Tag Archives: War

A British journalist assesses the significance of Memorial Day in America

Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington National Cemetery

Timothy Stanley writing in the UK Telegraph.

Excerpt:

The apparent paradox of ignoble sacrifice can be resolved by considering what Americans actually fight for. The USA is unique in that it was founded on an idea. That’s why I’ve headlined this piece with the controversial statement that it’s the “greatest country in the world.” To qualify: Britain is clearly God’s garden, but it belongs only to the British. America, because it is founded on the universal principle of free will,belongs to humanity. It can assimilate any individual, family or entire culture because the principle is so much more powerful than the nationality of the person who integrates into it. As a Briton living in America – even without being a citizen – I feel more American than British on the strength of enjoying free speech, a free market, the free exchange of ideas, freedom of faith. Most importantly, I am unencumbered by the European poison of class. In the US, folks are defined by the content of their individual character, not what their ma and pa did for a living. If they want to become a nun and feed the poor, they can. If they want to become Donald Trump and screw the poor, they can do that, too. The Americans leave judgement to God.

[…]…American imperialism is unlike any other. The Europeans came to exploit, then they built a cultural edifice upon the wasteland. The Americans, by contrast, have rarely physically stayed anywhere very long. The US went through a period of European colonialism in the late 19th century, but the goal of Korea, Vietnam or even Iraq was to create a democratic state that could defend itself. America has tirelessly pursued dialogue with countries that have been determined to destroy it (Maoist China, the Soviet Union); it ended the Cold War without firing a single shot. Given their reputation for being gung-ho, one of the greatest virtues of the American people is their patience. And throughout it all, there’s always been a vocal opposition at home that reminds the soldiers of the precious freedoms for which they fight. For all the wrong reasons, Richard Nixon was right when he said “[Our enemies] cannot defeat or humiliate the United States. Only Americans can do that.”

But my need to understand the strange pride that even I – a foreigner – feel when I walk among the graves at Arlington is, ultimately, redundant. On days like Memorial Day, a civilian has to just shut up and stand in silence – an act of respect for the giants in the earth, and for the great country that made them. God bless America.

Everyone can be an American in spirit. You just have to honor American heroes for their sacrifices.

Friday night movie: The Guns of Navarone (1961)

IMDB rating: [7.6/10]

Description:

Two powerful German guns control the seas past the Greek island of Navarone making the evacuation of endangered British troops on a neighboring island impossible. Air attack is useless so a team of six Allied and Greek soldiers is put ashore to meet up with partisans to try and dynamite the guns. The mission is perilous enough anyway but are the Germans on the island getting further help too?

Sorry about the annoying subtitles. Also, note that this movie is using American vehicles instead of German vehicles for the tanks and armored cars. They used American M8 Greyhound armored cars instead of German Sd. Kfz. armored cars or even half tracks. Worse than that, they use American M24 Chaffee light tanks instead of Panzer IIIs, Panzer IVs or even Tigers. Very annoying!!!! The Stuka dive bombers were real, though. Oh, well.

Happy Friday!

Related posts

Should Barack Obama get credit for killing Osama Bin Laden?

I’ve written before about how George W. Bush deserves credit for the termination of that terrorist vermin.

But there are a couple of other data points to add that recently emerged, as well.

First, the decision on the Bin Laden raid was made by the American Armed Forces, not by Barack Obama, as a newly released memo reveals.

Second, Obama had already drafted a memo to blame the military if the operation failed.

In fact, Obama has weakening our counter-terrorism and defense capabilities from the day he took office.

Excerpt:

Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, called the president’s victory lap in Afghanistan on the anniversary of the death of Osama bin Laden at the hands of the Navy SEALs “an attempt to shore up his national security credentials, because he has spent the past three years gutting our military.”

Indeed he has. “He cut the F-22, future combat system, C-17 and our ground-based interceptor in Poland, to name a few,” Inhofe noted.

[…]President Obama’s defense policies fulfill a campaign pledge he made to the far-left group Caucus for Priorities a month before the January 2008 Iowa caucuses. Caucus for Priorities is an offshoot of a bigger group, Priorities Action Fund, created by Ben Cohen, the peace activist and co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream.

In a video made for the group, Obama called for a further deterioration in our military strength.

“I will cut investments in unproven missile defense systems. I will not weaponize space. I will slow our development of future combat systems,” he said.

So far, he has kept his word.

In the video, he also vowed, “I will set a goal of a world without nuclear weapons. To seek that goal, I will not develop new nuclear weapons, I will seek a global ban on the production of fissile material and I will negotiate with Russia to take our ICBMs off hair-trigger alert, and to achieve deep cuts in our nuclear arsenals.”

He has kept that promise as well.

As the Heritage Foundation notes, since Obama took office, over 50 major weapons programs of more than $300 billion have been cut or delayed.

Obama, who betrayed Poland and Czechoslovakia on missile defense and shut down key weapon systems like the F-22 Raptor, has vowed to veto any changes to the mandated cuts, including $650 billion from defense as called for by the Budget Control Act over the next decade.

That comes on top of $460 billion in defense cuts already agreed to — a total of $1.1 trillion in defense cuts our commander in chief is OK with.

A 14-page analysis by the Republican majority staff of the House Armed Services Committee says the cumulative cuts will result in Army and Marine Corps losing 200,000 troops.

The Navy will shrink from 300 ships to 238 vessels and would lose two carrier battle groups needed to project American power and influence. Strategic bombers will fall from 153 to 101. Air Force fighters would drop by more than half, from 3,602 aircraft to 1,512 planes. These are real cuts, both in spending and in military capability.

In fact, the main priority of the Obama administration seems to be redirecting the U.S. military to fight global warming intervening in favor of South American socialist dictators, dismantling our nuclear arsenal, allowing Iranian Islamists to rig elections and shoot pro-democracy protesters, giving drone technology to the Iranians,  setting up the the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and Libya, and handing over the keys to our European missile defense system to the Russians.

This is not the full list of how this man has been a disaster for world peace and national security. And it is a list that is ignored by hist supporters who think with their emotions and who have their hands out for more of their share of their neighbor’s earnings.