How war losses are attributed to "stab in the back" anti-war activists

Nov 28, 2006

The stab in the back in Europe 1918, China 1949, Vietnam, and Iraq


Everyone in Germany in 1918 knew that they had the best army in the world. Everyone in Germany knew that peace with Russia would release thousands of soldiers to the Western Front. Everyone in Germany knew that the Americans had too small an army to make a difference. Then Germany was defeated, her armies in full retreat, her homeland threatened with invasion. The only reason that made sense was treachery at home. The mighty invincible German military was "stabbed in the back" by pacifists, defeatists, Communists, and Jews at home. (The fact was that the German army was bled white and had no way to repulse the fresh American troops who went "over the top" and because they didn't know the German army was the best in the world, beat it.)

When China was taken over by Mao and the Communists in 1949, everyone in the US knew that the only way our policy could have lost and our ally Chiang Kai-Shek defeated was by treachery at home. Our policy-makers were the best and brightest in the world, we had just won World War II, and so Communists, pinkos, and fellow-travelers had to have sabotaged our efforts. (The face was that the Chinese preferred their own brand of dictatorship rather than one supported by foreign powers, and it wasn't long before China broke with the USSR's supervision.)

Current myth-making about the war in Vietnam has been expressed by GW Bush when he said, "We will win unless we quit." After General Westmoreland's strategy of American dominance in the war seemed to have failed, Vietnamization was the order of the day. This meant supporting the efforts of the government and army of South Vietnam to fight their own battles and win their own war. But just as we were on the verge of victory, defeatists at home sabotaged this effort and we ended up withdrawing our troops, assuring a Communist victory. (The fact is we won every battle, including the Tet offensive, but nevertheless could not win the war. The Vietnamese had been struggling for independence at least since 1918 when Ho Chi Minh as a student in Paris was turned down at the Versailles peace meetings for self-rule for Vietnam, and weren't about to give in now).

We see this same thing happening with regard to Iraq, that we can just win if we hang on and don't listen to the negative thinkers who actually are undermining our troops' morale and efforts. But consider this: We won the war against Saddam, but we are losing the peace. To win the peace we need to declare victory in the war and withdraw our troops. Our presence in Iraq cannot help the situation and can only hurt it. Primum non nocere (First, do no harm).


--By ceratotherium