"Does History Repeat Itself? Always!"
By Ron Ewart

He had earlier forecasted the events that would endanger the very freedom of the West. He warned the people of its threat. He correctly characterized the enemy as evil fascists and he predicted their rise to power and their desire for world domination. He knew they must be confronted by any and all means, before they reached the shores of his country and breached its defenses.

He stood steadfast in the face of criticism. He clung to his principles and his vision, as the people lost confidence in his decisions and counsel. The war was going badly and the people were growing tired and impatient. A heavy price was being paid in men, materials and money. His many critics called for his "head" and a move was made to render him impotent by cutting off his funds or removing him from office. Never flinching from his appointment with destiny, never wavering from his convictions, he reached out to the people and his critics with passion, with courage, with prowess and with a stalwart heart. He successfully beat back the attempts to unseat him. He articulated his plan for victory. In so many words he said:

"Never, never, never believe any war will be smooth and easy, or that anyone who embarks on the strange voyage can measure the tides and hurricanes he will encounter. The statesman who yields to war fever must realize that once the signal is given, he is no longer the master of policy but the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable events."

"One ought never to turn one's back on a threatened danger and try to run away from it. If you do that, you will double the danger. But if you meet it promptly and without flinching, you will reduce the danger by half."

"A love for tradition has never weakened a nation, indeed it has strengthened nations in their hour of peril."

"All great things are simple, and many can be expressed in single words like freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope."

"An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last."

"Battles are won by slaughter and maneuver. The greater the general, the more he contributes in maneuver, the less he demands in slaughter."

"I was only the servant of my country and had I, at any moment, failed to express her unflinching resolve to fight and conquer, I should at once have been rightly cast aside."

"In war as in life, it is often necessary when some cherished scheme has failed, to take up the best alternative open, and if so, it is folly not to work for it with all your might."

"Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival."

No. These are not the words of the beleaguered and unpopular President George W. Bush about the war in Iraq. These are the very words uttered by Prime Minister Winston Churchill during World War II, when his English brethren lost faith in his direction and confidence in his leadership. The Allies had lost over 70,000 lives and untold wounded in the North Africa campaign, to Rommel's armies and the English were restless. They didn't lose 3,000 lives, as we have now in Iraq, but 70,000 in six months. In the Battle of the Bulge, after Normandy, the Allies lost over 19,000 lives to the Germans. Not 3,000, as we have now, but 19,000 in a little over a month. That is almost 100,000 lives lost to defend freedom as compared to 3,000 we have now and yet the appeasers and peace nicks in this country are tired of and impatient with the war. Unfortunately, what all of these folks don't realize, is that the threat of Islamo-Fascism is just as real as Nazi-Fascism and look at what it cost while we appeased the "enemy" and looked the other way. Whenever a large group of fanatics set out to conquer the world, they must be stopped at all costs. At least President Bush is trying. But not only must he fight the foreign enemy, he must suffer the indignities of our domestic enemy as well, us.

History constantly repeats itself and we can learn from history, if we will only heed the lessons it teaches us. Churchill was proved to be absolutely right. The appeaser, Nevil Chamberlain, was proved to be very wrong. Will history prove George W. Bush to be right? Time will tell. I'm guessing history will tell an entirely different story about Bush's steadfast prosecution of the enemy, Islamo-Fascists than what is being told today. So shouldn't we, as a country, rally around this man of conviction and courage? Let me make it a little plainer. If you are in an airplane that is in trouble, would you nit pick, criticize, pull at his collar and disparage the pilot's character, as he struggles to bring the airplane under control, or would you let him do the job that he was trained to do? Right now, that "pilot" knows more than any of us know and we must trust that his knowledge, training and judgment will keep us safe from the savagery of foreign aggressors. I don't agree with all of his decisions and much of his non-conservative philosophy, but I have no choice but to trust him in matters of war and I must also trust that his decisions will lead to ultimate victory. History will either vindicate or impugn his actions.

But if we do not come together as one in this country and coalesce in the defense of freedom, liberty and victory over our enemies, both foreign and domestic, we are doomed to disintegrate under ever-increasing uncivil hostility, until that hostility results in acts of violence against each other.