We're the Military and Airpower Guys of Jonah Goldberg of National Review Online + a stray we found wandering around looking lost. All original material JHD, BHD, JR, WT, and KA 2003-2007 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/07/july_3_1863_july_3_2006.html Sun, 03 Aug 2008 16:57:49 Z Movable Type 4.12 en Copyright 2008 http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification Pickett's Charge, the core event of Longstreet's Grand Assault. "General, I have no division..." -Major General George Edward Pickett to General Lee at Gettysburg July 3, 1863 Keep this in mind, when considering the Iraqi Amnesty Plan, however it goes forward. The names of the places associated with the charge are deeply indented on the American conscience. Every summer, "The Angle" and "The High Water Mark" are crowded with visitors who come to commemorate the event and ponder those terrible minutes when American killed American in a desperate contest of wills and ideals. So much carnage in such a small... http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/07/july_3_1863_july_3_2006.html http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/07/july_3_1863_july_3_2006.html Mon, 03 Jul 2006 07:16:42 -0600 Amnesty makes sense. It allows a release of those who want to escape the realm of insurgency but can not see a way and will greatly weaken insurgent resolve esp if the amnesty is genuine and those who do it are reengaged in society. Even if amnesty is wrong acting to disempower the Iraqi government now is incredibly stupid after all the effort to build it up. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/07/july_3_1863_july_3_2006.html#comment-47403 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/07/july_3_1863_july_3_2006.html#comment-47403 Mon, 03 Jul 2006 23:24:50 -0600 I had reason to read my presidential hero's 1st and 2nd inaugural speeches just an hour or so ago. Lincoln's words still bring tears to my eyes--I almost hate going to his Memorial anymore because I get all choked up, what with the Vietnam Memorial right there... And Chamberlain is my all-time favorite military hero-leader (We can't stay here and we can't fall back. Fix bayonets!) I like tanks, and love helicopters, but I admire above all the Infantry. I spent a couple years with the electric strawberry in Hawaii and I will tell you, leg infantry is the real Army. As for Pickett, I went to HS with a descendant of the same name--the family had moved North after the war, he said, and he also said his father and grandfather hated the South for what happened at Gettysburg and that animosity had been passed on. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/07/july_3_1863_july_3_2006.html#comment-47393 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/07/july_3_1863_july_3_2006.html#comment-47393 Mon, 03 Jul 2006 17:25:25 -0600 Yeah John, I was thinking along those same lines myself (but too lazy to post about it.) On top of all that, you also have your typical tribal score-keeping similar to our Hatfields and McCoys. Such a fine stew will take a long time to settle out and many people just can't understand why things aren't as neat and tidy as in novels. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/07/july_3_1863_july_3_2006.html#comment-47375 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/07/july_3_1863_july_3_2006.html#comment-47375 Mon, 03 Jul 2006 11:11:09 -0600 John, good point re our Civil War. Like any birth, the birth of a nation tends to be painful and bloody. Even though the technology is better (ie, no waiting weeks for the newpapers to make it west like during our own Revolutionary War), the process is no easier in the 21 cent than it was in the 18th. We need to be more patient. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/07/july_3_1863_july_3_2006.html#comment-47367 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/07/july_3_1863_july_3_2006.html#comment-47367 Mon, 03 Jul 2006 08:57:31 -0600