On June 6, 1944, under the leadership of Supreme Allied Commander Dwight David Eisenhower, American and Allied troops began the massive invasion of Western Europe that would turn the tide of WWII.
Operation Overlord was a bold and risk-filled operation to land over 150,000 troops on the beaches of Normandy against fortified German positions and the Atlantic Wall defenses designed to thwart such an attack.
Led by a nation founded not two centuries earlier under the ideals of individual liberty, self determination and the principle that government derives its power from the consent of the people, the allied forces overcame overwhelming obstacles and began to turn back the German tide, leading to the eventual rescue of Europe from Hitler’s Wehrmacht. Storming the beaches of Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword, thousands gave the ultimate sacrifice and countless thousands more became casualties in the fights for freedom.
This was indeed a time of American greatness. Our leaders understood who we were, what we stood for, and what our role was. Our enemies were clearly defined, and their destruction was paramount, unclouded by political correctness, misguided compassion or liberal philosophical appeasement.
American greatness has flourished under such men who knew what had to be done and did it. Consider for a moment the course of history if American presidents had waivered in the face of their sacred duty. Consider FDR hoping to reason with Hitler, Truman refusing the use the bomb at the expense of thousands more American lives in the Pacific, JFK relying on UN sanctions against the Soviet missiles being deployed in Cuba, Reagan refusing to challenge and bankrupt the USSR in an arms and defense buildup, Bush I appeasing Hussein and becoming hostage to mid-east oil prices, or Bush II not answering the 9-11 attack and taking the fight to our enemies.
Operation Overlord was a bold and risk-filled operation to land over 150,000 troops on the beaches of Normandy against fortified German positions and the Atlantic Wall defenses designed to thwart such an attack.
Led by a nation founded not two centuries earlier under the ideals of individual liberty, self determination and the principle that government derives its power from the consent of the people, the allied forces overcame overwhelming obstacles and began to turn back the German tide, leading to the eventual rescue of Europe from Hitler’s Wehrmacht. Storming the beaches of Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword, thousands gave the ultimate sacrifice and countless thousands more became casualties in the fights for freedom.
This was indeed a time of American greatness. Our leaders understood who we were, what we stood for, and what our role was. Our enemies were clearly defined, and their destruction was paramount, unclouded by political correctness, misguided compassion or liberal philosophical appeasement.
American greatness has flourished under such men who knew what had to be done and did it. Consider for a moment the course of history if American presidents had waivered in the face of their sacred duty. Consider FDR hoping to reason with Hitler, Truman refusing the use the bomb at the expense of thousands more American lives in the Pacific, JFK relying on UN sanctions against the Soviet missiles being deployed in Cuba, Reagan refusing to challenge and bankrupt the USSR in an arms and defense buildup, Bush I appeasing Hussein and becoming hostage to mid-east oil prices, or Bush II not answering the 9-11 attack and taking the fight to our enemies.
American military power, no matter how overwhelming it may be, is useless when the commander-in-chief does not possess the capacity or the will to use it. It is an insult to all those who have sacrificed in the past, and all those who serve valiantly today when their president is uncomfortable with the notion of American exceptionalism.
Contrast those leaders who have successfully guided us in times of war with the ineptitude and feckless pandering that is Barack Obama. He has made overtures to the Muslim world, embracing the Saudis and the Turks (who have moved away from their secular society and towards Islam.) He has been sympathetic to Palestinian demands and he has snubbed our only ally in the mid-east, Israel, while refusing to even acknowledge that we are fighting a war against Islamic terrorists. At the same time he denounces the Judeo-Christian roots of our country and classifies religious Christians as terror threats.
His foreign policy blunders include rescinding agreements for missile defense to our allies in Eastern Europe, cutting back on our nuclear arsenal, imposing impossible rules of engagement on our military and crippling our intelligence agencies. He has squandered his presidency by attempting to reason with, and then talk tough to, Iran, while the Islamic Theocracy moves closer to attaining nuclear arms, which will fundamentally change the face of politics and power in the mid-east.
Mr. Obama, whether or not you realize it, the actions, inactions and the words of the president of the United States have real consequences. You have failed in your one main responsibility which is to safeguard the citizens of our nation. While you bloviate about social justice, trample the constitution, bankrupt our economy, refuse to protect our borders and erode the God given liberties which each of us possess, you have allowed the world to become a much more dangerous place.
Taking a cue from your apparent belief that all nations are equal and that there is nothing exceptional about America, and that indeed, in your mind, America is more the problem than the solution, rogue nations have been embrazened to test our resolve. North Korea has felt secure in provoking South Korea by sinking one of its ships. Iran laughs in your face and continues to develop nuclear weapons. Is there any doubt that those weapons, once developed, will be given to terrorists who will transport them across our porous borders and into American cities? Do you doubt that those weapons will enable Iran to become the preeminent power in the mid-east and curtail the flow of the oil we so depend on?
We have seen Turkey shift to the support of Islamic extremists and assist in a sham blockade-run in Israel to turn world opinion, already slanted by the anti-Semitic hatred propagated throughout the UN, even more belligerent against the only democracy in the mid-east.
Here in America we have witnessed a massacre on a military base and attempted terrorist attacks in our cities. We have seen terrorists coddled and intelligence operatives chastised. The citizens of Arizona are ridiculed as racists by their president when they try to protect themselves against millions of illegal aliens because you, and other administrations before yours, have put politics and political correctness ahead of your sacred duty to protect the citizens of this country. You, and the military leaders who have forsaken the welfare of those under their command in order to appear politically pure to their civilian masters, have concerned yourselves with such minutiae as smoking rules, sexual orientation, and the rights of enemies rather than supplying those brave men and women who put their lives on the line for our freedom with the very best equipment, support and command structure available, and taking the gloves off and allowing them to achieve the objectives of securing the citizens of America without the political baggage that hampers their every move.
America as we know it is slipping away. As we have seen, it only takes a short time and the actions of a one man, along with a liberal congress, elected in a perfect storm of circumstances, by a selfish, uneducated electorate, to undo years of greatness.
We must all remember the sacrifices made by those brave men sixty six years ago, on foreign shores for people they did not know, because of a belief in a dream called America, and the virtues espoused by those who proudly called themselves Americans. Teach your children and grandchildren about those men and about our history – we cannot depend on our schools or on the revisionist history that seeps into our classrooms. If we fail to teach, if we fail to act, if we fail to reverse the travesties being perpetrated on our society by this administration, if we fail to change congress this November, then D-Day, and all of the greatness that we remember as America will seem a nebulous dream, a memory of a time that once was, but is no more.
Nico
