19 November 2004Musings
Doomed to Repeat

Those ignorant of history are doomed to repeat it.
The people of England have been led in Mesopotamia into a trap from which it will be hard to escape with dignity and honor. They have been tricked into it by a steady withholding of information. The Baghdad communiqués are belated, insincere, incomplete.

Things have been far worse than we have been told, our administration more bloody and inefficient than the public knows. It is a disgrace to our imperial record and may soon be too inflamed for any ordinary cure.

We are today not far from a disaster. Our unfortunate troops, Indian and British, under hard conditions of climate and supply are policing an immense area, paying dearly every day in lives for the willfully wrong policy of the civil administration in Baghdad but the responsibility, in this case, is not on the army which has acted only upon the request of the civil authorities.

-T.E. Lawrence, The Sunday Times, August 1920, writing from Falluja

Is the operative word "doomed" or "ignorant"?

Thanks to Jason for the Lawrence quote.

Posted by andrew at November 19, 2004 11:30 AM


Comments

Kalapu Says:

Your posting of outdated foreign news paper articles is a blatent attempt to smear the patriotic efforts of the Bush Administration to defend America against terrorism and its plan to spread democracy.

Anyway, isn't that guy Lawrence the one who almost became an arab during the first world war, and hung around with little boys? Who the hell cares what he had say.

Get relevant, and patriotic; post the body counts of the bad guys.

November 21, 2004 10:26 PM
Andrew Writes:

Patriotism doesn't equal blind support for any administration regardless of the situation. The great thing about America, at least the idea of America that is vanishing rapidly as comments like yours make obvious, is that we can question our leaders without being thrown in jail. These days charges of anti-Americanism and un-patriotism are tantamount to McCarthy labeling its enemies "Communists" in the 50s, the major difference being that McCarthy didn't use focus groups and language experts to target words and phrases that give people warm fuzzy feelings about his policies.

November 22, 2004 08:41 AM
Kalapu Says:

What makes you think that America has a lock on voicing one's opinion. Contrary to popular thought a great deal of this world can voice its opinion in ways that Americans do. There actually is a lot of good democracy out there....even stuffy liberals should learn that.

perhaps you should go back to school and learn that.
What ever happened to that application process. You are not one of those whimpy kind of fellows who give up after a rejection or two are you. or are you still snivelling about whether it would be good for you?........Graduate school would suit you....if only because it would echo your atanu'u days.

November 25, 2004 03:34 AM




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