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Men, to prepare for today's post go ahead and think manly thoughts: Blood, pirates, power-tools, swords and sex with a red-headed girl in the back of a convertible. Women, to get a similar experience I suggest you go to your local pharmacy and drink 20 ounces of pure rottweiler testosterone.

Our story takes place about 2500 years ago in ancient Greece and Mesopotamia. Back then, most crimes were punished with crucifixion or slavery; and the way local rulers kept control was to kill, torture and/or rape anyone who dared resist. It was a harsh world, and the superpower of this era was the mighty Persian Achaemenid Empire.

It was also a world where people held grudges for generations. In 480 BC the Persian king, Xerxes I, swore that he would punish the Greeks for supporting an Ionian revolt in 500 BC, and, for his dad's defeat at Marathon in 590 BC.

Xerxes prepared his expedition with great care over seven years: a channel was dug through the isthmus of the peninsula of Mount Athos, provisions were stored in the stations on the road through Thrace, two bridges were thrown across the Hellespont. He even concluded an alliance with Carthage, and thus deprived Greece of the support of the powerful monarchs of Syracuse and Agrigentum. (*)

You might say that when Xerxes delivered his vast army to the Greek mainland, the smart money was on the Persians.

What prevented Greece from becoming a vassal to the Persian Empire, was the tenacity of 300 Spartans, and 400 Thebans, lead by king Leonidas I at a narrow pass called Thermopylae. There, with a mountain on the right, and the sea on the left - the Greeks stood their ground and held off an army of at least 300,000 Persians for three days.

Ultimately, the only reason Xerxes's men were able to get through was because of a traitor by the name of Ephialtes of Trachis, who showed the Persians a way around the pass so that they could attack the Greeks from behind.

Can you imagine being a Greek at that battle? Blood on your sword, enemies piled high around you or screaming over the edge of a cliff, fighting with every ounce of strength for what you know is right, knowing that you are doomed - yet not caring.

That is a beautiful way to go. I'm not a violent guy, and if someone gave me a weapon I'm more likely to hurt myself than any enemy. But you don't have to be a war-hawk to appreciate the bravery.

"Hooah" indeed.

While the Battle of Thermopylae was a loss for the Greeks, the casualties incurred by the Persians were so high that it severely demoralized the rest of Xerxes's army. If a small band of men could stand against the Great Army and create such slaughter - what would the rest of Greece do to them?

Also, the battle was a huge inspiration for the divided Greek states to unify and eventually drive the Persians from their land.

The political lesson here: Just because a situation looks hopeless does not mean that fighting back does not have an effect. In politics and war, a loss is not necessarily a loss - as long as you can make it as difficult as possible for the enemy to continue.

This does not mean you have to engage in self-defeating activities or eschew all compromise. It's just that when your values or home is on the line; it's better to stand, fight, and lose a battle - than surrender just because you think your going to lose.

The fear of loss does not justify selling out your own people to another country, a political party or an immoral policy.

This is why those of use who care about social justice have gotten so disillusioned with conservative Democrats who are supposed to be protecting their constituents. They seem to roll over the moment they are expected to fight.

Imagine if Senator Hillary Clinton, instead of King King Leonidas I, ran the Greek side during the Battle of Thermopylae:

Spartan Soldier: Senator Clinton, the evil Persians are approaching the pass! You were elected to protect the Greek civilization - what should we do?

Clinton: Wow! The enemy looks strong, and we are likely to lose. EVERYONE SURRENDER OR RUN! I'll go ahead and buddy-up with king Xerxes and condemn the rest of you for being too partisan. Then, if at a later time it looks like the Greeks are winning, I'll come back.

I'm only partially kidding here. Please contradict me if I haven't nailed Clinton's comments and voting record for the past six years.

If our Democratic legislators were a bit more like those ancient Spartans and Thebans, perhaps today we would not be in Iraq, or we would have universal health care, or even better environmental protection - even if the Republicans were in control of both houses.

Read counterpoint here.

Tags: Thermopylae - Battle of Thermopylae - 300 - Politics - Ancient Greece - lessons

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Did you ever get caught doing something you weren't supposed to, and then made it worse by not admitting what you were up to?

Like when you got caught by your girlfriend naked in the kitchen at 3 AM with an Oreo in your mouth; and rather than just admit that you needed a sugar-fix, you tried to swallow the cookie too quickly and started coughing up black crumbs all over the floor.

What? That's never happened to you?

Me neither.

The point is that when you hide your true motivations when making a mistake, you tend to get into more trouble.

