2001: President Bush warned that it would be a long war

President Bush announced that US troops were on the march in Afghanistan on this day in 2001.    

He spoke to the nation and said something that sounds rather prophetic today:  

He also warned that the war in Afghanistan would likely be only the first front in a long struggle against terrorism. He vowed to continue to take what he called the “war on terror” to those countries that sponsored, harbored or trained terrorists.

And here we are.    Sadly, President Obama's policies set back our gains in Iraq and the region.    We made gains under President Trump.  Time will tell whether President Biden's poorly executed withdrawal will require our troops to return.

Let me recommend President Bush's "Decision points".

P.S.  You can listen to my show.  If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.

Cuba and the 1960 Nixon-Kennedy debates

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My late father would often speak about the Kennedy-Nixon debates of 1960. 

Like he told me, many Cubans listened to that debate very carefully on the radio.  It was broadcast to Cuba on short wave radio, perhaps Voice of America or some other frequency.

By the summer of 1960, Cuba was in rebellion against the Castro regime.  

Cubans were asking these questions:  What happened to the elections?  Why are all of those Soviets landing at the airport?  Why are Cuban owned businesses “nationalized”?  Why is every regime critic called a CIA operative?  Why so many political arrests?  Why were newspapers shut down?   

Finally, the candidates debated foreign policy and Cuba was a huge topic:

“In the second of four televised debates, Democratic presidential nominee John F. Kennedy and Vice President Richard Nixon turn their attention to foreign policy issues.
Three Cold War episodes, in particular, engendered spirited confrontations between Kennedy and Nixon.
The first involved Cuba, which had recently come under the control of Fidel Castro.
Nixon argued that the island was not “lost” to the United States, and that the course of action followed by the Eisenhower administration had been the best one to allow the Cuban people to “realize their aspirations of progress through freedom.”
Kennedy fired back that it was clear that Castro was a communist, and that the Republican administration failed to use U.S. resources effectively to prevent his rise to power.
He concluded that, “Today Cuba is lost for freedom.””

A few months after inauguration, President Kennedy dropped the ball at The Bay of Pigs.   On December 2nd, Castro announced that he had always been a “Marxist Lennist”!   In one year, Cuba went from being a topic at the debate to a Soviet satellite and a headache for the US.

P.S.  You can listen to my show.  If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.

2001: President Bush warned us about a long fight ahead

President Bush announced that US troops were on the march in Afghanistan on this day in 2001.    

He spoke to the nation and said something that sounds rather prophetic today:  

He also warned that the war in Afghanistan would likely be only the first front in a long struggle against terrorism. He vowed to continue to take what he called the “war on terror” to those countries that sponsored, harbored or trained terrorists.

And here we are.    Sadly, President Obama's policies set back our gains in Iraq and the region.    We have made gains under President Trump.

Let me recommend President Bush's "Decision points".

P.S.  You can listen to my show (Canto Talk).  If you like our posts, click send, and drop a dime here.

World War II: A look at the political leaders with Barry Jacobsen

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World War II: A look at the political leaders with Barry Jacobsen 07/01 by Silvio Canto Jr | News Podcasts:

Guest: Barry Jacobsen, military blogger and historian......we will look at some of the political and military figures of World War II..........President Roosevelt, President Truman, Prime Minister Churchill, USSR leader Stalin, Chancellor Hitler........................plus many more.....click to listen:

P.S.  You can listen to my show.  If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.