Iwo Jima -- Was it worth it? Contributed by Bill Faith
MSgt "Comanche" left this as a comment on "." It's a little off topic for the comments on that post, as George pointed out in a subsequent comment. On the other hand I'd call it a pretty good blog post in its own right; good enough that if Comanche wasn't still on Uncle Sam's payroll about two more like it would get him an invitation to join the Old War Dogs pack.
FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS Was it worth it?
The bi-polar national debate focusing on the political impact of military sacrifice and the comparative potential risk versus gain of military operations as part of our foreign policy is well covered by the global news media. And now, with the new movie, Flags of our Fathers, making the news, I thought I would post the link below as an aid to understanding the current situation in Iraq by viewing the war on terrorism in a more accurate historical perspective than that presented by the Democrat Party leadership and so called modern news sources.
As an amateur military historian I know a lot about Iwo Jima but, not to worry, I won't bore you with too much minutia about the battle. Let me just say that over 6,000 Marines were killed in 36 days of fighting against an enemy who was just as determined to die for his cause as the most zealous suicide terrorist of today is. The Japanese commander's goal was not to repel the invasion but to kill so many Americans that US public opinion would get a taste of what an amphibious invasion of Japan would be like and would not allow an attack on the home islands to take place. Virtually all of the 22,000 Japanese defenders of the island were killed; one by one, intimately, close up, with bullet, grenade, bayonet and flamethrower, in the most savage fighting imaginable. Some were captured alive (because they were incapacitated in some way), but few surrendered. Japanese fanaticism was similar to that of today's extremists. The Japanese didn't die for God or religion. They died for their emperor…..a god in a cult of personality, and the same way modern North Koreans would fight and die today.
We needed that tiny island of Iwo Jima as a fighter base so that our long range B29 bombers could be protected from Japanese fighters as they attacked Japan and also as an emergency landing site for our crippled bombers returning to base; all of this was a preamble to an eventual invasion of the Japanese home islands.
Was it worth it? 6,000 Marines were killed. Because of their sacrifice, 23,000 aircrewmen of bombers in trouble were saved. Tens of hundreds of missions were flown. Thousands of tons of bombs were dropped on Japan, including two nuclear weapons. Japan surrendered, and the invasion of Japan that would have made Iwo Jima look like a walk in the park became unnecessary. Was it worth it?
I believe that the war in Iraq is as relevant to overall victory in the war against global terrorism as Iwo Jima was to the overall victory in the war against global fascism. Military officers as well as physicians are taught to approach problems by first defining the problem by beginning with the most obvious diagnosis. A bank robber named Wille Sutton was supposed to have said when asked why he robbed banks, "because that's where the money is." When considering possible causes of a patient's symptoms, physicians have an adage; "When you hear hoofbeats in Texas, think horses, not zebras." Why should Americans fight islamo terrorism in Iraq? We fight them in Iraq because Iraq is where islamo terrorists come out from under rocks to fight Americans. Make no mistake. American lives are being saved at this moment because of the sacrifices of our military men and women in Iraq. The nation does have a bipolar view on the war and which view one has apparently depends as much on which television network one watches as on ones political party affiliation. The volunteer members of the military have voiced their opinion on the correctness of their country's foreign policy by risking (and sacrificing) their very lives to implement it. Close to 3,000 Americans have died in Iraq and only history will eventually be able to answer the question; was it worth it?
John Reno, Nevada
Contributed by Bill Faith on October 22, 2006 at 11:44 PM in , , |