Channelling George Washington: The Revolution That Changed The World

Thomas Fleming, a noted historian and historical novelist, offers his latest in a series of articles on channelling the late George Washington on issues of American history and current affairs.

The series of articles appear in George Mason University's History News Network.

The latest has General George Washington, our first and perhaps our greatest president, speaking about the American Revolution and how that revolution changed the world.

You can read the article via the below link:

http://hnn.us/articles/140325.html

Channelling George Washington: Don't Let Afghanistan Turn Into Another South Vietnam

Noted historian and novelist Thomas Fleming offers another piece in his series of "interviews" with the late George Washington.

With Thomas' vast knowledge of our first, and in my view, our greatest, president, he imagines what Washington would think of current and historical events.

The clever and insightful series appears on George Mason University's History News Network.

In his latest piece, Washington warns against abandoning Afghanistan after so much American sacrifice, which is what we did in Vietnam in the 1970s.

Washington tells us about the rarely reported brutal aftermath of the Communist victory and how harshly the South Vietnamese were treated by the North Vietnamese.

I played a minor role in the Vietnam War, having served as a teenage sailor on the USS Kitty Hawk in 1970 and 1971 as the aircraft carrier performed combat operations on "Yankee Station" off the coast of Vietnam.

(Check out my look back at the USS Kitty Hawk in the Vietnam War at http://pauldavisoncrime.blogspot.com/2010/05/look-back-at-aircraft-carrier-uss-kitty.html).

I, like most Vietnam veterans, and most Americans, was outraged when the Democratic Congress cut off funds to support the South Vietnamese government and allowed the Communist North Vietnamese to invade and capture the South after the United States withdrew combat troops.

(For the record, the North Vietnamese defeated the South Vietnamese troops, not U.S. troops. There were no U.S. combat troops in South Vietnam in 1975, only support troops. The North Vietnamese never won a battle over company strenth during the entire Vietnam War). 

This was a dark day in American history.

I truly hope that we do not do abandon Afghanistan like we did South Vietnam.

You can read General George Washington's view of the subject via the below link:

http://hnn.us/articles/139846.html

In the DoD photo above by Pfc. Justin A. Young, U.S. Army Spc. Joseph Wilhelm of HHC Scouts, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Battalion, 101st Airborne Division, patrols through a grape vineyard during Operation Mountain Cougar, Char Shaka, Afghanistan, April 28, 2011. Operation Mountain Cougar is intended to disrupt and reduce Taliban activity.

Channelling George Washington: What Bin Laden's Death Means

Thomas Fleming, a noted historian, offers another interesting piece in his series Channelling George Washington for the George Mason University's History News Network.

This piece has Fleming discussing the death of Osama bin Laden with our first and perhaps greatest president.

You can read the piece via the below link:

http://hnn.us/articles/139078.html  

Why The Civil War Happened

Historian and novelist Thomas Fleming explains why the Civil War happened in an interesting piece for George Mason University's History News Network.

"As we approach the one hundred fiftieth anniversary of the start of the Civil War, various people are rushing into print to declare that the real cause of the war was slavery," Fleming writes in the piece. "Their triumphant tone indicates they think they are scoring points against Southerners who maintain the real reason was states rights. They are both wrong."

You can read the piece via the below link:

http://www.hnn.us/articles/135102.html

The Lessons of the Vietnam War's Tet Offensive for the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan

George Mason University's History News Network offers an interesting piece by James S. Robbins on the lessons of the Tet Offensive in the Vietnam War for our ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Robbins, the author of This Time We Win: Revisiting the Tet Offensive, sets the record straight on one of the commonly held misconceptions from the Vietnam War.

You can read the piece via the below link:

http://www.hnn.us/articles/133486.html

You can also read a review of the book in The Washington Times by Gary L. Larson via the below link:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/nov/10/the-truth-about-tet/

How Not to Fight a War: Good Advice From Our First President to the Current One - Thomas Fleming Channels George Washington

George Mason University's History News Network has historian Thomas Fleming channeling our nation's indispensable man, George Washington.

Fleming (seen in the below photo) interviews President Washington about the war in Afghanistan.

You can read the interesting piece via the below link:

http://www.hnn.us/articles/130042.html