Huh? Defeated, occupied, and rebuilt by the armed forces of the United States?

Submitted by Thomas Milo (Netherlands), Jan 10, 2008 at 14:30

Doubtless this refers to the second world war. If so, it's simply not true. The struggle against totalitarianism was led by the British, not the Americans. In the initial stages of WWII, the US public and politics were not at all convinced that Nazi Germany needed to be defeated, occupied, and rebuilt. Not even after the attack on Pearl Harbor - strictly speaking a sideshow to secure the East flank of the Japanese attack on the Netherlands East Indies. Only because of accidental and megalomaniac move by Hitler to declare war on the US, that country got involved in the struggle.

The US joined a fight that was already being waged for more than a year by Great Britain and dominions, Poland, Norway, the Netherlands, Poland, the USSR and many more. These allied countries were collectively referred to as the United Nations - later to become a formal institute at the instigation of the US. As a result, totalitarian countries have been defeated, occupied, and rebuilt by the armed forces of the UNITED NATIONS in the sense as it was understood before 1945: synonymous with "the Allied Forces". All attempts by the armed forces of the US alone have been failures. All the successes in this field where the result of joint, international efforts. After its initial hesitations the US joined the fight for Freedom with its full force, and particularly the financial contribution to the reconstruction and resurrection of Europe were beyond belief. Well-thinking citizens of this part of the world acknowledge that in gratitude to this day.

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