DEAR FLYER:
Here is a simple quiz for Donald Rumsfeld on the subject of “Old Europe”:
Q. What nation fought our founding fathers in order to keep us as their vassals? a. England; b. Japan; c. Mexico; or d. France.
Answer. a. England.
Q. What country gleefully sold us the middle one-third of our country for a reasonable price? a. England; b. Japan; c. Russia; or e. France.
Answer. e. France. Three million bucks in 1803.
Q. What country fought off three coalitions of the most powerful nations on earth for more than 20 years? a. England; b. Japan; c. Mexico; or d. France.
Answer. d. France.
Q. What country gave us the Statue of Liberty? a. England; b. The Netherlands; c. Mexico; or d. France.
Answer. d. France.
Q. What country provided its skilled military leadership to win the critical battles of the Revolutionary War, including Saratoga? a. England; b. Russia; c. Germany; d. Japan; or e. France.
Answer. e. France. Lafayette played a pivotal role on the side of Washington in the War. He could have stayed at home and lived a life of leisure.
Q. Has America ever produced a military genius on the order of Napoleon? a. Yes; or b. No.
Answer. b. No.
Q. Did England ever conquer France? a. Yes; or b. No.
Answer. b. No.
Q. In the greatest military victory of all time, Cannae, won by Hannibal in the Second Punic War, what was the nationality of the heavy cavalry that drove into the Roman center to finish the victory? a. French; b. English; c. German; or d. Carthaginian.
Answer. a.Gallic [French] heavy cavalry.
Q. Was England defeated by a Frenchman who became England’s king with the Pope’s blessing? a. Yes; or b. No.
Answer. a. Yes. William the Conqueror[Guillaume le Conquerant] was a Frenchman from Rouen, Normandy, France. He defeated England’s King Harold of Wessex on October 14, 1066 at the Battle of Hastings. He came, he saw, he conquered. He became an Englishman. Ask the English if William the Conqueror was a coward.
Q. Was England defeated in its conquest of France by a woman? a. Yes; or b. No.
Answer. a. Yes, by Joan of Arc, then only a child, at the battle of Orleans in 1429. Her battle cry then was “Go boldly in among the English!”
Q. Did America win World War II? a. Yes; or b. No. c. Neither of the above.
Answer. c. Neither of the above. A coalition of Russia, Australia, the United Kingdom, America, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden and France shared the victory.
Q. Did the French suffer a defeat in Indochina that America averted? a. Yes; or b. No.
Answer. b. No, Indochina is Viet Nam and both countries suffered losses there.
Q. Has America failed to win wars in which it “went it alone”? a. Yes; or b. No.
Answer. a. Yes, Somalia, Viet Nam and Korea are a few salient examples.
What is the point of this exercise? If you view France, for its disagreement with George Bush’s approach to Saddam Hussein, as cowardly, you may be wrong. Pause to consider the battles of Auerstadt, Zurich, Marengo, Jena, Castiglione, Rivoli, Aspern-Essling, Austerlitz, Wagram and Friedland, fought by France against a coalition of Russia, England and Austria in most instances. Learn of their courage, fighting doctrine and will, then call them cowards.
In the A-list of the Great Captains, we find Alexander the Great, Hannibal, Caesar and Napoleon, a Frenchman of Corsican roots who mastered the principles of Bourcet and Guibert, architects of French warfare, while he was a French military cadet. There are no Americans or Britons on the A-list of Great Captains.
“Old Europe” is right to suggest a “go slow” approach to war. Bush should move this country along economically instead of sallying forth on this latter-day Crusade or Anabasis to Babylon. An attack on a country 8% the size and population of ours will not play well with the deity or the world. Bullyragging is one thing when it’s a fair fight, quite another thing when it isn’t.
Sincerely,
Mark Ledbetter
via Germantown Democratic Club
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RESPONSES TO MARK LEDBETTER:
A little history goes a long way for the Bushies, so why shouldn’t it do the same for the rest of us? Thanks, Mark Ledbetter, for sharing this with us all…
Kenneth Neill
(Publisher and CEO of the Flyer)
Memphis
Mark is much more diplomatic in his criticism of what is happening in the world and the chaos the Bush regime has wrought. This is my take: Bush is not the President. We are suffering the results of a coup d’etat. The neo-fascist Bush administration ran a campaign that claimed, “we are uniters, not dividers” when the exact opposite is true. These people have turned the world upside down. They have divided our country and the world upon lines of gender, race, socio-econony, religion, and religion. They own the media propaganda machine. They intend to make war. They intend to make poverty. They are the most destructive force this country has ever endured. Only chaos will be created out of such destruction and discord. It will take a revolution to end this force. Those of us who object will have to work, probably for the remainder of our lives, to overcome it. I still have hope in the American people, for I know their will is being usurped.
Cheri DelBrocco
Germantown
