The Myths Used to Justify Iraq by Comparing it to Previous Wars

 A week ago I received the following email from one of my politically conservative friends.  Normally, I read these messages, chalk them up to a difference in opinion and just delete them.   But this time I realized the mistake that I have been making.   It's time to refute these invalid arguments and try to present the truth with as much civility as possible.

 

 Now for the record, I'm not a professional historian.  I just know how to research a topic.   So here goes.   Comments from the original email are in black.   My comments are in blue.  

 

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This is good. I had to pass this along.

 

THIS IS FABULOUS, NO MATTER WHAT POLITICAL PARTY YOU BACK UP,

SENATOR JOHN GLENN DESERVES A STANDING OVATION !!!!!!

 

Regardless of your political views, this certainly gives us all food

for thought. Sen. Glenn was so quick on his feet. When you speak

from the heart and with passion, you never know what comes out.

 

SENATOR JOHN GLENN SAID:

 

Things that make you think a little.......

 

1. There were 39 combat related killings in Iraq during the month

of January....In the fair city of Detroit there were 35 murders in

the month of January. That's just one American City , about as

deadly as the entire war torn country of Iraq .

 

 

It is true that there are many crime ridden urban areas in the US.  So wouldn't it make sense to use US tax dollars to reduce the urban wars in America as opposed to the civil war in Iraq

 

 

2. When some claim President Bush shouldn't have started this war,

state the following:

 

FDR...led us into World War II. Germany never attacked us: Japan did.

From 1941-1945, 450,000 lives were lost, an average of 112,500 per

year.

 

Yes the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor did precipitate America's intervention into WWII.  However, there were many Americans of that era that thought that the US should have intervened earlier to prevent the Jewish holocaust.  Germany did not directly attack the US but it had attacked our allies in France, England, Poland etc.   

 

At the start of the US/Iraq war there was no proof that Iraq had attacked the US or her allies. And while Saddam Hussein was a monster I don't believe that his actions had yet match the atrocities that occurred in Hitler's Germany.

 

 

Truman...finished that war and started one in Korea . North Korea never

attacked us. From 1950-1953, 55,000 lives were lost, an average of

18,334 per year.

 

 

John F. Kennedy....started the Vietnam conflict in 1962. Vietnam never

attacked us. Johnson...turned Vietnam into a quagmire. From 1965-1975,

58,000 lives were lost, an average of 5,800 per year.

 

 

US involvement in Viet Nam began under Democratic President Harry Turman during a period when Viet Nam was still a French teritory and continued under Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_United_States_and_the_Vietnam_War#Timeline:_Harry_S._Truman_and_Vietnam_.281945.E2.80.931953.29

 

As documented in Wikipedia:

"On July 27, 1964, 5,000 additional military advisors were ordered to South Vietnam, bringing the total U.S. troop level to 21,000. Shortly thereafter an incident occurred off the coast of North Vietnam that was destined to escalate the conflict to new levels and lead to the full Americanization of the war.

On the evening of August 4, 1964, the destroyer U.S.S. Maddox was conducting an electronic intelligence gathering mission four miles off the North Vietnamese coast when it was attacked by three torpedo boats of the North Vietnamese navy. Maddox was joined by aircraft from the aircraft-carrier U.S.S. Ticonderoga, and in the ensuing fire-fight they damaged two of the Vietnamese boats and disabled another. After being joined by another destroyer, the C. Turner Joy, both ships returned to 'fly the flag' in what the U.S. claimed were international waters. On the morning of the 4th, the Maddox reported the presence of hostile boats and believed that an attack might be imminent. By the evening, both ships believed they had been attacked by many North Vietnamese vessels, although it now appears that no such attack actually took place.^[6]"

 

Yes, Viet Nam was a quagmire.  I was in grade school during most of the war and remember the images on the nightly news.  So that makes me part of the generation that promised that it would never happen again.

 

 

Clinton ...went to war in Bosnia without UN or French consent, Bosnia

never attacked us. He was offered Osama bin Laden's head on a platter three

times by Sudan and did nothing. Osama has attacked us on multiple occasions.

 

 

True, Bosnia did not attack us.  We intervened in that nation to stop the ethnic cleansing.  As far as Clinton's actions in regard to Osama bin Laden I recommend that anyone read the following article

 

Could We Have Prevented 9/11?

Slate tells you what Richard Clarke's book reveals about the Bush and Clinton administrations' war on terror.

