We need to learn from history

Naturally, the common people don't want war, but they can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. Tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and endangering the country. It works the same in every country.

- Herman Goering, Hitler's Reichsmarschall, at the Nuremberg Trials

Comments

[wayne]

Well...so far, it seems, we haven't learned from Viet Nam.

[Joe Litton]

We repeatedly haven't learned. LBJ lied about the Gulf of Tonkin to get the US population fired up about going to war (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Tonkin_Resolution). There's speculation that FDR knew of the impending Pearl Harbor attack (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_Harbor_advance-knowledge_debate) and let it happen anyway to get the citizenry behind US military involvement in the Pacific. And, of course, there remain many questions about how much advance warning / knowledge the Bush Administration had about Sept 11 attacks. I fear that as long as there are people who are foolish enough to think that Fox News is actually a real news channel, we are doomed to repeat history.

[George W Bush]

History? Who cares about that stuff - this is about my secret desire to kill my father and marry my mother!

[Joe Litton]

Ah, Mr Bush (BL ;-) ...the truth is now out.