This phenomena explains why President Bush refuses to set a time-table for withdrawal from Iraq even though everything in that country is falling apart. He insists that we should stay until Iraq is able to maintain it's own security forces to fight the insurgency and Al Quada.

Or, as he puts it: "Until the mission is complete."

Okay, fine. We'll ignore that the original mission was to disarm Iraq and remove Saddam.

How long should it take to raise an army for security anyways?

To find out, let's let's jump into the time machine of our minds and take a quick trip to April of 1917. The United States Congress had just declared war on Germany in what was at the time called "The Great War". (Known today as WWI.)

At the time, the US Army didn't have a single unit of divisional size; it had no experience of large-scale operations since the end of the Civil War 51 years earlier, and, had no equipment heavier than medium machine guns. The only first-class American force was the Marine Corps of about 15,500, but it was scattered in overseas possessions such as Central America. (1)

Yet, by March 1918 over 318,000 American soldiers had been trained, equipped and shipped over to Paris - and they proceeded to kick the Kaiser's teeth in.

The lesson here is that it doesn't take that much time to create a functional military if you have the motivation.

And that's the nub of the problem: Motivation. A stable Iraq flies in direct contradiction of the real reason for the Iraq invasion: Oil.

If the Bush Administration had trained security forces properly and promptly, allowed a stable government, and repaired the infrastructure - the first thing Iraqis would have done is demand that the Americans, the oil companies and their contractors, leave the country.

And that is what the NeoConservatives are afraid of. They went into Iraq thinking that people would great them with flowers and beg them to stay to build McDonald's restaurants.

Instead they are stuck with a cookie in their mouth and no-where to hide.

It's not that I believe the Administration wanted a civil war - it's just that once it became clear they couldn't have a legitimate government that would let them stay, Bush's handlers decided to place their bets on the chance that if they stay in long enough Iraqis will accept a permanent US presence.

And why shouldn't they take that gamble? They aren't the ones who are going to have to clean the mess off the floor. That's what your children are for.

Read counterpoint here.

Tags: Iraqi Civil War - US Occupation - NeoConservative - Bush Administration - WWI - Motivation

(1) From The First World War, by John Keegan. Chapter 10, page 372.

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I spent Thanksgiving with a Vietnam veteran; let's call him "Jack" for the sake of this post. He told me about his experiences as a medic during the Battle of Dak To on a Thanksgiving week thirty-nine years ago.

In 1967, Jack was coming down Hill 875 (So named because it was 875 meters high) to join with Alpha company at the bottom to help them make a landing zone.

They weren't expecting trouble, and were relived to not be with Alpha and Charlie companies who were supposed to be engaging the enemy at the top of the hill. However, his unit walked straight into an ambush. In the ensuring fight, most of his platoon was wiped out.

Wikipedia does a good job of summarizing the event:

That morning, (Sunday, November 19, 1967) the 2/503, 173rd Airborne Brigade, moved into jumpoff positions from which to assault Hill 875. Charlie and Delta companies moved up the slope in two columns while Alpha Company remained behind at the bottom to cut out an LZ (Landing Zone).

About half way up the hill, PAVN (The North Vietnamese = "People's Army of Vietnam".) machine gunners opened fire on the advancing paratroopers. Then B-40 rockets and 57-mm recoiless rifle fire were unleashed. The Americans were only 100 meters from the crest when the enemy infantry opened up with small arms and grenades. The advance was halted and the men went to ground, finding whatever cover they could. The North Vietnamese then launched a massed assault on Company A at the base of the hill. Unknown to the Americans, they had walked into a carefully prepared ambush by the 174th PAVN Regiment.

Alpha Company retreated up the slope, followed closely by the enemy. All that halted the PAVN onslaught from overrunning the entire battalion was the heroic efforts of men who stood their ground and died to buy time for their comrades. Soon, air strikes and artillery fire were being called in, but they had little effect due to the dense foliage. It was then that one of the worst friendly-fire incidents of the conflict took place. A US fighter-bomber dropped a 500-pound bomb into the middle of the perimeter, where the command group, the wounded, and the medics were located. (emphasis mine.)

Only three of the twenty medics in that engagement that survived. Of which Jack was one.

He ended his story with the following comment:

"To me, Thanksgiving isn't associated with turkey or family. It's what happened to me and the friends I left behind on that hill.

This morning I saw on the news that another few troops were killed in Iraq this week. To the families of those killed, that's all they are going to remember around this time of year."

Tags: Vietnam - Thanksgiving - Hill 875 - Dak To - war story

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