Obama Does Dresden

On his latest stop on the "America is Sorry" tour, Obama is spending the night in Dresden, Germany. While not an "official stop," the message is quite clear. Much of his time in office has been an apology to the world for how America has behaved, and of all the magnificent cities in Germany in which he could stay, he chose this one for a reason.

Dresden is a favorite topic of left-leaning historians, especially non-US historians. For background on its bombing, click here

Per communication from the administration, the official talking point was that Obama would be staying in Dresden due to its proximity to the Buchenwald concentration camp, which would also be visited. Here are my issues:

• Dresden is nowhere near Buchenwald. If proximity was the objective, there are a dozen towns bigger and closer. Ah, the benefits of governing a populace that is incredibly ignorant of geography - especially foreign geography.
• Visits of the two places is an obvious statement about their parallels, and while not "official," is a pure play to satisfy those that consider American airmen to be war criminals.

And now, later today, Obama will stand on the shores of Normandy; site of the greatest battle ever waged in the history of man. He'll stand shoulder to shoulder with hero airmen that readied the beaches by dropping their bombs on Hitler's Atlantic Wall; all done at low altitude, and facing horrific fire. And some of those same men he will meet are considered baby killers by the people Obama wanted to placate in his Dresden stay.

Dresden was not a good situation, I will grant you that. But consider:

• It was WAR, and one we did not start, and reluctantly joined. In war, sometimes bad stuff can happen, and for that, we can indeed be sorry.
• In light of the atrocities of the murders of MILLIONS of civilians by the Germans, Japanese, and the Soviets, Dresden is a rounding error.
• Unlike every other country that was victorious after war throughout the history of man, we gave the German people something they never had - freedom.
• Dresden, since it fell into the area that was "liberated" by the Red Army, lived under the boot of Soviet Russia for an additional 40 years. If not for our fighting and subsequently winning the Cold War, they'd still be living under Soviet occupation.

I am tired of history being re-written where the United States is the bad guy. I'm tired that we know so little of our history that this rewriting can occur under our noses with nary a peep. I'm tired when our heroes are called baby killers. I'm tired of our sycophantic press that gleefully swallows what they're fed by this administration. And, most of all, I'm tired of a President whose perspective of American history is one that focuses on embarrassment and shame.