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	<title>Comments on: The Past Is Not Quite Past</title>
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		<title>By: SjB</title>
		<link>http://pjmedia.com/victordavishanson/the-past-is-not-quite-past/#comment-36534</link>
		<dc:creator>SjB</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sat, 03 Oct 2009 14:29:18 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://pajamasmedia.com/victordavishanson/?p=1357#comment-36534</guid>
		<description>There are many flaws that can be said of Obama, just like there are for all men. The main problem, as I see it, is that Obama is unfit to fill the office of President. He lacks the maturity, the knowledge, the experience, and the stomach for it. He lives in a La-La land that puts us all in danger.

As your article points out, Obama seems to think he can create his own reality and has no apparent regard for history. He seems to think he can manipulate human nature and remake it into his own image. He lacks any realistic appreciation for the numerous boundaries we must live within for our own good, the limitations of human knowledge and wisdom, the law of unintended consequences, the necessity of crafting careful, painstaking policy-making over time, the need for wise advisors, and unbelievably, doesn&#039;t appear to understand that real evil exists and that he can cripple or destroy this nation. 

We are in peril because we have a President who is unfit and who refuses to come down to earth and face reality. Instead of staying home and reading, learning, studying, and finding quality advisors, he&#039;s off spouting nonsensical irrelevant speeches all over the world. May God have mercy upon us.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>There are many flaws that can be said of Obama, just like there are for all men. The main problem, as I see it, is that Obama is unfit to fill the office of President. He lacks the maturity, the knowledge, the experience, and the stomach for it. He lives in a La-La land that puts us all in danger.</p>
<p>As your article points out, Obama seems to think he can create his own reality and has no apparent regard for history. He seems to think he can manipulate human nature and remake it into his own image. He lacks any realistic appreciation for the numerous boundaries we must live within for our own good, the limitations of human knowledge and wisdom, the law of unintended consequences, the necessity of crafting careful, painstaking policy-making over time, the need for wise advisors, and unbelievably, doesn&#8217;t appear to understand that real evil exists and that he can cripple or destroy this nation. </p>
<p>We are in peril because we have a President who is unfit and who refuses to come down to earth and face reality. Instead of staying home and reading, learning, studying, and finding quality advisors, he&#8217;s off spouting nonsensical irrelevant speeches all over the world. May God have mercy upon us.</p>
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		<title>By: Pete</title>
		<link>http://pjmedia.com/victordavishanson/the-past-is-not-quite-past/#comment-36378</link>
		<dc:creator>Pete</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 01 Oct 2009 05:28:40 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://pajamasmedia.com/victordavishanson/?p=1357#comment-36378</guid>
		<description>Dr. Hanson, RE: your comments on the achivements of the 1st MarDiv at Guadalcanal in summer/fall 1942, in many years of study of WWII, I have always regarded the Pacific War as one of the crowning achievements of that time. The Soviet military killed 7 or 8 (estimates vary) of every 10 Germans killed in battle, and probably could have defeated the Germans alone after 1943 and Kursk. However, no nation on Earth in the 1940s (perhaps not even today wage the kind of war we did in the Pacific, over the immense distances involved, and triumph as we did. Our supply lines were thousands of miles long, yet our troops, airmen, and sailors had the tools of war close at hand while those of Japan increasingly did not. Guadalcanal was a special triumph becuase our war production had not stepped up to later levels by that time, and the Marines went ashore poorly supplied; this was compounded by the fact that the US Navy fled the island under threat of Japanese attack, leaving the Marines without heavy construction eqpt., many of their rations, and much more. The USMC survived on captured Japanese rations, and used captured construction eqpt. until US gear arrived. The Cactus Airforce, flew out of shellpocked Henderson Field, under near-constant attack from Japanese air and naval forces, and at risk of being overrun by Imperial ground forces, against many times their number, in fighters inferior to the feared Japanese A6M Zero. Yet, they triumphed. 

