A quick check of the truth-checking website snopes.com shows that Glenn's comments were actually made in the 1970s and therefore obviously had nothing to do with the current state of affairs in Iraq.

Instead, they've been attached to this widely circulated email and take his comments completely out of context. The "truthiness" of the earlier statements in the email are also highly questionable.

For more information, go to:

http://www.snopes.com/politics/quotes/glenn.asp

Mark Nesvig, Savage Pacer Sports Writer, 952-345-6380 or sports@swpub.com

In response to the above posting, I would like to make the point that statistics and data can be manipulated in many different ways.
I don’t believe that comparing foreign and domestic policies or statistics is fair because there are too many variables that go into each.
We have two wars we are fighting one in Iraq and one in Afghanistan.
We are also fighting a war on terrorism, but that is hard to define.
We also have a domestic violence problem within our borders that needs to be fought.
That being said, I also believe in transparency in writers, so I tend to lean more towards liberals on war issues than conservatives.
The Iraq war policies are a sticky situation, and one needs to be skeptical of any and all numbers they see, especially with a presidential election in our midst.
I agree that the position of commander-in-chief is a difficult job that is why the person holding that position needs to keep an open mind, have a strong supporting cast and must be very intelligent and competent.
If you believe I am ragging on Bush with these comments, I am not.
These are qualities that our president should have regardless of political affiliation.
I’m sure Bush is intelligent and competent. I just think he should exercise rationality a bit more often. (That is the liberal coming out in me.)
I believe that Democrats as well as Republicans are concerned with the way the war is going.
I believe that the concern over how long we are in Iraq is in relation to how many more service members will inevitably die as the war continues, rather than comparing it to how long it took us to clear the Branch Dividian Compound.
Sadaam was a horrible dictator. He persecuted and killed many Iraqi people.
He was a dictator; I don’t know that you can call a political leader a terrorist.
One definition of terrorist is one who utilizes the systematic use of violence and intimidation to achieve political objectives, while disguised as a civilian non-combatant.
A second definition states that use should be restricted specifically to references to people and nongovernmental organizations planning and executing acts of violence against civilian or noncombatant targets.
As far as the statement of morale being high in the military, this depends on who you talk with.
But I would never write that morale is high with a definitive exclamation point.
It is subjective in nature.
I am not going to get into the “bias” of the media because that is a whole other subject about objectivity, which I would encourage in a future conversation.
But… One of the objectives of journalism is to inform and educate the public so they can make informed decisions on issues that face them.
I don’t believe that the media preying on “ignorance” would satisfy that objective of the trade.

As for the data above, this is what I found on a few of the statements.
I would like to start by saying that the United States is the only country in the world that has been in constant warfare since 1941.
Now I understand that being the leader of the free world has its cost, but this is a foreign policy issue, which needs to be addressed by both political parties to prevent an ongoing future of warfare and casualties of our brave service people.
Franklin D. Roosevelt did lead us into World War II following the bombing on our soil at Pearl Harbor by the Japanese.
This is true.
But… According to www.abmc.gov/search/wwii.php, the American Battle Memorial Commission there was 405,399 American casualties in World War II, not 450,000, which would bring the average down to 101,349 soldiers per year.
Nonetheless this is an enormous loss for our country during the war.
I would also add that those numbers are American casualties, the war saw over 60 million casualties. Hardly comparable to the war in which we are currently involved.
True, Germany never attacked the U.S. in World War II and Japan did.
World War II was started when Germany invaded Poland and Japan attacked the U.S., Britain, Dutch Islands and China.
We joined forces with the Allied powers in a war that would see over 60 million casualties. Every major world power at the time was involved in World War II.
Let us not forget the millions of Jews that were persecuted and killed by Hitler and Nazi Germany.
The Korean War saw 54,246 American casualties between 1950 and ’53, according to the U.S. Department of Defense. So that number is a fair estimate.
True. Truman did end World War II and was president when the Korean War began.
But… The U.S. and the United Nations retaliated on North Korea after they crossed the 38th Parallel into South Korea with force. So they did not attack us directly, but they were a communistic country attacking a democracy, which we openly supported.
President Harry S Truman ordered U.S. naval and air forces to stem the North Korean advance, but they were not allowed to attack north of the 38th parallel, and especially not into Chinese or Russian territory.
May I add here that Iraq never attacked us either.
Please contribute to this conversation about Iraq. It is an important issue that needs to be addressed.

Well said Bob.
I think that replying to these posts is the best way to give two perspectives on an issue.
Thank you for responding to my comment.
To defend myself, I said that I believe in transparency in writers, then went on to say that I lean more liberal than conservative on these issues about the war in Iraq.
So people wouldn't think that my post was unbiased.
It was my opinion, other than the casualty statistics that I got from the American Battle Memorial Commission and the Department of Defense.