# Bush to expand size of military **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 20, 2006, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-to-expand-size-of-military/384855 "2006-12-20T00:55:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![winters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ba8739/32.png) [@winters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/winters)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2006, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-to-expand-size-of-military/384855/141 "2006-12-30T12:53:03Z")
> [@](#): > > Winters, your post outlines closely the thesis of a book I read some time back. An excellent book with intriguing speculations, that I should like very much to recommend to other sniveling history geeks, if I could be remember the name. Advise? **elucidator** , a newer book about the rise of the nazis is Richard Evans’ _The Coming of the Third Reich_; it’s well written and not scholary but the analysis is a bit superficial and sometimes inconsistent. Still, it follows a reasoning similar to mine in this case. Michael Burleigh’s _The Third Reich: A New History_ main thesis is provocative, and you might have had that one in mind. The book is a well done synthesis of the most important interpretations of other historians - but it’s also an original work of a sharp mind. Burleigh is a great read for geeks but might prove to be incomprehensible for a novice because he takes some knowledge for granted and skips introductory steps quite often. If you were thinking about a german historian, you might have watched or read something by the popular Knopp, who calls Hitler’s takeover of power “Machterschleichung” (the sneaking into power). I think this white-washs the other players and ignores events like the “Preussenschlag” (Juli 20th, 1932) that illustrate how dictatorial Hitler’s conservative allies had already acted - and how little resistance they met. Sorry for the second hijack. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2006, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-to-expand-size-of-military/384855/142 "2006-12-31T05:40:51Z")
[QUOTE=elucidator] The next six months will be crucial. [/QUOTE] Six months = one Friedman ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2006, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-to-expand-size-of-military/384855/143 "2006-12-31T05:53:16Z")
I’m waiting for a talking head/“expert” to say, “Yeah, we always said the next 6 months were crucial. The last 6 months were it. It’s all down hill from here!” ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2006, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-to-expand-size-of-military/384855/144 "2006-12-31T06:15:02Z")
No, no. Not THIS 6 months. The 6 months before the conflict that has no end and that was a complete waste of time, life, and money. If spreading democracy was what we’re after, then ousting Saddam would have solved the situation, no? I think it’s safe to say that it didn’t solve the situation. We established a democratic government (sympathetic to our oil-dependent causes) and what more do we owe the fine people? Didn’t we create a democratic government out of a giant mess? Also, of COURSE we’ll get blamed for how things went. We went in there and changed them around, didn’t we? Will we not have at least SOME level, if not the lion’s share of, blame on our shoulders? Are we safer? No. Is there something in a physical sense that we CAN do in order to ensure our safety from terrorists? Not unless we’ve got a big enough army to take over every nook and cranny where a terrorist might be. So realistically, no. There’s not much we can do with regards to terrorism through physical means. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-to-expand-size-of-military/384855.md?page=7)