The &quot;Old Breed&quot; of every service, not only the Marines, served as an experienced cadre of veterans, who supplied the necessary skeleton for the flesh of the vastly expanded wartime military. 

The armaments industry produced legendary designs, everything from the P-51 Mustang to the Higgins Boat, and Rosie the Riveter and her pals built them. In those days, inventors and engineers didn&#039;t need to file mountains of papers or talk to an army of lawyers first - if they saw the need, they built whatever was needed. Let the paperwork catch up later. Even flawed weapons systems - such as the M4 Sherman tank - had their virtues, and were built in such numbers that our foes could not keep up. 

The nation had a &quot;can do&quot; spirit then, and after the long depression, folks were ready to work their hardest... and did. There was a sense of shared responsibility, the idea that if you didn&#039;t build just one more gun, tank or plane, make just one more bullet or shell, you were condemning one of your countrymen to death on a foreign battlefield. &#039;

Our military, bureaucratic and slow-to-adapt in peacetime, became an innovative war-winner during WWII, thanks to leaders like Army Chief of Staff GC Marshall - who ruthlessly cut the dead wood in favor of performers. The &quot;get it done&quot; mentality of the common foot soldier was nowhere better exemplified than in SGT Curtis Cullen, who invented the hedgechopper - on the fly, under the pressure of expediency - to help break our forces out of the hedgerows in Normandy in summer 1944. 

&quot;Good-bye Darkness&quot; (William Manchester) and &quot;The Old Breed&quot; are two of the finest war-time memoirs ever written by enlisted Marines. 

I am not convinced that Obama and Co. are reading the history of the same nation I am, when they read these books, and others like them, not if his comments about our national history are an accurate indication. 

Instead of a nation determined to win its wars no matter what the cost, a nation where everyone pitched in, we have not a nation at war, only a military at war. The rest of us are told to go shopping. Times have changed and not for the better. 

----

Mirco, I saw that six Italians were killed in the line of duty in Afganistan, condolences andf many thanks for their sacrifice.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Dr. Hanson, RE: your comments on the achivements of the 1st MarDiv at Guadalcanal in summer/fall 1942, in many years of study of WWII, I have always regarded the Pacific War as one of the crowning achievements of that time. The Soviet military killed 7 or 8 (estimates vary) of every 10 Germans killed in battle, and probably could have defeated the Germans alone after 1943 and Kursk. However, no nation on Earth in the 1940s (perhaps not even today wage the kind of war we did in the Pacific, over the immense distances involved, and triumph as we did. Our supply lines were thousands of miles long, yet our troops, airmen, and sailors had the tools of war close at hand while those of Japan increasingly did not. Guadalcanal was a special triumph becuase our war production had not stepped up to later levels by that time, and the Marines went ashore poorly supplied; this was compounded by the fact that the US Navy fled the island under threat of Japanese attack, leaving the Marines without heavy construction eqpt., many of their rations, and much more. The USMC survived on captured Japanese rations, and used captured construction eqpt. until US gear arrived. The Cactus Airforce, flew out of shellpocked Henderson Field, under near-constant attack from Japanese air and naval forces, and at risk of being overrun by Imperial ground forces, against many times their number, in fighters inferior to the feared Japanese A6M Zero. Yet, they triumphed. </p>
<p>The &#8220;Old Breed&#8221; of every service, not only the Marines, served as an experienced cadre of veterans, who supplied the necessary skeleton for the flesh of the vastly expanded wartime military. </p>
<p>The armaments industry produced legendary designs, everything from the P-51 Mustang to the Higgins Boat, and Rosie the Riveter and her pals built them. In those days, inventors and engineers didn&#8217;t need to file mountains of papers or talk to an army of lawyers first &#8211; if they saw the need, they built whatever was needed. Let the paperwork catch up later. Even flawed weapons systems &#8211; such as the M4 Sherman tank &#8211; had their virtues, and were built in such numbers that our foes could not keep up. </p>
<p>The nation had a &#8220;can do&#8221; spirit then, and after the long depression, folks were ready to work their hardest&#8230; and did. There was a sense of shared responsibility, the idea that if you didn&#8217;t build just one more gun, tank or plane, make just one more bullet or shell, you were condemning one of your countrymen to death on a foreign battlefield. &#8216;</p>
<p>Our military, bureaucratic and slow-to-adapt in peacetime, became an innovative war-winner during WWII, thanks to leaders like Army Chief of Staff GC Marshall &#8211; who ruthlessly cut the dead wood in favor of performers. The &#8220;get it done&#8221; mentality of the common foot soldier was nowhere better exemplified than in SGT Curtis Cullen, who invented the hedgechopper &#8211; on the fly, under the pressure of expediency &#8211; to help break our forces out of the hedgerows in Normandy in summer 1944. </p>
<p>&#8220;Good-bye Darkness&#8221; (William Manchester) and &#8220;The Old Breed&#8221; are two of the finest war-time memoirs ever written by enlisted Marines. </p>
<p>I am not convinced that Obama and Co. are reading the history of the same nation I am, when they read these books, and others like them, not if his comments about our national history are an accurate indication. </p>
<p>Instead of a nation determined to win its wars no matter what the cost, a nation where everyone pitched in, we have not a nation at war, only a military at war. The rest of us are told to go shopping. Times have changed and not for the better. </p>
<p>&#8212;-</p>
<p>Mirco, I saw that six Italians were killed in the line of duty in Afganistan, condolences andf many thanks for their sacrifice.</p>
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		<title>By: Mirco</title>
		<link>http://pjmedia.com/victordavishanson/the-past-is-not-quite-past/#comment-36332</link>
		<dc:creator>Mirco</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 30 Sep 2009 21:11:38 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://pajamasmedia.com/victordavishanson/?p=1357#comment-36332</guid>
		<description>The correct citation is &quot;No Belgian or Italian would be willing to die for Kiev&quot; obviously.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The correct citation is &#8220;No Belgian or Italian would be willing to die for Kiev&#8221; obviously.</p>
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		<title>By: Mirco</title>
		<link>http://pjmedia.com/victordavishanson/the-past-is-not-quite-past/#comment-36330</link>
		<dc:creator>Mirco</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 30 Sep 2009 20:58:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://pajamasmedia.com/victordavishanson/?p=1357#comment-36330</guid>
		<description>&lt;blockquote&gt;Belgian or Italian would be willing to die for Kiev&lt;/blockquote&gt;
As Italian I find this offensive.
Italians already die for Kabul and stay there.
Italians died in Iraq also, and only the leftist Prodi take them back. The US did the same with Viet-Nam, when your leftists came to power in the 70s.
Scaring the Europeans is dangerous. Russia could scare us a few times. But it is totally dependent on the revenues of oil and gas. They scare us, they blackmail us with oil and gas, we start (are forced to) make up in other ways.
The EU military forces assembled are second only to the US forces and, maybe, a war could force the bureaucrats to lose control over the population (like happened to the Democrats during WW2).</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<blockquote><p>Belgian or Italian would be willing to die for Kiev</p></blockquote>
<p>As Italian I find this offensive.<br />
Italians already die for Kabul and stay there.<br />
Italians died in Iraq also, and only the leftist Prodi take them back. The US did the same with Viet-Nam, when your leftists came to power in the 70s.<br />
Scaring the Europeans is dangerous. Russia could scare us a few times. But it is totally dependent on the revenues of oil and gas. They scare us, they blackmail us with oil and gas, we start (are forced to) make up in other ways.<br />
The EU military forces assembled are second only to the US forces and, maybe, a war could force the bureaucrats to lose control over the population (like happened to the Democrats during WW2).</p>
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		<title>By: Paul from Hamburg</title>
		<link>http://pjmedia.com/victordavishanson/the-past-is-not-quite-past/#comment-36295</link>
		<dc:creator>Paul from Hamburg</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:44:13 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://pajamasmedia.com/victordavishanson/?p=1357#comment-36295</guid>
		<description>#70. &quot;You obviously think that Bush should have taken immediate action. Could you explain what this action ought to have been?&quot;.

