Victor Davis Hanson: Iraq war recalls past U.S. conflicts, controversies

jewishworldreview.com ^ | March 1, 2007 | Victor Davis Hanson

[Tolik]

Given all of this country's past wars involving intelligence failures, tactical and strategic blunders, congressional fights and popular anger at the president, Iraq and the rising furor over it are hardly unusual.

Imagine if the House of Representatives had debated a resolution to authorize the president's use of force in Iraq only after the bombs were already falling. And what if after the debate, in the middle of the war, with our troops already in combat, Congress had suddenly denied such approval?

That is precisely what happened to President Clinton during the Serbian war of 1999. Neither the Senate nor the House agreed to sanction the administration's ongoing preemptive bombing campaign against Serbia. That congressional rebuke prompted liberal commentator Mark Shields to scoff on "PBS Newshour" that American troops were "putting their life on the line, and (the Congress) are saying, we're not with you."

Or consider the national mood in 1968 when the United States suffered over 16,000 American dead in Vietnam (at that rate, we lost more troops in three months than we have during the entire four-year Iraqi war). In response, riots racked the country. Protestors stormed the Democratic Convention in Chicago. And a polarized country saw both Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. gunned down.

Nothing in Iraq comes close to the furor over Korea, either. ...<...snip...>

[Tolik]

    Victor Davis Hanson Ping ! 

       Let me know if you want in or out.

Links:    FR Index of his articles:  http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=victordavishanson 
            His website: http://victorhanson.com/    
                NRO archive: http://www.nationalreview.com/hanson/hanson-archive.asp
New Link!    http://victordavishanson.pajamasmedia.com/

[rellimpank]

--same article--different title--

--http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1793225/posts

[kellynla]

Of course Hanson has revealed the obvious but it certainly doesn't address the solution.
Sooner or later, we are going to have to give the Muslims the jihad they so desperately want... and this time we'll finish the job.

[Brad from Tennessee]

The Philippine Insurrection tied down U.S. troops from 1899 to 1913 fighting mostly Islamic jihadists whose suicidal ferocity was a factor in adopting the Colt .45 because of its knock-down power. The Philippine war was so unpopular that press censorship was imposed at times because the news media was depressing the U.S. public. Mark Twain was a leading antiwar celebrity at the time. Ultimately the U.S. military developed tactics to solve this complex war successfully.

Sound familiar?

[syriacus]

Nothing in Iraq comes close to the furor over Korea

Other differences between the wars...

A. Ten times as many Americans died in Korea in 30 months as died in Iraq in 30 months. (30,000 vs. less than 3,000)

B. Full wartime censorship was imposed on correspondents in Korea..

1.Correspondents were placed under jurisdiction of the army and were subject to courtmartial.
2. Correspondents could not criticize the Allied conduct of the War and could not send demoralizing dispatches
3.Correspondents could not quote officers or report casualties without authorization.
4.More regulations listed at the link above.

C. Thousands of young Americans were drafted to serve in Korea.

[Tolik]

He used to write different articles for NRO and his syndication, not to forget pajamasmedia blog. I guess he is tired somewhat, which is understandable giving the demand on him. Also, his articles were in NRO on Fridays and syndication on Thursday. Now it is less predictable. Oh, well...

[rellimpank]

--the more exposure he gets, the better---IMHO--

[The Pack Knight]

Excerpt: Since World War II, our intelligence agencies failed utterly to foresee the Chinese invasion of Korea, the Yom Kippur War, the fall of the Shah of Iran, the Russian invasion of Afghanistan, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the sudden spread of Islamic fundamentalism, the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, the Cambodian and Rwandan holocausts, and the acquisition of the bomb by Pakistan and North Korea.

Maybe the most important part of this article. But Bush "lied" when the same thing happened to him.

[oldbrowser]

We need a little more humility and knowledge of our past — and a lot less hysteria, name-calling and obsession with our present selves

This is the key sentence.