I dont know what to say but my history teacher compared Iraq to post WWII

[JohnKleeb]

Germany and Japan
and Shrub asking for all that money to the Marshall plan. Jesus Christ!, the two situations couldnt be any different. However my good news is I did good on my All Quiet on the Western Front essay and according to my teacher's marks I nailed one concept dead on, which is that you begin not to care that Paul Baumer and his comrades would be your nation's enemy. So I am willing to bet I am the first DUer home from high scool. Booyah! :hi: everyone

[Kathy in Cambridge]

1. Did you challenge him on that?

if he knew his history at all, he would never be able to make the comparison.

[JohnKleeb]

3. I didnt have enough time

It wasnt a lecture.

[RobertSeattle]

2. Japan and Germany formally surrendered

The Iraqi government just evaporated.

I would like to see an article on any armed "resistance" that occurred Post World War II in Germany and Japan. I think it was minimal.

[JohnKleeb]

4. Actually there was some resistance

but you didnt hear about GIs being gunned down. Also we started this war. I wanted to call her on it but it really wasnt a lecture.

[CO Liberal]

5. I Think Resistance Was Limited to Isolated Pacific Islands

Where Japanese soldiers hadn't gotten the news that the war was over.

[JohnKleeb]

6. yeah that I infered to the so called Werewolves though

in Germany and they were miminal. What Shrub proposes isnt any thing like the Marshall plan. I shouldnt had said something but it wasnt a lecture and etc but lol in physchology people didnt scowl at me for owning the communist manifesto, I shared it with the class, we had this thing called a bio bag like we showed our important things that defied us, I also brought my DK button.

[Hubert Flottz]

7. Iraq is more like the countries Hitler Overran!

The mass roundups will start any day now, wait and see!

[JohnKleeb]

9. I felt like saying umm yeah

We invaded Iraq.

[JHB]

8. Check other threads...

...this one, for instance...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=296734

[JohnKleeb]

10. thanks I dont have to write anything about this though

btw I knew I had seen what I read in your sig somewhere, I rememeber now it was your sig, I do love that saying though, that the right wingers wanna replace what beat communism with what spawned it, and I believe thats true. Sorry for the rant and thanks for the link.

[JHB]

12. Glad you like it

The CON-artists arer quick to point to the triumph of capitalism over communism, but they conveniently misrepresent the KIND of capitalism which did so... the one that raised the standard of living for the most people: the mixed-economy, progressively taxed, regulated capitalism with socialistic "safety net" elements that sprung from the New Deal and European democratic socialists, NOT the nineteenth-century unregulated laissez-faire capitalism that they're promoting (which was so harsh and brutal that the only alternative seemed to be it's complete overthrow: "Workers of the world unite!").

[LoneStarLiberal]

11. Valid Comparison, Invalid Inferences

I hope your history teacher doesn't publicize the institution granting his or her degree for the institution's sake!

That comparison is a valid comparison but is full of completely invalid inferences.

First, Germany and Japan were both quite ethnically, religiously, and linguistically homogeneous which made the tasks facing the United States and other allies much easier. Iraq is multiethnic, multireligious, and multilinguistic. The regime of Saddam Hussein had a long and illustrious history of repression targeted at all of these groups in different combinations which only increased the problems any postwar plan would face in getting everyone back on the same field.

Second, it is true that our PNAC policy makers do appear to be deluded by the respective case studies of postwar Germany and postwar Japan when they daydreamed the end of the war whilst sucking their thumbs one day. The German occupation and reconstruction was greatly facilitated by cooperative Nazi bureaucrats and the cooperation of former military figures. The same occured in Japan, particularly with the civil police. But this has not been the case with our postwar environment in Iraq. The failure to plan for alternative realities is perhaps one of the most damning features of this administration's failure.

So while I would say it is valid to compare these situations, there is absolutely no grounds for making inferences from postwar Germany and postwar France about postwar Iraq.

[protect freedom impeach bush now]

13. show your history challenged teacher this......

http://slate.msn.com/id/2087768/

Condi's Phony History
Sorry, Dr. Rice, postwar Germany was nothing like Iraq.
By Daniel Benjamin

[dmr]

14. Your teacher is listening to Bush instead of thinking this out for herself

I had a discussion with my son on this because I wanted him to be very clear that this situation is far different than what happened after WWII. My son, pretty much had it figured out anyway. But this is what Bush* said Sunday night and then repeated in your classroom Monday by your teacher:

America has done this kind of work before. Following World War II, we lifted up the defeated nations of Japan and Germany, and stood with them as they built representative governments. We committed years and resources to this cause. And that effort has been repaid many times over in three generations of friendship and peace. America today accepts the challenge of helping Iraq in the same spirit -- for their sake, and our own.

[Japhy_Ryder]

15. Here's perhaps the other big difference

Um, Germany and Japan had invaded many of their neighboring countries. We didn't exactly invade Germany without provocation. Or alone. Or without reason, necessity and a plan.

Oh yeah, and as you'll recall Japan had invaded China and bombed the U.S. Exactly which of these things did Iraq do prior to our invasion?

The Marshall Plan saved many of the European democracies and helped Britain, France and Austria, as well as Germany rebuild both their infrastructures and economies after the war. Bush wants money to give to American companies to rebuild the destruction that America brought.

The comparison is so ridiculous it's almost laughable that your "history" teacher made it.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

16. Ask your teacher

if he has ever read Embracing Defeat, which came out within the last year or two. I don't remember the author's name, but it's about the American occupation of Japan.

He really should do a little background reading before spouting right wing talking points.