World War Two and Iraq

After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor until 1943 fear and pessimism were rampant among the Military and general public. Troops were rushed to the West Coast as the Military and Public waited for an expected Japanese Invasion.

During the time before the Battle of Midway the Japanese conquered the Philippines, the Dutch oil producing colonies, the American territories of Guam, Wake Island, and threatened Australia. The progress of the war looked bleak.

This hysteria brought about the arrest of some Americans of German and Italian decent and the Interment of more than a hundred thousand ethnic Japanese American citizens.
Today this situation would have lead to outcries from the Public and Congress to negotiate an end of the war. This was the hope of the Japanese High Command, who knew in the long run they could not win.

Fortunately the public was so angered by the sneak attack, anyone proposing that course of action probably would have been lynched.

That time is analogous to the situation in Iraq today. This War is not going as well as the Administration predicted. The American Public, bombarded by a tsunami of propaganda against the Iraq Invasion by the Bush haters and Politicians seeing an opportunity to enhance their reputations, have turned against the attempt to bring a semblance of Democracy to that woe begotten land.

Much of the opposition charges that Bush and Vice President Cheney lied about the presence of Weapons of Mass Destruction to launch us into an illegal war. This ignores that every intelligence service of note across the world believed that Saddam had WMD. The list included The United Nations, British, German, Russian, Israeli and Egyptian agencies. Just before the invasion Egypt warned the Bush Administration to expect attacks from Iraqi Chemical and Biological weapons.

American political opposition to the invasion has emboldened the Jihadists and frightened Iraqi Citizens into forming Militias. Fanatics are using the turmoil to foment fighting between the Sunni and Shiite sects of Islam in a successful effort to start a civil war.

Many of these problems can be attributed to the failure of President Bush to explain to the American Public the cost of invading Iraq. The Administration ignored the realities of the occupation, which would take up to a decade to be successful, Instead they presented the "Rosy Scenario" of a quick elimination of Saddam, followed by a rush to democracy by people who had no experience with self rule.

The bottom line is we liberated more than thirty million people from an oppressive Dictator who Raped and Murdered his own people and neighbors at will. That not a bad outcome.