|
THE NORMANDY QUAGMIRE
Courtesy of Edward L. Daley
June 02, 2004
By I. N. Tanswer - June 9, 1944
Tuesday's invasion of the European continent by primarily American and British forces may go down in history as the biggest military blunder of all time. The presumptuousness of the invasion's name alone, "Operation Overlord", should have been our first clue as to the state of mind of the people who concocted this foolhardy and now obviously disastrous scheme. As the number of casualties continues to rise, with estimates approaching 50,000 dead and 240,000 wounded, many patriotic Americans are forced to ask if Mr. Roosevelt's preemptive war against the people of Germany has been worth the cost of so many innocent young lives.
Ever since the December 7, 1941 "surprise attack" on the American-occupied Hawaiian naval base at Pearl Harbor, administration officials and their xenophobic supporters have been itching to rattle their sabers of imperialism at the sovereign nation of Germany. While it can at least be argued that striking back at the Japanese Empire was a reasonable response to the regrettable events of that winter's day two and a half years ago, one is hard-pressed to find any justification for this most recent act of aggression. To this day, no link between Chancellor Hitler and 12/7 can be found, yet in spite of this fact, Roosevelt has persisted in his unilateralist quest to overthrow the National Socialist regime in Berlin.
With international support for his war deteriorating, particularly in central Europe, the Philippines and various South American nations, Roosevelt is now faced with the prospect of losing popular support here at home. The shocking miscalculations which have lead to the appalling loss of American lives on the beaches of western France earlier this week may stand as a monument to this administration's ill-conceived foreign policy initiatives and knee-jerk, reactionary mentality. But will such developments dissuade Mr. Roosevelt from advancing his plans for conquest?
While questions concerning what exactly Mr. Roosevelt knew about the Pearl Harbor attack prior to December 7 still swirl about the Capitol like a political tornado, new inquiries into the lack of U.S. military preparedness at the onset of the conflict are now being conducted on the Hill. A Tavistock poll released last week found that a growing minority of Americans doubts that the president had no inkling an attack was imminent, in spite of his proclamations to the contrary. Although a Japanese ambassador delivered a formal message to his administration just before the assault took place, expressing that it was "useless" to continue down any diplomatic road with the U.S., FDR continues to stand by his assertion that the event took him completely by surprise. The message "contained no threat or hint of war or armed attack", insisted Roosevelt, yet many question the veracity of this claim.
New York Congressman Hamilton Fish III has stated that "We were forced into the war" by Roosevelt, and that he is responsible for "the biggest cover-up ever perpetrated in the United States of America." Such accusations continue to deal fierce blows to the president's integrity, and while the full scope of the horrific military debacle in Europe has yet to be fully realized by the American people, it seems clear that recent calls for Roosevelt's impeachment by some of his political opponents will be taken all the more seriously in the coming months.
Jessie Wallace Hughan, founder of the 'War Resisters League' once said "War, rather than any foreign state, is the supreme enemy of country and mankind. One day citizens will covet for this nation the prestige of being the first to escape the shackles of war." In my humble estimation, Ms. Hughan could not have been more accurate in her assessment of so vile and destructive an undertaking as the one into which our Commander in Chief has cast us. Perhaps one day future generations of Americans will come to embrace the wisdom inherent in her words, and avoid the folly of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's recent actions. Only time will tell I suppose.
Meanwhile, the senseless carnage continues at the water's edge on beaches with nicknames like Omaha and Utah, and the blood of our children will mark the pages of this darkened chapter in the great American history book evermore. The belligerence of the Roosevelt administration, which has induced our brave soldiers to die by the tens of thousands in these and other far away places, is unparalleled in modern times, and leads this reporter to wonder if, perhaps, our nation's honor has not just been surrendered to the forces of arrogance and stupidity forever.
|
