[Apologies for the length; his words just keep resonating the more he speaks.]
Continuing the Churchill theme (on the assumption that history repeats itself):
“The long debate was not unworthy of the emotions aroused and the issues at stake. I well remember that when I said, ‘We have sustained a total and unmitigated defeat,’ the storm which met me made it necessary to pause for a while before resuming . . .
“There was also a serious and practical line of argument, albeit not to their credit, on which the Government could rest themselves. No one could deny that we were hideously unprepared for war. Who had been more forward in proving this than I and my friends? . . . The House approved the policy of His Majesty’s [in our case, Obama’s] Government, ‘by which war was averted in the recent crisis’ . . .
“In the course of my speech I said:
We really must not waste time after all this long debate upon the difference between the positions reached … at Munich [or, in Vienna, in our current situation]. They can be very simply epitomized, if the House will permit me to vary the metaphor. One pound was demanded at the pistol’s point. When it was given, two pounds were demanded at the pistol’s point. Finally, the Dictator [Ayatollah] consented to take one pound, 17 shillings, and sixpence and the rest in promises of good will for the future.
. . . And I will say this, that I believe the Czechs [Israelis], left to themselves and told they were going to get no help from the Western Powers, would have been able to make better terms that all they have got after all this tremendous perturbation. They could hardly have had worse.
All is over. Silent, mournful, abandoned, broken, Czechoslovakia [Israel] recedes into the darkness. She has suffered in every respect by her associations with France [the U.S.], under whose guidance and policy she has been actuated for so long.
…
I do not grudge our loyal, brave people, who were ready to do their duty no matter what the cost . . . They should know that there has been gross neglect and deficiency in our defenses; they should know that we have sustained a defeat without a war; the consequences of which will travel far with us along our road; they should know that we have passed an awful milestone in our history, when the whole equilibrium of Europe [the Mideast] has been deranged, and that the terrible words have for the time being been pronounced against the Western Democracies: “Thou are weighed in the balance and found wanting.” And do not suppose that this is the end. This is only the beginning of the reckoning.
– Winston Churchill, “The Second World War,” Vol. 1, The Gathering Storm. Chapter 18, “Munich Winter.”
[Apologies for the length; his words just keep resonating the more he speaks.]
Continuing the Churchill theme (on the assumption that history repeats itself):
“The long debate was not unworthy of the emotions aroused and the issues at stake. I well remember that when I said, ‘We have sustained a total and unmitigated defeat,’ the storm which met me made it necessary to pause for a while before resuming . . .
“There was also a serious and practical line of argument, albeit not to their credit, on which the Government could rest themselves. No one could deny that we were hideously unprepared for war. Who had been more forward in proving this than I and my friends? . . . The House approved the policy of His Majesty’s [in our case, Obama’s] Government, ‘by which war was averted in the recent crisis’ . . .
“In the course of my speech I said: