A friend forwarded me a link to a blog post at the blog Atlas Shrugs, and I had to share this.
America's European Arrogance
1. The American Cemetery at Aisne-Marne, France. A total of 2,289 of our military dead. We apologize.
2. The American Cemetery at Ardennes, Belgium. A total of 5,329 of our dead. We are so ashamed of our arrogance.
3. The American Cemetery at Brittany, France. A total of 4,410 of our military dead. Excuse us.
4. Brookwood, England American Cemetery. A total of 4,680 of our dead. We are such an evil country.
5. Cambridge, England. 3,812 of our military dead. What on earth were we thinking?
6. Epinal, France American Cemetery. A total of 5,525 of our military dead. Please forgive us.
7. Flanders Field, Belgium. A total of 3,680 of our military. We are so sorry.
8. Florence, Italy. A total of 4,402 of our military dead. We are a bully nation.
9. Henri-Chapelle, Belgium. A total of 7,992 of our military dead. They deserved what they got.
10. Lorraine, France. A total of 10,489 of our military dead. FDR and Truman were lying war criminals.
11. Luxembourg, Luxembourg. A total of 5,076 of our military dead. Arrogant oppression, pure and simple.
12. Meuse-Argonne. A total of 14,246 of our military dead. Just think of how many civilians they killed.
13. Netherlands, Netherlands. A total of 8,301 of our military dead. They were murderers.
14. Normandy, France. A total of 9,387 of our military dead. Baby killers, one and all.
15. Oise-Aisne, France. A total of 6,012 of our military dead. They were torturers, too.
16. Rhone, France. A total of 8,61 of our military dead. Remorseless killers doing the bidding of an evil nation.
17. Sicily, Italy. A total of 7,861 of our military dead. What can America ever do to redeem itself?
18. Somme, France. A total of 1,844 of our military dead. Arrogant war-mongers of an arrogant nation.
19. St. Mihiel, France. A total of 4,153 of our military dead. War criminals.
20. Suresnes, France. A total of 1,541 of our military dead. Oh, God in heaven, please forgive us for being such an arrogant country.
I may not agree with Colin Powell's current political standpoints, but this quote of his from 1998 is powerful.
"The world remembers well that several times in the course of this century, the United States was at the height of the world, the height of power. After World War I, or World War II, or even at the end of the Cold War, we could have imposed our will on the world but we didn’t. All we ever asked for was the opportunity to raise up our former enemies, and to get back to the business of peace and democracy. The only other thing we ever asked for was enough land to bury our dead. We never wanted anyone else’s land or sovereignty over anyone. No other nation on the face of the earth possesses that kind power, possess that kind of power today in such abundance." - General Colin Powell speaking at West Point on Sept. 15, 1998
We would be even better served to remember this quote from John Quincy Adams:
ReplyDeleteAnd now, friends and countrymen, if the wise and learned philosophers of the elder world, the first observers of nutation and aberration, the discoverers of maddening ether and invisible planets, the inventors of Congreve rockets and Shrapnel shells, should find their hearts disposed to enquire what has America done for the benefit of mankind?
Let our answer be this: America, with the same voice which spoke herself into existence as a nation, proclaimed to mankind the inextinguishable rights of human nature, and the only lawful foundations of government. America, in the assembly of nations, since her admission among them, has invariably, though often fruitlessly, held forth to them the hand of honest friendship, of equal freedom, of generous reciprocity.
She has uniformly spoken among them, though often to heedless and often to disdainful ears, the language of equal liberty, of equal justice, and of equal rights.
She has, in the lapse of nearly half a century, without a single exception, respected the independence of other nations while asserting and maintaining her own.
She has abstained from interference in the concerns of others, even when conflict has been for principles to which she clings, as to the last vital drop that visits the heart.
She has seen that probably for centuries to come, all the contests of that Aceldama the European world, will be contests of inveterate power, and emerging right.
Wherever the standard of freedom and Independence has been or shall be unfurled, there will her heart, her benedictions and her prayers be.
But she goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy.
She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all.
She is the champion and vindicator only of her own.
She will commend the general cause by the countenance of her voice, and the benignant sympathy of her example.
She well knows that by once enlisting under other banners than her own, were they even the banners of foreign independence, she would involve herself beyond the power of extrication, in all the wars of interest and intrigue, of individual avarice, envy, and ambition, which assume the colors and usurp the standard of freedom.
The fundamental maxims of her policy would insensibly change from liberty to force....
She might become the dictatress of the world. She would be no longer the ruler of her own spirit....
[America's] glory is not dominion, but liberty. Her march is the march of the mind. She has a spear and a shield: but the motto upon her shield is, Freedom, Independence, Peace. This has been her Declaration: this has been, as far as her necessary intercourse with the rest of mankind would permit, her practice.
-John Quincy Adams, 1821
Excellent post, well done.
ReplyDelete-red
Very well done, Jamison. I have read that quote from Colin Powell before and it is very relevant. Thanks for sharing it with your readers.
ReplyDeleteJamison, these are some of the most powerful images you will ever see. My uncle was recently buried in one of our Military Cemetaries, and for a Veteran, there is no way to explain what it feels like when you see all of those crosses lined up, like so many soldiers standing in formation, and you realize that these are your brothers in arms, who fought and died to defend our right to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. Memorial Day is a powerful day to help us all remember that this country is built upon the blood, sweat, and tears of the American Soldier. Thank you for this post.
ReplyDeleteJai Blevins