Fighting for Democracy

On Feb. 19, 1945, more than 110,000 Americans and 880 ships began their assault on a small volcanic island in the Pacific, in the climactic battle of the last year of World War II. For the next 36 days Iwo Jima would become the most populous seven-and-a-half square miles on the planet, as United States Marines and Japanese soldiers fought a battle that would test American resolve even more than D-Day or the Battle of the Bulge had, and that still symbolizes a free society's willingness to make the sacrifice necessary to prevail over evil -- a sacrifice as relevant today as it was 60 years ago.

So begins an agonizing to read op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal (subscription only) about the appalling sacrifices American Marines made to take Iwo Jima, which turned out to be more of a symbolic victory -- and an incredibly important one -- than a strategic victory. The point of the article is that in a war, especially a war against a totalitarian-ruled enemy, Democracies have to take the bloody hits, have to be as tough as that enemy, to prevail. I found it a very moving article and an interesting one so, if you have a WSJ subscription, I urge you to link over and read it.