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What is the Dolchstosslegende?
The idea boils down to this: that the Western Front was still in France at the end of the war, therefore Germany was "winning," indeed, about to secure a permanent victory - when the socialists, communists, and especially the Jews "sold out" and negotiated a treasonous and cowardly surrender to France, Britain and the USA. Hence, the leaders back home "backstabbed" the troops as they were about to win.
In essence, unable to accept the reasons for their defeat, the Germans retreated into denial, blaming their leaders and leftist elements for a failure on the "home front." As the wiki says, "such claims would codify the basis for public support for the emerging Nazi Party." And so, WWII happened just 20 years later.
If this is starting to sound familiar to Americans, that's because we have our own version of this. You might call it the Walter Cronkite Legend.
It's the idea that our boys in Vietnam were about to crush "the gooks" for good - that the Tet Offensive was actually proof we were winning, and Charlie was desperate - when the media, the left, a bunch of singers and their dirty hippie followers "sold us out," made the war untenably unpopular by their constant protesting and whining, and eventually botched the whole affair.
Essentially, "stabbing our troops in the back."
Instead of accepting basic lessons from our defeat in SE Asia; such as that not all missions are accomplishable, even by the USA Armed Forces; many in this country instead took the following lesson from the whole affair: that if only Jane Fonda, John Kerry, Walter Cronkite, John Lennon and their ilk had shut up for once, Vietnam would have been a stunning victory and the USSR would have collapsed 25 years earlier than it did.
And so, 35 years later, we have the Iraq War. Because if you don't learn the lesson, you repeat the mistake.
II. War On The Home Front
It's now become pretty clear that we're not going to accomplish our goals in Iraq, whatever they originally were, and that the majority of US troops are going to withdraw very soon.
In other words, here's a bitter pill to swallow, we've been defeated.
The question is whether we are going to learn our lesson as a people from that defeat, or invent a new legend of denial.
Here are some elements of that new Dolchstosslegende.
Element 1. "It's Not Our Fault Iraq Collapsed."
From Charles Krauthammer, "Who's To Blame For The Killing," Washington Post
From Ralph Peters, "Last Gasps In Iraq," USAToday
Element 2. "The Media And Leftists At Home Stopped Us From Winning."
From Cox and Forkum, editorial cartoons
Element 3. "We're Not Leaving Because We Lost, We're Leaving Because There's Nothing More We Can Do To Help."
From Senator Dodd, "Senators Suggest Withdrawal From Iraq Civil War," Washington Times
At this point, I'm too sick of this crap to search for more examples... but I'm sure you can find em no problem. 
III. Painful Truths
The important thing to realize is this:
Now that our exit from Iraq has become practically a fait accompli, the main enemy is NOT those Republicans who continue to delusionally insist that we can win. It is the Democrats - the Bidens and Clintons - who give lame, dishonest and disingenuous reasons for why we are leaving. Whenever you hear a Democrat say that we should leave because "we can no longer babysit a civil war" or similar nonsense, note it well.
They are the ones who are creating a false myth surrounding our defeat, essentially ensuring that we will NOT LEARN THE LESSON.
Someone who wants us to withdraw from Iraq, but refuses to admit that there are some missions even the US Army can't accomplish is part of that myth-creation.
Someone who refuses to admit that we are the ones who failed is feeding the Dolchstosslegende.
The Dolchstosslegende or "backstab myth" refers to a social myth popular in Germany in the period after WWI through WWII. It attributed Germany's defeat to a number of domestic factors instead of a failed military strategy.
Most notably, the theory proclaimed that the public had failed to respond to its "patriotic calling" at the most crucial of times and some had even intentionally "sabotaged the war effort."
Most notably, the theory proclaimed that the public had failed to respond to its "patriotic calling" at the most crucial of times and some had even intentionally "sabotaged the war effort."
In essence, unable to accept the reasons for their defeat, the Germans retreated into denial, blaming their leaders and leftist elements for a failure on the "home front." As the wiki says, "such claims would codify the basis for public support for the emerging Nazi Party." And so, WWII happened just 20 years later.
If this is starting to sound familiar to Americans, that's because we have our own version of this. You might call it the Walter Cronkite Legend.
