A Retrospective on World War Two As It Relates to the Iraq War

By John Mark Hancock
Copyrighted – All Rights Reserved

KNOXVILLE – Some of you remember that nearly every family in America was directly affected by World War II in some way. Some may remember the rationing of meat, shoes, gasoline, and sugar that took place in the USA during that war. No tires could be bought for automobiles. There was a 35 mph speed limit on all roads. No new automobiles or appliances could be bought by the consumer, because everything was dedicated to the war effort, to stamping out German Nazis and Japanese Imperialists.

We are engaged in a similar cultural war for our very freedoms today in Iraq. Our way of life is literally at stake, as well as that of all others who are free in the world. In order to understand how true that is, we need to understand the historical significance of World War II and how it relates to the 21^st Century conflict in which we now find ourselves engaged in the Middle East.

Over 63 years ago, Nazi Germany had overrun almost all of Europe and hammered England to the verge of bankruptcy and defeat. The Nazis had sunk more than 400 British ships in their convoys between England and America, taking food and war materials. At that time, the US was in an isolationist, pacifist mood, and most Americans wanted nothing to do with the European or the Asian war.

Then along came Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and in outrage, Congress unanimously declared war on Japan, and the following day on Germany, too, who had not yet attacked us. It was a dicey, risky thing to do. We had few allies to count on in that war effort other than Great Britain, very similar to the situation we have in Iraq today.

France was not an ally, as the Vichy French government quickly aligned itself with its German occupiers. Germany was certainly not an ally, as Hitler was intent on setting up a Thousand Year Reich in Europe. Japan was not an ally, as it was well on its way to owning and controlling all of Asia.

Together, Japan and Germany had long-range plans of invading Canada and Mexico as launching pads to get into the United States via our northern and southern borders after they finished gaining control of Asia and Europe.

America's only allies then were England, Ireland, Scotland, Canada, Australia, and Russia. All of the European continent, from Norway to Italy, was already under the fascist Nazi heel.

The US was certainly not prepared for war. We had drastically downgraded most of our military forces after World War I because of the Great Depression, so that at the outbreak of World War II, Army units were training with broomsticks because they didn't have guns, and cars with "tank" painted on the doors because they didn't have real tanks. A huge chunk of our Navy had just been sunk or damaged at Pearl Harbor.

Britain had already gone bankrupt, saved only by the donation of $600 million in gold bullion in the Bank of England that was actually the property of Belgium, given by Belgium to England to carry on the war when Belgium was overrun by Hitler, a little known fact. Actually, Belgium surrendered in one day, because it was unable to oppose the German invasion, and the Germans bombed Brussels into rubble the next day just to prove they could.

Britain had already been holding out for two years in the face of staggering losses and the near decimation of its Royal Air Force in the Battle of Britain, and was saved from being overrun by Germany only because Hitler made the mistake of thinking the Brits were a relatively minor threat that could be dealt with later. Hitler first turned his attention to Russia in the late summer of 1940 at a time when England was on the verge of collapse. Ironically, Russia saved America by putting up a desperate fight for two years until the US got geared up to begin hammering away at Germany.

Russia lost 24 million people in the sieges of Stalingrad and Moscow alone, 90% of them from cold and starvation, mostly civilians, but also more than a 1,000,000 soldiers. Had Russia surrendered, Hitler would have been able to focus his entire war effort against the Brits, and then America. If that had happened, the Nazis probably would have won the war.

This is to illustrate that turning points in history are often dicey things. Now, we find ourselves at another one of those key moments in history. Should we stand and fight in Iraq or cut and run and let the Islamic fascists take over the entire Middle East? Their goal, just like Hitler’s over a half century ago, is to rule the world, to dominate the Middle East, control the oil market, and then bring Europe and Asia, and ultimately America, to their knees.

The liberal Democrats in Congress and the mainstream media want us to tuck tail and run. However, if we do that, we will never be rid of the terrorists. They will follow us to our own shores, and the bombings that are rampant in this war’s front lines now will become commonplace in our country as a result.

Those who fail to study history are doomed to repeat its mistakes. We are engaged in a battle that will never end. We simply cannot risk defeat in Iraq. The consequences are too grave. We must win the war there or our way of life will perish forever.