|
Internet Special Bulletin,
19-Oct-02 |
Stephen Ambrose and the War on Terror
Copyright ©
2002 by Richard Maybury
Historian Stephen Ambrose died on October 13, 2002 at age 66. In my opinion, Ambrose was one of the chief reasons America is in the present war.
Famously awed by the heroism of America's World War II soldiers, sailors and airmen, Ambrose used his considerable writing talents to describe their experiences in ways that stir the emotions.
Ambrose could write like a top novelist, and his writing never wavered from the contention that the war was a straightforward clash between good and evil - Americans were heroes who saved the world.
This good guys vs. bad guys view of the war was the foundation of Hollywood propaganda movies of the 1940s, chief among them WHY WE FIGHT. Fifty-six years after the war ended, Ambrose was doing more than anyone else to give academic credibility to this shallow, naive view.
No war is ever so simple as white hats against black hats, and World War II certainly was not. For instance, judging by the number of people killed, three-quarters of World War II was the Eastern Front battle between Hitler's German Nazis and Stalin's Soviet Socialists. Who were the good guys and who were the bad guys?
Stalin murdered roughly twice as many people as Hitler. [1]
On June 24, 1941, (five months before the attack on Pearl Harbor) President Roosevelt sided with Stalin.[2]
This is good guys against bad guys? This is saving the world?
By reinforcing this deranged good guys vs. bad guys model, Ambrose helped lure us into the present conflict, for the model has diverted us from a serious attempt to understand the motives of the so-called terrorists, either before or after 9-11.
Why do they hate us? They hate us because we are good and they are evil. That's all there is to it, that's all you need to know. The September 11, 2001 attack was completely unprovoked, just like that of December 7, 1941, right?
1 DEATH BY GOVERNMENT, by R.J. Rummel, Transaction Publishers, 1994, p.8.
2 WORLD WAR II DAY BY DAY, by Donald Sommerville, Dorset Press, 1989, p.86.
Books published by Stephen Ambrose.
Richard Maybury is the author of two new books which explain the reason we are in the third world war: we were lied to about the first and second world wars.
U.S. & World Early Warning Report®. Published ten times per year.
© 1991-2007 Henry Madison Research, Inc., PO Box 84908, Phoenix, AZ 85071.
Phone toll-free 1-800-509-5400. Outside US: 602-252-4477. Fax: 602-943-2363.
Visa, MasterCard accepted. www.chaostan.com
|
