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WWII and Iraq War Now the Same Length

By Jeralyn, Section War In Iraq
Posted on Mon Aug 14, 2006 at 05:45:12 PM EST
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Received this by e-mail from the Decider's Last 1,000 Days and thought I'd pass it on:

  • December 7, 1941 through May 8, 1945 (VE-Day) = 1,248 days
  • March 19, 2003 (U.S. invasion of Iraq) through Friday, August 18, 2006 = 1,248 days

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    WWII and Iraq War Now the Same Length | 25 comments (25 topical)
    Re: WWII and Iraq War Now the Same Length (none / 0) (#1)
    by roy on Mon Aug 14, 2006 at 06:10:03 PM EST
    You forgot about Poland.

    Re: WWII and Iraq War Now the Same Length (none / 0) (#2)
    by jimakaPPJ on Mon Aug 14, 2006 at 06:48:09 PM EST
    et al - Now, would anyone like to compare numbers of US soldiers killed? Civilians?? Destruction of infrastructure??

    Re: WWII and Iraq War Now the Same Length (none / 0) (#3)
    by jondee on Mon Aug 14, 2006 at 06:51:42 PM EST
    Its a perfectly grand war, Jim. Too bad you missed it. And every other one.

    Re: WWII and Iraq War Now the Same Length (none / 0) (#4)
    by soccerdad on Mon Aug 14, 2006 at 07:28:29 PM EST
    Criticizing the president during a time of war is supposed to be a no-no according to our own ppj. Well whats going on here a sample
    Bush's proud words of five years ago stand revealed as hollow and meaningless. What happened? What happened was one of the biggest failures of leadership in Presidential history. Bush supporters will claim that Bush was done in by a liberal media and the ferocious hatred of liberals and leftwingers, but that is one of the things true leadership is all about: Managing and overcoming opposition in order to achieve the necessary goals - in this case, the destruction of world Islamist terrorism and the regimes that support it.
    It always fun to sit back and watch them eat their own.

    Re: WWII and Iraq War Now the Same Length (none / 0) (#5)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Aug 14, 2006 at 08:03:31 PM EST
    How foolish to date the beginning of WWII from the attack on Pearl Harbor. As an American, I'm embarrassed by this blinkered view of history. The war began in September 1939.

    Re: WWII and Iraq War Now the Same Length (none / 0) (#6)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Aug 14, 2006 at 08:15:54 PM EST
    So WWII was over on May 8, 1945? Way to do your homework Jeralyn. No wonder you are so lacking in historical perspective.

    Re: WWII and Iraq War Now the Same Length (none / 0) (#7)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Aug 14, 2006 at 09:43:21 PM EST
    No, no, no: you've got it all wrong. It's NOT about correlating The War On Terror (which, obviously, is NOT a war) w/ WWII. It's about rationalizing highly-ideological foreign and domestic policy by politicizing everything in sight. And a faux war-footing makes it even easier. Without The War On Terror, The Bush League is nothing. Without the fiasco in Iraq, The Bush League can't end EVERY argument with the non sequitur "can't you see that we're AT WAR!!??" (As in "We MUST suspend the Constitution because CAN'T YOU SEE WE'RE AT WAR!!!?"). This was commenced as a "war" of choice and it will only end when the radical right can no longer get any mileage out of it. The Bush League itself has already fessed up and admitted that this mess will be left for a future president. What a guy! No need to hurry with this "war", folks, let's just take our sweet time. The Bush League needs The War On Terror as its raison d'etre. Without it, Americans will see them for the shameless war criminals that they truly are, working their destructive agenda to the background noise of a "war" they get to control. Actually, PPJ's argument plays right into the hands of The Bush League: had the U.S. lost hordes of men and women in this "war", in a comparable period of time, don't you think it'd be FORCED by the American public to show results and be held accountable!!!??? Instead, with the body count held to "acceptable" numbers, The Bush League is betting that the American people will let this whole sham drag on a bit longer - after all, it's not like we've got a horrendous body count and it's not like the U.S. is in any immediate danger if it loses this "war". Clausewitz said that war is merely the extension of politics by other means. And Rove took that point to its logical extension: misdirect the electorate with a war the U.S. can fully control and manipulate and ANY dissent will be deemed traitorous. The greatest gift The Bush League ever received was borne on four planes on 9/11/01. Under cover of "war", they had the perfect ploy to play out their fascists fantasies.

    Re: WWII and Iraq War Now the Same Length (none / 0) (#8)
    by Johnny on Tue Aug 15, 2006 at 02:34:47 AM EST
    Jim, what was it you have said about moral relativism?

    Re: WWII and Iraq War Now the Same Length (none / 0) (#9)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Aug 15, 2006 at 06:06:38 AM EST
    US declared war on Nazi Germany on Dec. 11, 1941. You might what to back that comparison up to 8-22.

    Re: WWII and Iraq War Now the Same Length (none / 0) (#10)
    by Che's Lounge on Tue Aug 15, 2006 at 07:53:14 AM EST
    "Adapt and win" Ken Mehlman's answer to the Iraqi version of Whack-a-mole. Yes folks, it's true. He IS as stupid as he looks. (HT to TDS for being ahead of the curve - again.)

