History wasn't my best subject... but...

... the way I remember it, the Soviet Union pretty much fought every war for a handful of reasons--

Self-preservation

Spreading communism and disturbing/damaging capitalism

growing its empire

*******

I can think of no war in which the Soviets fought for anyone else's freedom. And since their people didn't HAVE freedom, you can pretty much rule out the notion that the Soviets ever fought FOR freedom at all.

Unless you're an anonymous writer for the Washington Post's website. According to him/her/it/them, the Soviets' eight million war casualties are way way more than the casualties America suffered for the freedom of others.

Okay, there's an asterisk there, and the Post freely admits that some of the Soviet deaths might not entirely have been for someone else's freedom, sort of.

But since their point was to debunk and mock Fred Thompson, and Fred said that America has shed more blood on behalf of OTHER PEOPLE'S LIBERTY than all other nations combined, they kind of needed some big numbers to 'prove him wrong'.

So remember your rewritten history, kiddies. Brave Soviet soldiers gave all for the freedom of someone else, somewhere else, because that's the giving and sacrificial nature of communists.

The real takings from this are plain as day; at the Washington Post any twist of fact, any misreading of history, any lie is fair game so long as it's used to debunk a conservative speaking for American goodness.

And the WaPo has the gall to give Fred "Pinocchio points", which is a lot like Hillary telling General Petraeus she needs 'willing suspension of disbelief' to accept his report. It's just a cowardly way of calling a man a liar.

I've been to Colville-sur-Mer in Normandy, and strolled down the rows of crosses, now and then a Star of David, each bearing the name of a young man and his rank and the date of his death. There are many thousands of those there, most of the men having died within a week of each other in 1944. And while Colville-sur-Mer is a large piece of land, it is a very small part of France.

All we ever ask is enough land to bury our dead. And then we leave.

If we are imperialists, we're the most forgetful imperialists the world has ever known. We always leave our 'conquered' lands without stealing anything or committing genocide against any locals (or Jews) or even declaring ourselves dictator for life. We stay long enough to make the innocents safe and kill the bad guys, then we help the survivors with getting things back to normal again, then we go home as soon as we can. We did it in France, Japan, Germany and Korea, and on smaller levels in other places. And we will do it in Iraq if in fact the people are able to see the value and cling to it. But it always depends on the locals getting it right. And we always give theme every chance, because we really do want them to succeed.

We were even succeeding at this in Vietnam when the Libs pulled the funding for the troops. We had weaknesses of leadership then, military and otherwise, but the principle for which we fought was sound and just; saving an innocent and uneducated population from the very real and savage threat of communism.

And if someone at WaPo wants to poo-poo the relative savagery of the threat of communism, I have some big numbers for them too, WITHOUT asterisks.

Pol Pot-- killing fields-- TWO MILLION DEAD. Because we left and he felt he was free to do it.

Stalin -- THIRTY MILLION OR MORE, DEAD. Almost for no good reason, but Stalin didn't need reasons by then.

And God alone knows how many have died in China because of communism, but odds are that over the past half century or more, the number is bigger than Stalin's.

And you know, sometimes those other nations for whose freedom we've fought even recognize this, and show gratitude. I'll never forget a poster on the wall of a shop in Arromanche on the Normandy coast (where Mulberry Harbor was built, and where it remains in skeletal form). An American GI was in silhouette, walking toward the setting sun, helmet at jaunty angle but with a fatigued slump to his body, and in the foreground a small French boy and girl holding hands and calling to the departing GI, "Merci monsieur!"

Thank you sir, indeed.

It is likely the WaPo corps of anonymous debunkers wouldn't give that poster a second glance, but I shall forever remember it and weep when I do, for the men who were not able to walk off into the sunset when the fighting was over and the people were free.

Those men are still there. Every American should visit them once in a lifetime. And when preparing the bird cage and the catbox for your vacation, be sure and use some fresh sheets of Washington Post.