It's the idea that our boys in Vietnam were about to crush "the gooks" for good - that the Tet Offensive was actually proof we were winning, and Charlie was desperate - when the media, the left, a bunch of singers and their dirty hippie followers "sold us out," made the war untenably unpopular by their constant protesting and whining, and eventually botched the whole affair.
Essentially, "stabbing our troops in the back."
Instead of accepting basic lessons from our defeat in SE Asia; such as that not all missions are accomplishable, even by the USA Armed Forces; many in this country instead took the following lesson from the whole affair: that if only Jane Fonda, John Kerry, Walter Cronkite, John Lennon and their ilk had shut up for once, Vietnam would have been a stunning victory and the USSR would have collapsed 25 years earlier than it did.
And so, 35 years later, we have the Iraq War. Because if you don't learn the lesson, you repeat the mistake.
II. War On The Home Front
It's now become pretty clear that we're not going to accomplish our goals in Iraq, whatever they originally were, and that the majority of US troops are going to withdraw very soon.
In other words, here's a bitter pill to swallow, we've been defeated.
The question is whether we are going to learn our lesson as a people from that defeat, or invent a new legend of denial.
Here are some elements of that new Dolchstosslegende.
Element 1. "It's Not Our Fault Iraq Collapsed."
From Charles Krauthammer, "Who's To Blame For The Killing," Washington Post
America comes and liberates [Iraq] from the tyrant who kept everyone living in fear, and the ancient animosities and more recent resentments begin to play themselves out to deadly effect....
Iraqis were given their freedom, and yet many have chosen civil war...
Iraq is their country. We midwifed their freedom. They chose civil war.
Iraqis were given their freedom, and yet many have chosen civil war...
Iraq is their country. We midwifed their freedom. They chose civil war.
Iraq is failing. No honest observer can conclude otherwise.
This chaos wasn't inevitable... for all our errors, we did give the Iraqis a unique chance to build a rule-of-law democracy. They preferred to indulge in old hatreds, confessional violence, ethnic bigotry and a culture of corruption. It appears that the cynics were right: Arab societies can't support democracy as we know it. And people get the government they deserve.
But it's their tragedy, not ours.
The violence staining Baghdad's streets with gore isn't only a symptom of the Iraqi government's incompetence, but of the comprehensive inability of the Arab world to progress in any sphere of organized human endeavor. We are witnessing the collapse of a civilization.
This chaos wasn't inevitable... for all our errors, we did give the Iraqis a unique chance to build a rule-of-law democracy. They preferred to indulge in old hatreds, confessional violence, ethnic bigotry and a culture of corruption. It appears that the cynics were right: Arab societies can't support democracy as we know it. And people get the government they deserve.
But it's their tragedy, not ours.
The violence staining Baghdad's streets with gore isn't only a symptom of the Iraqi government's incompetence, but of the comprehensive inability of the Arab world to progress in any sphere of organized human endeavor. We are witnessing the collapse of a civilization.
From Cox and Forkum, editorial cartoons
Element 3. "We're Not Leaving Because We Lost, We're Leaving Because There's Nothing More We Can Do To Help."
From Senator Dodd, "Senators Suggest Withdrawal From Iraq Civil War," Washington Times
"We might provide some modicum of security for a while. But in the long run, this is an Iraqi issue," Mr. Dodd said. "The Iraqi politicians, the Iraqi police and the people themselves have to assume responsibility for this. They don't seem to be willing to do it. Therefore, I think this is, really, a civil war today, as it exists."
III. Painful Truths
The important thing to realize is this:
Now that our exit from Iraq has become practically a fait accompli, the main enemy is NOT those Republicans who continue to delusionally insist that we can win. It is the Democrats - the Bidens and Clintons - who give lame, dishonest and disingenuous reasons for why we are leaving. Whenever you hear a Democrat say that we should leave because "we can no longer babysit a civil war" or similar nonsense, note it well.
They are the ones who are creating a false myth surrounding our defeat, essentially ensuring that we will NOT LEARN THE LESSON.
Someone who wants us to withdraw from Iraq, but refuses to admit that there are some missions even the US Army can't accomplish is part of that myth-creation.
Someone who refuses to admit that we are the ones who failed is feeding the Dolchstosslegende.
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