[BRIGADE] PJB: The 'Good War' and the Terrible Peace
Published: Fri, 06/13/08
"Hanson cites not a single fact I got wrong and ignores the fact
that the book is dedicated to my mother's four brothers who fought
in World War II...."
Brigade, Pat's new book, made the New York Times best seller list
for the second straight week. The NeoCons are scrambling to cover
up the facts and put out their own disinfo. See PJB's column
below.
PS -- Lets really rile them up [there's nothing more comical than
agitated NeoCons] by getting "Churchill, Hitler and 'The
Unnecessary War" even higher in the charts.
Get it here:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/030740515X/forthecause-20
-----------------
The 'Good War' and the Terrible Peace
by Patrick J. Buchanan
Friday, June 13, 2008
In attacking my book "Churchill, Hitler and 'The Unnecessary War':
How Britain Lost Its Empire and the West Lost the World," Victor
Davis Hanson, the court historian of the neoconservatives, charges
me with "rewriting ... facts" and showing "ingratitude" to American
and British soldiers who fought World Wars I and II.
Both charges are false, and transparently so.
Hanson cites not a single fact I got wrong and ignores the fact
that the book is dedicated to my mother's four brothers who fought
in World War II. Moreover, the book begins by celebrating the
greatness of the British nation and heroism of its soldier-sons.
Did Hanson even read it?
The focus of "The Unnecessary War" is on the colossal blunders by
British statesmen that reduced Britain from the greatest empire
since Rome into an island dependency of the United States in three
decades. It is a cautionary tale, written for America, which is
treading the same path Britain trod in the early 20th century.
Hanson agrees the Versailles Treaty of 1919 was "flawed," but says
Germany had it coming, for the harsh peace the Germans imposed on
France in 1871 and Russia in 1918.
Certainly, the amputation of Alsace-Lorraine by Bismarck's Germany
was a blunder that engendered French hatred and a passion for
revenge. But does Teutonic stupidity in 1871 justify British
stupidity in 1919?
Is that what history teaches, Hanson?
In 1918, Germany accepted an armistice on Wilson's 14 Points, laid
down her arms and surrendered her High Seas Fleet.
Yet, once disarmed, Germany was subjected to a starvation blockade,
denied the right to fish in the Baltic Sea, and saw all her
colonies and private property therein confiscated by British,
French and Japanese imperialists, in naked violation of Wilson's 14
Points.
Germans, Austrians and Hungarians by the millions were then
consigned to Belgium, France, Italy, Serbia, Czechoslovakia,
Romania, Poland and Lithuania, in violation of the principle of
self-determination.
Germany was sliced in half, dismembered, disarmed, saddled with
unpayable debt and forced, under threat of further starvation and
invasion, to confess she alone was morally responsible for the war
and all its devastation -- which was a lie, and the Allies knew it.
Where was Hitler born?
"At Versailles," replied Lady Astor.
As for the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk Germany imposed on Russia in
1918, is Hanson aware that the prison house of nations for which he
wails, which was forced to disgorge Finland, the Baltic republics,
Poland, Ukraine and the Caucasus, was ruled by Bolsheviks?
Was it a war crime for the Kaiser to break up Lenin's evil empire?
Two years after Brest-Litovsk, Churchill himself was urging Britain
to revise Versailles, bring Germany into the Allied fold and
intervene in Russia's civil war -- against Lenin and Trotsky.
As for my thesis that the British war guarantee to Poland of March
31, 1939, was the "Fatal Blunder" that guaranteed World War II and
brought down the British Empire, Hanson is mocking:
"Buchanan argues that, had the imperialist Winston Churchill not
pushed poor Hitler into a corner, he would have never invaded
Poland in 1939, which triggered an unnecessary Allied response."
First, Hanson should get his prime ministers straight. It was
Neville Chamberlain who issued the war guarantee to Poland after
the collapse of his Munich accord. Churchill was not even in the
Cabinet.
Second, Hansen implies that I portray Hitler as a misunderstood
victim. This is mendacious. Hitler's foul crimes are fully related.
Third, was it moral, Hanson, for Britain to promise the Poles
military aid they could not and did not deliver, thus steeling
Polish resolve to resist Hitler and guaranteeing Poland's
annihilation?
Was it wise, Hanson, for Britain to declare a world war on the
strongest nation in Europe over a town, Danzig, where the British
prime minister thought Germany had the stronger claim?
What were the consequences for Poland of trusting in Britain?
Crucifixion on a Nazi-Soviet cross, the Katyn massacre of the
Polish officer corps, Treblinka and Auschwitz, annihilation of the
Home Army, millions of brave Polish dead, half a century of
Bolshevik terror.
And how did Churchill honor Britain's commitment to Poland?
During trips to Moscow, Churchill bullied the Polish prime minister
into ceding to Stalin that half of his country Stalin had gotten
from his devil's pact with Hitler, and yielded to Stalin's demand
for annexation of the Baltic republics and Bolshevik rule of a
dozen nations of Eastern and Central Europe.
Was it worth 50 million dead, Hanson, so Stalin, whose victims, as
of Sept. 1, 1939, were 1,000 times Hitler's, could occupy not only
Poland, for which Britain went to war, but all of Christian Europe
to the Elbe?
Churchill was right when he told FDR in December 1941 it was "The
Unnecessary War" and right again in 1948, when he wrote that, in
Stalin, the world now faced "even worse perils" than those of Hitler.
So, what had it all been for?
Historian Hanson should go back to tutoring undergrads about the
Peloponnesian War and the Syracuse Expedition.
SOURCE:
http://buchanan.org/blog/2008/06/pjb-the-good-war-and-the-terrible-p
eace/
--- END ---