Army Staff College History Professor On The War

Infantryman71: May 1, 2011 12:05 p.m.

Having taught graduate history for a number of years to mid-level and senior officers at the Army's staff college, I find that those who criticize the Confederacy and Confederates do so not out of reasonable convictions, but total ignorance. Many recent polls (USA Today, Pew, etc.) consistently show that most Americans (not "many" but "most") with a college education have only a nominal understanding of our own history.

This results in emotional arguments based on "sound bytes" of historical knowledge. As an example, one of the surveys asked what caused WWII and a large number of responses cite "the attack on Pearl Harbor". Really? That caused the war? What a simplistic and gross misunderstanding of history. The same can be applied to the Civil War when people claim that "slavery" was "the cause". If that is true, my examination of dozens of Union recruiting posters have yet to find one that encourages enlistment to free the slaves. They mostly state that men should join to "Save the Union" if they give a reason.

It is important to remember that not a single Confederate, including Jefferson Davis, was ever convicted of treason against the U.S. In fact, Chief Justice Taney warned Lincoln not to try the Confederates as the possibility of legal secession might well be validated. Taney was no pro-Confederate. He was a Lincoln appointee.

What I find fascinating is that the foreign officers I teach overwhelmingly consider the Confederates and their cause just and that of the Federal government unjust. They have no bias as we Americans do so their views as disinterested observers adds an interesting perspective to this argument. Consider what the commander of the Union Armies, General Grant, said: * I thought for a single minute that this war is being fought over slavery I would but turn in my sword and join the other side".

Wars are complex. Slavery was a contributing factor to the Civil War. Attributing the war's cause solely to slavery is intellectually dishonest and just plain ignorant. While the war was a terrible event, the people of the South sought remedy for a Federal government that they thought had over-stepped its bounds leaving no other remedy than by force-of-arms. The fact that they lost doesn't necessarily mean they were wrong as I tell my students in our Vietnam classes.

(*I have been unable to document this famous quote. BT)

Like rats deserting a sinking ship........

Hizballah is deserting the Assad regime, or at least hedging their bets. They are pulling all of their heavy missiles from Syrian safekeeping now that they believe he has a serious chance of being deposed. From Debka:

Last year, Syrian President Bashar Assad agreed to store Hizballah's incoming Iran-made Fatah-110 surface missiles and its Syrian equivalent the M-600 and the mobile SA-8 (Gecko) anti-air battery which holds 18 warheads with a maximum range of 12 kilometers. Tehran paid for the upkeep of the Hizballah hardware on Syrian side of the border after Israel threatened to bomb these potential game-changers if they crossed over.
Deployed at Hizballah bases in Lebanon, the Fatah-110 and M-600 would place almost every corner of Israel within range of bombardment, while the SA-8 would seriously restrict Israeli Air Force operations over southern Lebanon and Galilee.
However, as the uprising against Assad rolls ever closer to Damascus, Hizballah see a very real threat of it infecting the Syrian army and has decided that now might be its last chance to get hold of the core arsenal it has standing by for war with Israel before events get out of hand in Syria.

But as is always the case with all military operations, logistics is a bitch:

Guns, Cars and Girls in rural Virginia 1960

The county was forested, abutting on the Potomac River, with muddy Machodoc Creek, catfish rich—in that part of Virginia, three-quarters of a mile wide is a creek—emptying into the river. At sixteen we sailed along winding wooded roads at night in ailing jalopies that remembered compression as an octogenarian remember the ardors of youth. We had guns, fishing poles, deer and, blessedly, almost no adult supervision. We parked endlessly in the deep woods with the nicest girls on this or any other planet, and…again…no supervision! Adults assumed we had sense enough not to kill ourselves. Rather to our surprise, we did have it.

MSNBC correspondent accidentally tweets 'Obama' killed

In an attempt to release the news of Osama bin Laden’s death quickly late Sunday night, MSNBC correspondent Norah O’Donnell accidentally reported on Twitter that “Obama” had been “killed” instead.

