As the Bush Administration casts current conflicts with Islamic militants as an ideological struggle similar to battling fascist governments during World War II, a Duke University military historian says the analogy is inappropriate and lacks an important factor: an official declaration of war.
"We fought World War II against Germany, Japan and Italy, not fascism. We mobilized, and Congress declared war, as prescribed by the Constitution," said history professor Alex Roland, a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy who has taught both there and at the U.S. Army War College. "Tomorrow we should mobilize and declare war on Al Qaeda, not terror."
"World War II was not a war against fascism any more than this is a war against terrorism," said Roland, who teaches a course on world military history. "Fascism existed before World War II and after World War II, just as terrorism existed before 9/11 and will exist after the current struggle."
Roland added that the U.S.'s current combat operations look more like Vietnam than World War II. "In Vietnam, as now in Iraq, there was no formal declaration of war, but Congress gave its tacit assent, by voting funding, and the courts interpreted this as tantamount to war.
"It is too soon to tell if the war in Iraq will parallel Vietnam, but the ‘War on Terror' certainly does not parallel World War II," he said.