January 09, 2004
WRONG IN SO MANY WAYS
Charles Krauthammer quotes Howard Dean:
One of the attacks they don't bring up very often anymore is the Saddam Hussein thing, that it's not safer since Saddam Hussein's been captured -- because we now have 23 troops killed and we're having fighter planes escorting passenger jets through American airspace. I noticed that line of attack disappeared fairly quickly.
Contented little dude, isn’t he? Krauthammer sets Dean straight.
Posted by Tim Blair at January 9, 2004 10:53 PMWhich, sadly, only goes to show that these folks (if they believe this tripe) have no real understanding of history.
Despite the victory at Stalingrad (generally viewed as the turning point of the Eastern Front, if not THE turning point of the War in Europe), the USSR not only continued to lose troops, but entire campaigns. IIRC, efforts to seize Kharkov failed miserably, despite the presence of such luminaries as Zhukov.
Indeed, it was not until Kursk that the Germans were effectively prevented from launching operational level counterattacks (and w/ press coverage these days, who would recognize this?).
Similarly, despite victory at Midway, US/Australian losses in New Guinea and in the waters around Guadalcanal were substantial---again, not until a full year later was the tide clearly running the other way.
I'm also glad Krauthammer mentioned the Battle of the Bulge. I've often wondered, given the way Tet was covered in '68, if we might not have had a negotiated settlement in Europe after the "Christmas Offensive" of '44.
Posted by: Dean at January 10, 2004 at 02:05 AMDon’t you get the feeling that what makes Dean day is when nine of his fellow countrymen are killed in Iraq?
Posted by: Simon at January 10, 2004 at 01:36 PMDean's right -- I felt much safer with Saddam in power...
Posted by: Jerry at January 10, 2004 at 02:31 PM