Blog For Arizona

I knew WWII, and I can tell you, this war is no WWII...

Bush, attempting wrap Iraq in the sentimental aura of WWII's righteousness, has attempted to draw a connection between the 'Good War' and the 'War on Terror', of which Iraq is claimed to be the central front. Such an analogy is an affront to the the soldiers of today, and of that distant war. It is only a matter of time before Bush manages to alienate WWII vets even more than hundreds of millions of cuts to verteran's benefits have already. Let's look at the real contrasts- WWII on the right, Iraq on the left:

World divided between us and them vs. World divided between us and everyone else;

America is loved by its allies vs. America is feared by its allies;

Fighting some of the most powerful fully-industrialized nations on earth vs. Fighting a single, backward, de-industrialized basket case of a nation and a bunch of religiously insane bomb-throwers;

A draft shares the burden among all Americans vs. The volunteer army and stop-loss orders place all the burden on a few;

We raised taxes to pay for everything equitably vs. We are mugging our children to pay for everything, including huge tax cuts for the wealthy;

There was a broad consensus about war aims vs. There is no consensus about what the war aims for;

We were repeatedly attacked and provoked into war vs. We attacked pre-emptively;

Our people were killed in a sneak attack, and we struck back at the killers vs. Our people were killed in a sneak attact, and we struck back, but not at the killers;

Soldiers and all Americans look back at the war with pride as a national accomplishment vs. Soldiers and all Americans will look back at the war with shame for having participated in a national travesty;

We had a President who knew how lead vs. We have a Resident who knows how lie;

We rebuilt nations with no thought for personal gain vs. The rebuilding is all about what’s in it for American corporations;

Where is the similarity? Here's a few of them:

We put the Japanese in internment camps vs. We put muslims in internment camps.

The Nazis tortured and humiliated their prisoners of war vs. We tortured and humiliated our prisoners of war.

The Nazi's indiscriminately murdered occupied civilians to no military purpose vs. We indiscriminately murder Iraqi occupied civilians to no military purpose.

They called it Blitzkreig vs. We call it Shock and Awe.

Saddam's Killing Fields vs. Nazi Killing Fields vs. American Killing Fields;

History has a hideous way of repeating itself, simply because people never learn a damn thing from it.

posted by Michael Bryan @ 6/03/2004 07:15:00 PM