The More Things Change...

Again, I would like to direct another Iraq themed post towards a direct quote from The Mouse That Roared.

Let me correct myself a bit. I referred two posts back that Leonard Wibberly, the author was a Briton. He was actually an Irishman who immigrated to the United States and spent most of his life in California.

Again, let me remind you that this book was written in 1955 and probably refers to the Korean War with a little of World War II. Iraq is more like Korea with a bit of Vietnam included. current quagmire than Iraq in certain ways.

"Once more, it is always laid down that the defeated armies must be disbanded and never again be allowed to reform. But, a little later, it is discovered that these armies and in an oblique but nonetheless definite manner essential to the security of the United States itself.

Either the defeated enemy must have an army and navy and air force of its own, or the Americans must remain there in an indefinite occupation.

Americans, particularly American soldiers, do not like to remain long outside their own country. And in a matter of months, or at the most years, the United States is first requesting and then begging its former enemies to raise an army to defend their own territory. It is not unheard of that these defeated foes are able to state the terms under which they will raise an army for their own policing and defense.

Those terms have involved the payments of large sums of money by the United States, or the extension of generous credits, revision of trade agreements in favor of the defeated nation, return of shipping, rehabilitation of factories destroyed in the war, and even the gift of the equipment needed for the army."