantic, bringing as it did utter ruin as the wage of the wrath of the United States.

[Ueriah]

Patton - A great man, the likes of which are sorely needed today.

[ZULU]

GREAT PIECE!!!

GREAT READ!!!

God bless you General Patton, wherever you are, we really could use you now.

Too bad he didn't wind up in the White House instead of that Third Rate Eisenhower. The "Iron Curtain" would have crashed much sooner.

[CJacobs]

A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week.

A piece of spaghetti or a military unit can only be led from the front end.

A pint of sweat, saves a gallon of blood.

Accept the challenges so that you can feel the exhilaration of victory.

All very successful commanders are prima donnas and must be so treated.

Always do everything you ask of those you command.

Americans love to fight. All real Americans love the sting of battle.

Americans play to win at all times. I wouldn't give a hoot and hell for a man who lost and laughed. That's why Americans have never lost nor ever lose a war.

Battle is an orgy of disorder.

Battle is the most magnificent competition in which a human being can indulge. It brings out all that is best; it removes all that is base. All men are afraid in battle. The coward is the one who lets his fear overcome his sense of duty. Duty is the essence of manhood.

Better to fight for something than live for nothing.

Courage is fear holding on a minute longer.

Do your damnedest in an ostentatious manner all the time.

Don't tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results.

I do not fear failure. I only fear the "slowing up" of the engine inside of me which is pounding, saying, "Keep going, someone must be on top, why not you?"

I don't measure a man's success by how high he climbs but how high he bounces when he hits bottom.

If a man does his best, what else is there?

If a man has done his best, what else is there?

If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn't thinking.

If we take the generally accepted definition of bravery as a quality which knows no fear, I have never seen a brave man. All men are frightened. The more intelligent they are, the more they are frightened.

If you tell people where to go, but not how to get there, you'll be amazed at the results.

It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.

Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.

No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country.

Nobody ever defended anything successfully, there is only attack and attack and attack some more.

Prepare for the unknown by studying how others in the past have coped with the unforeseeable and the unpredictable.

Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom.

Take calculated risks. That is quite different from being rash.

The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.

The test of success is not what you do when you are on top. Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom.

The time to take counsel of your fears is before you make an important battle decision. That's the time to listen to every fear you can imagine! When you have collected all the facts and fears and made your decision, turn off all your fears and go ahead!

There is a time to take counsel of your fears, and there is a time to never listen to any fear.

There is only one sort of discipline, perfect discipline.

Untutored courage is useless in the face of educated bullets.

Wars may be fought with weapons, but they are won by men. It is the spirit of men who follow and of the man who leads that gains the victory.

Watch what people are cynical about, and one can often discover what they lack.

We herd sheep, we drive cattle, we lead people. Lead me, follow me, or get out of my way.

You need to overcome the tug of people against you as you reach for high goals.

[longfellow]

[Mr. D]

My alma mater, a conservative bastion in a web of liberal universities and colleges that litter our country! Hillsdale College accepts no Federal funds at all. Never has never will!

[Bronco_Buster_FweetHyagh]

Patton would say...

"Mr. President, I need gas and ammo. We've got the troops on the ground, sitting around playing police man, and meanwhile Iran is just 48 hours away. Let's invade IRAN while we're here, because we're going to have to do it within the next 15 years anyways. Let the IRAQis police their own damn territory."

[aft_lizard]

That would be MacArthur.

[dfwgator]

"Damn it! We're going to have to fight these bastards sooner or later! Why not do it now, when we have the men and material here to do it with?"

That's exactly what I would say regarding the Syrians and Iranians.

[TFine80]

Remember what Patton's son said about Kerry:

Washington Post, p. C1 | October 21, 1984

Gen. George S. Patton III, the flamboyant field commander ... came to Boston to blast Kerry for "probably" causing "some of my guys to get killed" by his dissidence. "There's no soap ever been invented that can wash that blood off his hands."

Patton also said that Kerry was, according to the New York Times, (The New York Times -- October 30, 1984 -- p. A23) "a Communist sympathizer guilty of 'near-treasonous activity' in the Vietnam War."