I am sure biblio44 would agree that Bush should have rounded up Mohammed Atta, and lots of other Muslims, and detained them indefinitely.  That would have guaranteed that they would have been unable to attack the US.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>#70. &#8220;You obviously think that Bush should have taken immediate action. Could you explain what this action ought to have been?&#8221;.</p>
<p>I am sure biblio44 would agree that Bush should have rounded up Mohammed Atta, and lots of other Muslims, and detained them indefinitely.  That would have guaranteed that they would have been unable to attack the US.</p>
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		<title>By: Pajamas Media &#187; The Past is Not Quite Past</title>
		<link>http://pjmedia.com/victordavishanson/the-past-is-not-quite-past/#comment-36293</link>
		<dc:creator>Pajamas Media &#187; The Past is Not Quite Past</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:19:14 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://pajamasmedia.com/victordavishanson/?p=1357#comment-36293</guid>
		<description>[...] Read the rest of the story here. [...]</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>[...] Read the rest of the story here. [...]</p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>By: The Past Is Not Quite Past &#124; 1913 Intel</title>
		<link>http://pjmedia.com/victordavishanson/the-past-is-not-quite-past/#comment-36282</link>
		<dc:creator>The Past Is Not Quite Past &#124; 1913 Intel</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 30 Sep 2009 03:14:46 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://pajamasmedia.com/victordavishanson/?p=1357#comment-36282</guid>
		<description>[...] Works and Days » The Past Is Not Quite Past   google.load(&quot;elements&quot;, &quot;1&quot;, {packages: &quot;transliteration&quot;}); [...]</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>[...] Works and Days » The Past Is Not Quite Past   google.load(&quot;elements&quot;, &quot;1&quot;, {packages: &quot;transliteration&quot;}); [...]</p>
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		<title>By: Michael</title>
		<link>http://pjmedia.com/victordavishanson/the-past-is-not-quite-past/#comment-36281</link>
		<dc:creator>Michael</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 29 Sep 2009 18:49:03 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://pajamasmedia.com/victordavishanson/?p=1357#comment-36281</guid>
		<description>History is replete with countries trying to mollify dictators.  It has never worked.  There have been many examples of incremental sanctions against aggressors.  They have never worked.

Even familiarity isn&#039;t enough when history isn&#039;t studied.  Admiral Yamamoto was considered brilliant by not only the Japanese but also by the Americans. He spent some years in Washington and was known and liked by many government and military officials and he knew and liked America and Americans.

With all that he made the most catastrophic miscalculation of the war. He made that mistake because with all his brilliance and his familiarity with Americans he still completely misread the American character. He didn’t appreciate America’s history.

Yamamoto designed the Pearl Harbor attack and it worked pretty much as he expected. It also awakened a sleeping giant. No other thing in this world would have galvanized and launched America into total war as that one act did. He sealed the fate of Japan on the first day of the war.

Yes, history is important yet some that have replied to this article still minimize the worth of and need to remember it. I can only shake my head in wonder at some peoples reasoning skills.