By Julia Turner
Posted Thursday, March 25, 2004, at 8:19 PM ET

http://www.slate.com/id/2097803/

 

 

 

3. In the two years since terrorists attacked us President Bush has

liberated two countries, crushed the Taliban, crippled al-Qaida, put nuclear

inspectors in Libya , Iran and North Korea without firing a shot, and captured a

terrorist who slaughtered 300,000 of his own people.

 

 

Liberated what two countries?  The Taliban is resurfacing in Afghanistan and Al Qaida is a long way from crippled.

 

 

The Democrats are complaining about how long the war is taking,

but...It took less time to take Iraq than it took Janet Reno to take the Branch

Davidian compound. That was a 51-day operation.

 

 

Have we taken Iraq?

 

We've been looking for evidence of chemical weapons in Iraq for less

time than it took Hillary Clinton to find the Rose Law Firm billing records.

 

It took less time for the 3rd Infantry Division and the Marines to

destroy the Medina Republican Guard than it took Ted Kennedy to call the police

after his Oldsmobile sank at Chappaquiddick killing a woman.

 

And of course when all else fails stoop to personal attacks on Hillary &  Ted.  That's being very civil isn't it?  A diversionary tactic used over and over and over and over …..

 

 

Wait, there's still more......................

 

Some people still don't understand why military personnel do what they

do for a living. This exchange between Senators John Glenn and Senator

Howard Metzenbaum is worth reading. Not only is it a pretty impressive

impromptu speech, but it's also a good example of one man's explanation of why

men and women in the armed services do what they do for a living. This is

a typical, though sad, example of what some who have never served think of our

military.

 

JOHN GLENN ON THE SENATE FLOOR

Date: Mon, 26 Jan 2004 11:13 Senator Howard Metzenbaum to Senator

Glenn:

"How can you run for Senate when you've never held a real job?"

 

Senator Glenn: "I served 23 years in the United States Marine Corps.

I served through two wars. I flew 149 missions.

My plane was hit by antiaircraft fire on 12 different occasions.

I was in the space program.

It wasn't my checkbook, Howard; it was my life that was on the line.

It was not a nine-to-five job, where I took time off to take the daily

cash receipts to the bank. I ask you to go with me ... as I went the other

day...

to a veteran's hospital and look those men - with their mangled bodies -

in the eye, and tell THEM they didn't hold a job!

You go with me to the Space Program at NASA and go, as I have gone, to the widows and orphans of Ed White, Gus Grissom and Roger Chaffee... and you look

those kids in the eye and tell them that their Dads didn't hold a job.

You go with me on Memorial Day and you stand in Arlington National

Cemetery, where I have more friends buried than I'd like to remember, and you

watch those waving flags. You stand there, and you think about this nation,

and you tell ME that those people didn't have a job?

I'll tell you, Howard Metzenbaum;

you should be on your knees every day of your life thanking God that

there were some men - SOME MEN - who held REAL jobs. And they required a

dedication to a purpose - and a love of country and a dedication to

duty that was more important than life itself. And their self-sacrifice is what

made this country possible.

 

I HAVE held a job, Howard! What about you?"

 

For those who don't remember - During W.W.II, Howard Metzenbaum was an

Attorney representing the Communist Party in the USA.

 

 If you can read this, thank a teacher... If you are reading it in English thank a Veteran.

 

 

Here's the truth behind this story as documented by Rich  Buhler of TruthorFiction.com  

 

"This exchange did take place but not on the floor of the Senate, but the wording of Glenn's words if fairly accurate.

 

It was during the campaign debate in 1974 when Metzenbaum was running for reelection and Glenn was challenging him. Glenn and Metzenbaum had also run against each other for the same seat four years earlier, a race that Metzenbaum had won.

 

A few days prior to the debate, Metzenbaum made a widely publicized statement that said that Glenn had never met a payroll (he didn't actually say that he'd never held a real job).

 

In other words, Glenn had been a military man not a businessman, like Metzenbaum, who had created a major newspaper and a nation-wide parking company.

 

Metzenbaum did not repeat that charge during the debate, but Glenn came prepared to respond to it and did it so powerfully that he also went on to win the election.

 

If Howard Metzenbaum represented the Communist party as an attorney during World War II, we have not found substantiation for that."

 

http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/g/glenn-metzenbaum.htm

 

 

Please keep this circulating.

 

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