Bush and World War I

As I've been reading the famous book by Barbara Tuchman, The Guns of August, I've found several passages in the World War I history that mirror exactly what our President is doing. If he is repeating the failed lessons of that brutal war, then he is more xenophobic than we've thought.

First off, and this one is a doozy, "If they are not with us in this war, then they are against us!" Guess who said that before George W. Bush? Kaiser Wilheim II, the king of Germany, who launched the first European Civil War. Boy, that's the guy I want to be emulating.

Secondly, when Czar Nikolay II of Russia banned vodka sales to soldiers to prevent the drunken mess during mobilization for the Russo-Japanese war, a member of the Duma, Russia's parliament, remarked that governments during wartime always are imposing levies and taxes to increase income, but "never since the dawn of history has a country in time of war renounced the principal source of its income." That's right, kids, George Bush and Russia's repressive monarch are the only two leaders to throw away massive amounts of income during war. Can you say top one percent tax cuts?

So, in short, we have our President following the lead of two of the most incompetent monarchs in modern history. Given the domestic spying revelations, among others, one could say he's gone from incompetent president to joining that club of incompetent monarchs. I know he disdains academia and all, but can someone get him this book, let him read it, see how all these great preplanned ideas with no flexibility blew the hell out of Europe. Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it. Thanks for making us repeat this war, Mr. President.