His Finest Hour
Public resource Michael Abramowitz reports in the Washington Post on a little noticed vignette in Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez’s “Wiser in Battle” Iraq memoir.
Sanchez has President Bush rallying the troops via video conferencing, teeing off the illustrious Battle of Fallujah, with what we might call an uncertain trumpet:
“Kick ass!” he quotes the president as saying. “If somebody tries to stop the march to democracy, we will seek them out and kill them! We must be tougher than hell! This Vietnam stuff, this is not even close. It is a mind-set. We can’t send that message. It’s an excuse to prepare us for withdrawal….There is a series of moments and this is one of them. Our will is being tested, but we are resolute. We have a better way. Stay strong! Stay the course! Kill them! Be confident! Prevail! We are going to wipe them out! We are not blinking!”
Churchillian!