    Re: WWII and Iraq War Now the Same Length (none / 0) (#11)
    by Slado on Tue Aug 15, 2006 at 10:09:31 AM EST
    VE Day was not the end of WWII. Only the end of American hostilities for troops in Europe. If you're going to make comparisons compare this date to when the president declared victory "Mission Accopmlished" over Sadam. You'll see that it didn't take as long. You're not counting the fact that troops still reside in Germany. So in reality the occupation is still going on so one could argue we've got a long way to go. And you're not considering the sectarian violence that occured between East and West Germany when they split up, checkpoint charlie etc... One could compare the split up of Germany to Shiite and Sunni fracturing that is occuring today as long as we're making comparisons. Also VE stands for Victory in Europe. If we think back to 8th grade history we will remember that the US also faught a Pacific campaign against Japan that ended in Burma September 13th 1945. One could argue it ended September 2nd when the Emperor surrendered but now we're just being picky. We also kept troops and still havve troops in Japan so see above... Also I though we were't supposed to compare the two?

    Re: WWII and Iraq War Now the Same Length (none / 0) (#12)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Aug 16, 2006 at 08:12:15 AM EST
    I guess this does mean comparisons between WWII and Iraq are now allowed. The number of years don't even have to be correct. Rounding to exclude the portion that does not include the US is also allowed.

    Re: WWII and Iraq War Now the Same Length (none / 0) (#13)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Aug 16, 2006 at 09:55:46 AM EST
    Many good points made here, but my original post at The Deciderer... was not intended as a history test. (Not to minimize that WW II started long before Pearl Harbor, long before U.S. combat involvement, and did not end with Victory in Europe.) The point was to give this misguided Iraq adventure some additional perspective in terms of milestones that are ingrained in the American psyche.

    Re: WWII and Iraq War Now the Same Length (none / 0) (#14)
    by Slado on Wed Aug 16, 2006 at 12:27:18 PM EST
    Wile E? Where you the one I agreed not to make WWII comparisons with? I gues that cease fire has been broken.

    Re: WWII and Iraq War Now the Same Length (none / 0) (#15)
    by jondee on Wed Aug 16, 2006 at 12:48:53 PM EST
    "Allowed"? That's truely hilarious. I doubt a day has gone by here without someone (99% of the time from the Right) invoking WWII for it's emotional resonance.

    Re: WWII and Iraq War Now the Same Length (none / 0) (#16)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Aug 16, 2006 at 01:09:58 PM EST
    Other than this thread, Jondee, point one out.

    Re: WWII and Iraq War Now the Same Length (none / 0) (#17)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Aug 16, 2006 at 01:18:52 PM EST
    Jondee: If you are correct, you will be able to find 1248 of them. One for every day. How about just a couple.

    Re: WWII and Iraq War Now the Same Length (none / 0) (#18)
    by Ernesto Del Mundo on Wed Aug 16, 2006 at 01:26:43 PM EST
    Wile, several of the war supporters commenting here picked up the WWII meme as a way of justifying the continued debacle in Iraq. They piped down only when it was pointed out that the only real similarity was how eerily our government is playing the part of the Third Recih.

    Re: WWII and Iraq War Now the Same Length (none / 0) (#19)
    by Ernesto Del Mundo on Wed Aug 16, 2006 at 01:36:10 PM EST
    Wile, Check here and here. for starters.

    Re: WWII and Iraq War Now the Same Length (none / 0) (#20)
    by jondee on Wed Aug 16, 2006 at 01:55:56 PM EST
    Almost any comment by James Robertson, also. Wile, you really have to be kidding me. Everytime Im at a loss as to how so many could be hornswoggled into believing that GWB was ever serious presidential material, Im provided with another glaring example of this type of seemingly terminal ADD that so many of his acolytes have in common. If I say it aint there, it aint there, doggonit!

    Re: WWII and Iraq War Now the Same Length (none / 0) (#21)
    by jondee on Wed Aug 16, 2006 at 02:04:31 PM EST
    Just on Foreign Affairs threads, (Im not going through all the archives), I see B.B on the 14th, Roger on the 12th, and Jimcee on the 11th. That's just in the last week. But, why should I do research for someone who obviously is choosing to pay the absolute minimal amount of attention?

    Re: WWII and Iraq War Now the Same Length (none / 0) (#22)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Aug 16, 2006 at 02:06:13 PM EST
    Ernie: one of the links is bad.

    Re: WWII and Iraq War Now the Same Length (none / 0) (#23)
    by Ernesto Del Mundo on Wed Aug 16, 2006 at 02:06:23 PM EST
    Sorry for the bad link above: Corrected "and here"

    Re: WWII and Iraq War Now the Same Length (none / 0) (#24)
    by Ernesto Del Mundo on Wed Aug 16, 2006 at 02:09:00 PM EST
    Type Key is still having some serious issues. Now the preview page is all dorked up, so typos and bad links are harder to spot before posting...

    Re: WWII and Iraq War Now the Same Length (none / 0) (#25)
    by jondee on Wed Aug 16, 2006 at 02:49:12 PM EST
    "Neville Chamberlain..peace in our time.." I must've just imagined hearing that crap dozens of times in the last few years. Btw, the runners-up behind James "Greatest Generation" Robertson, would have to be "Ole Blood 'n Guts" ppj and Dick Aubrey.

    WWII and Iraq War Now the Same Length | 25 comments (25 topical)