January 25, 2007
On the third page of this even-handed academic work (so even-handed it labeled President Bush as "war-mongering president" in the first paragraph of the post, but I digress) the author, Rick Perlstein, states:
...McGovern-Hatfield failed because of presidential intimidation, in the face of overwhelming public support. Nixon and Nixon surrogates pinioned legislators inclined to vote for it with the same old threats. A surviving document recording the talking points had them say they would be giving "aid and comfort" to an enemy seeking to "kill more Americans," and, yes, "stab our men in the back," and "must assume responsibility for all subsequent deaths" if they succeeded in "tying the president's hands through a Congressional Appropriations route."But isn't that interesting: There wouldn't have been subsequent deaths if they had had the fortitude to stand up to the threats.
What Perlstein means, of course, is that there wouldn't have been subsequent American deaths if liberal doves had forced an earlier withdraw from southeast Asia.
There are a number of deaths--just a few-- that Perlstein doesn't address that occurred after we ceded southeast Asia to communism.
These skulls represent just a few of the estimated 1.7-3.0 million Cambodians who died on Pol Pot's killing fields. 165,000 perished in Vietnamese "re-education camps" after doves forced our withdrawal, and South Vietnam collapsed. Millions more fled the country in fear for their lives. The mass exodus gave birth to the term "boat people," as a description of the resulting international humanitarian crisis.
Perlstein advocates today's liberal doves to follow the strategies of their past, even though those policies resulted in the murder of millions and the displacement of millions more.
How many more Iraqis may die as a result of the near-term withdrawal from Iraq that Perlstein and other doves desire? How many Iraqis can and will flee?
What kind of failed nation-state would remain? How many more Muslims would be wooed to the cause of Jihad as they see America defeated?
Perlstein and his fellow doves refuse to look that far down the road, in either direction. To defeat a "war-mongering president" and teach America a lesson, the sacrifices are worth it... just so long as those sacrificed aren't Americans.
Posted by: Confederate Yankee at
07:19 AM
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Posted by: Actual at January 25, 2007 07:54 AM (wthW1)
Posted by: CoRev at January 25, 2007 09:19 AM (Hr52v)
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