Let me make it simple. One can only deal effectively with our nation’s friends and enemies by knowing their national and/or tribal culture. This is done by knowing their history. Period.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>History is replete with countries trying to mollify dictators.  It has never worked.  There have been many examples of incremental sanctions against aggressors.  They have never worked.</p>
<p>Even familiarity isn&#8217;t enough when history isn&#8217;t studied.  Admiral Yamamoto was considered brilliant by not only the Japanese but also by the Americans. He spent some years in Washington and was known and liked by many government and military officials and he knew and liked America and Americans.</p>
<p>With all that he made the most catastrophic miscalculation of the war. He made that mistake because with all his brilliance and his familiarity with Americans he still completely misread the American character. He didn’t appreciate America’s history.</p>
<p>Yamamoto designed the Pearl Harbor attack and it worked pretty much as he expected. It also awakened a sleeping giant. No other thing in this world would have galvanized and launched America into total war as that one act did. He sealed the fate of Japan on the first day of the war.</p>
<p>Yes, history is important yet some that have replied to this article still minimize the worth of and need to remember it. I can only shake my head in wonder at some peoples reasoning skills.</p>
<p>Let me make it simple. One can only deal effectively with our nation’s friends and enemies by knowing their national and/or tribal culture. This is done by knowing their history. Period.</p>
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		<title>By: Mchael</title>
		<link>http://pjmedia.com/victordavishanson/the-past-is-not-quite-past/#comment-36280</link>
		<dc:creator>Mchael</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 29 Sep 2009 18:25:20 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://pajamasmedia.com/victordavishanson/?p=1357#comment-36280</guid>
		<description>What if the Japanese went straight for Indonesia without going thru Pearl harbor? The only reason we got into the war when we did was sneak attack (which actually would not have been so sneaky if the Japanese could have decoded faster)

By the time we did enter the war it might have been too late and the Japanese, not mention the Germans, might have come out smelling like roses.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>What if the Japanese went straight for Indonesia without going thru Pearl harbor? The only reason we got into the war when we did was sneak attack (which actually would not have been so sneaky if the Japanese could have decoded faster)</p>
<p>By the time we did enter the war it might have been too late and the Japanese, not mention the Germans, might have come out smelling like roses.</p>
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		<title>By: Michael</title>
		<link>http://pjmedia.com/victordavishanson/the-past-is-not-quite-past/#comment-36279</link>
		<dc:creator>Michael</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 29 Sep 2009 15:18:26 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://pajamasmedia.com/victordavishanson/?p=1357#comment-36279</guid>
		<description>Admiral Yamamoto was considered brilliant by not only the Japanese but also by the Americans.  He spent some years in Washington and was known and liked by many government and military officials and he knew and liked America and Americans.

With all that he made the most catastrophic miscalculation of the war.  He made that mistake because with all his brilliance and his familiarity with Americans he still completely misread the American character.  He didn&#039;t appreciate America&#039;s history.

Yamamoto designed the Pearl Harbor attack and it worked pretty much as he expected.  It also awakened a sleeping giant.  No other thing in this world would have galvanized and launched America into total war as that one act did.  He sealed the fate of Japan on the first day of the war.

Yes, history is important yet some that have replied to this article still minimize the worth of and need to remember it.  I can only shake my head in wonder at some peoples reasoning skills.

Let me make it simple.  One can only deal effectively with our nation&#039;s friends and enemies by knowing their national and/or tribal culture.  This is done by knowing their history. Period.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Admiral Yamamoto was considered brilliant by not only the Japanese but also by the Americans.  He spent some years in Washington and was known and liked by many government and military officials and he knew and liked America and Americans.</p>
<p>With all that he made the most catastrophic miscalculation of the war.  He made that mistake because with all his brilliance and his familiarity with Americans he still completely misread the American character.  He didn&#8217;t appreciate America&#8217;s history.</p>
<p>Yamamoto designed the Pearl Harbor attack and it worked pretty much as he expected.  It also awakened a sleeping giant.  No other thing in this world would have galvanized and launched America into total war as that one act did.  He sealed the fate of Japan on the first day of the war.</p>
<p>Yes, history is important yet some that have replied to this article still minimize the worth of and need to remember it.  I can only shake my head in wonder at some peoples reasoning skills.</p>
<p>Let me make it simple.  One can only deal effectively with our nation&#8217;s friends and enemies by knowing their national and/or tribal culture.  This is done by knowing their history. Period.</p>
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