“Obama shot and killed,” Norah O’Donnell posted on Twitter, citing NBC Chief Pentagon Correspondent Jim Miklaszewski as her source.

NCFIRE Alert

NCFIRE
North Carolinians For Immigration Reform and Enforcement
Secure Our Border-Enforce Our Laws
www.NCFIRE.info

1) NCFIRE directly calls upon the Speaker of the House, Representative Thom Tillis and the President Pro-Tempore of the Senate, Senator Phil Berger, to use their position and political influence, to move immigration enforcement legislation out of their respective committees. If these bills are not acted upon within the next couple of weeks, they will die and the desires of our citizens will have been ignored once again.

NCFIRE urges its' membership to contact these two elected officials and demand something be done.

Phil.Berger@ncleg.net
919-733-5708

Thom.Tillis@ncleg.net
919-733-3451


2) Also, The North Carolina Illegal Alien Crime Report has been posted for the month of April. 54 pages of continued death and destruction perpetrated upon the citizens of North Carolina by illegal aliens in our state. The report can be viewed here: www.ncfire.info/april2011.pdf

Enough is enough! It is time to put a stop to this insanity in our state.

James Johnson
President-NCFIRE
North Carolinians For Immigration Reform and Enforcement
www.NCFIRE.info
www.Facebook.com/NCFIRE
NCFIRE@ncfire.info
NCFIRE Hotline: 1-888-885-0879
cell # 910-286-3022

NC Vietnam Green Beret Finally Returns Home

Donald Monroe Shue

Sergeant First Class
MACV-SOG, 5TH SF GROUP, USARV

Shue was last seen alive in Laos in November 1969. He was with two other Special Forces soldiers and was wounded. At the time, Special Forces ran secret missions inside Laos and Cambodia, gathering intelligence on the North Vietnamese who were sneaking into South Vietnam through the Ho Chi Minh trail.

A few days after Shue went missing, two Green Berets visited her home. The family was devastated, but none more so than their father. He died two years later.

"I think he died of a broken heart," Jones said. "He just loved that boy."

The Coming Obamacare-driven Doctor Shortage

[W]e have already seen the start of this process in Massachusetts, where Mitt Romney’s health care reforms were nearly identical to President Obama’s. Romney’s reforms increased the demand for health care but did nothing to expand the supply of physicians. In fact, by cracking down on insurance premiums, Massachusetts pushed insurers to reduce their payments to providers, making it less worthwhile for doctors to expand their practices. As a result, the average wait to get an appointment with a doctor grew from 33 days to over 55 days.

Promising universal health coverage is easy. But what does universal coverage mean if you can’t actually see a doctor?

NRA Vows to Take Down Obama in 2012

The National Rifle Association is gearing up for a major campaign push to defeat President Barack Obama, who leaders say is just one Supreme Court justice away from a liberal majority that could sweep aside Second Amendment rights.

Christopher Cox, the executive director of the NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action, told attendees at the association’s annual gathering this weekend in Pittsburgh that the Supreme Court decided the landmark District of Columbia vs. Heller case by a vote of 5 to 4.

“What if he appoints just one more anti-gun justice to the U.S. Supreme Court and we go from one-vote victories to one-vote defeats for generations to come?” he told one audience. “My friends, praying for the health of five Supreme Court justices is not a strategy you want to stake your freedom on.”

Travel Alert Worldwide

The U.S. Department of State alerts U.S. citizens traveling and residing abroad to the enhanced potential for anti-American violence given recent counter-terrorism activity in Pakistan. Given the uncertainty and volatility of the current situation, U.S. citizens in areas where recent events could cause anti-American violence are strongly urged to limit their travel outside of their homes and hotels and avoid mass gatherings and demonstrations. U.S. citizens should stay current with media coverage of local events and be aware of their surroundings at all times. This Travel Alert expires August 1, 2011.

Man in the Door

Watch this in full screen, as it really makes a difference.



Via Tom
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Man In The Door