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‘I Didn't Have an Answer'

Submitted by Claude Bogardus, May 11, 2007 09:21

America is involved in the Middle East as the result of the long ago actions of two Democrat Presidents. When President Franklin Roosevelt was returning from the 1943 grand summit's political discussions in Tehran with Stalin, he met on board a United States Cruiser in the Red Sea with Saudi Arabia's ibn Saud, whom he promised American protection in exchange for petroleum concessions. When Israel declared its inception as a sovereign state in May, 1948 , President Truman, against the stated wishes of Secretary of State Marshall, gave the new state de facto recognition, while Stalin concurrently recognized Israel de jure. Were the Presidential actions in the interests of the United States? Probably not, as today's Congressionally distorted hindsight shows us. Were they ethical? Most certainly. Those two actions by Democrat Presidents were the sticky strand that drew the United States into the entangling web of the rancid politics of that Region. America tried to walk away once after Saddam had been evicted from Kuwait by an American Armed Force designed to stave off the Red Army in Europe. As a result, the Iraqi peoples spent a long impoverished decade suffering the sanctions directed at Saddam, which had the effect of further destabilizing the Region. The present Gulf War (a mulligan campaign) must correct that failure to execute the strategic imperative. Else, the Region will come to resemble Germany during the Thirty Years War, and instead of petroleum, their corrosive politics will be the primary export. Indeed, today's senseless bickering in the United States Congress is only a mild taste of what we will experience if the United States Army fails to pacify the Region.

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Other reader comments on this article

Comment	By	Date
Thank you for this piece. [MORE]	Angela De Marco	May 15, 2007 13:55
I am sure Lincoln had better plans for America than to shed the blood of a whole generation, but shed... [MORE]	John Simpson	May 12, 2007 21:21
I hope that President Bush will take heart from the strength of President Lincoln and his rebuke of the Chicago... [MORE]	gordo	May 12, 2007 14:00
The proverbial nail must be smarting as it was hit right square on the head! [MORE]	Mike Dixon	May 12, 2007 12:30
Bush? Lincoln?? Please. [MORE]	Ken Bronfenbrenner	May 12, 2007 12:24
The comparison of the Iraqi invasion to the American Civil War would be a joke if we didn't have 3400-plus... [MORE]	Jeffrey Abelson	May 12, 2007 10:03
The U.S. needs to begin negotiations with our allies to reduce its troop levels throughout the world. Withdrawals of 25,000... [MORE]	howard lohmuller	May 12, 2007 09:26
The congressional people who went to the President to complain and attempt to placate some people in their districts thinking... [MORE]	Rogers Marshall	May 12, 2007 08:37
As the casualties in Iraq mount, many see this war as too costly to sustain. Yet drunk drivers kill more... [MORE]	Mike Slay	May 12, 2007 08:03
Mr Slay, I dont know if any one in your family/friends are in this war , and their relatives praying... [MORE]	NS	May 12, 2007 21:52
to compare Bush's little adventure in Iraq to the Civil War. Let's try to remember: This war was Bush/Cheney's desire; Saddam... [MORE]	NoOneYouKnow	May 17, 2007 15:02
Many Democrats like Hillary, Reid and Pelosi have called Iraq a distraction from the war against Al Qaeda. Yet Al... [MORE]	John SImpson	May 12, 2007 04:00
"If we do not have the will to stomach a prolonged war against our sworn mortal enemies in Iraq, how... [MORE]	NS	May 12, 2007 22:11
I remember 9-11 and how the destruction of New York was shown on television and our President George Bush visited... [MORE]	Gerry Hodges Hackley	May 12, 2007 00:44
Thank you New York Sun for the magnificant editorial. You restore my faith in journalist excellence which is so terribly... [MORE]	Lynn Campbell	May 11, 2007 22:12
Beautifully to the point. Thank you. [MORE]	KL duPre'	May 11, 2007 21:49
I am getting an online subscription with the Sun today simply because of this editorial. It is the best I... [MORE]	David Kleykamp	May 11, 2007 21:30
...is that Wendt and Medill were honorable men. The same cannot be said of those who were all for the... [MORE]	John Clifford	May 11, 2007 21:22
Such a nonsensical comparison. This war is lost because the American people have no desire to sacrifce anything. We don't... [MORE]	Rick Schwag	May 11, 2007 20:29
50 years from now, when nobody remembers the NY Times, another visage will be right there alongside Lincoln. And it... [MORE]	sherlock	May 11, 2007 20:10
The Sun may think it doesn't matter who the "pleaders" are, but the fact is that while Lincoln may have... [MORE]	Michael Wilkerson	May 11, 2007 17:38
More than a lesson from history, as Mr. Kane suggests, this is a shining example of the position that circumstance... [MORE]	Edmundo Balderrama	May 11, 2007 16:37
SIMPLY BRILLIANT Great job....RCL [MORE]	Ralph Logan	May 11, 2007 15:49
Heart-wrenching because it is exactly the spot President Bush has been put into. [MORE]	helen benedict	May 11, 2007 16:46
History can help us make good decisions about our future and will help us have courage to fight the battle... [MORE]	roy crosby	May 11, 2007 15:00
Will people never look back at history? Bush is very courageous in the face of the nation's newspapers. Thank God... [MORE]	LEO KHANDJIAN	May 11, 2007 10:32
God bless president Lincoln and president Bush. May our current efforts be crowned with success. May the Iraqi people achieve... [MORE]	Doug Santo	May 11, 2007 10:16
I am disappointed and ashamed to admit that my representative from southeast Missouri is among those so-called "Republicans" who have... [MORE]	M. J. Slayton	May 11, 2007 09:48
requires a leap of imagination I doubt anyone posesses. [MORE]	gregdn	May 11, 2007 09:45
I find this article to be a good analogy of what is going on today. The press wields great power... [MORE]	Kim Baldinger	May 11, 2007 09:44
America is involved in the Middle East as the result of the long ago actions of two Democrat Presidents. When...	Claude Bogardus	May 11, 2007 09:21
I sure wish President Bush and other Bush suppoters would get this point across to those that think leaving Iraq... [MORE]	James Robbins	May 11, 2007 09:18
I understand the direction of this article, however, I also understand we live in a far different world than that... [MORE]	RJ	May 11, 2007 08:50
Author(s) are to be commended for their knowledge of history and its direct applicability to the lily-livered, weak-kneed, traitorous Congresscritters... [MORE]	Kevin Coughlin	May 11, 2007 08:41
We are there and we have to finish the job..there is an old expression.."When the going gets tough, the tough... [MORE]	Robert Royce	May 14, 2007 14:23
If the (some) republicans think that president Bush has lost support from the majority of the voting republicans and force... [MORE]	Armando Lopez	May 11, 2007 08:08
What a great story out of history. I have read a great deal about the Civil War and never came... [MORE]	joseph Kane	May 11, 2007 02:38

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