STOP the Presses! Gingrich says War on Terror is PHONY!

Washington — Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Thursday the Bush administration is waging a "phony war" on terrorism, warning that the country is losing ground against the kind of Islamic radicals who attacked the country on Sept. 11, 2001.

"None of you should believe we are winning this war. There is no evidence that we are winning this war," the ex-Georgian told a group of about 300 students attending a conference for collegiate conservatives.

"We were in charge for six years," he said, referring to the period between 2001 and early 2007, when the GOP controlled the White House and both houses of Congress. "I don't think you can look and say that was a great success."

"We've been engaged in a phony war," said Gingrich. "The only people who have been taking this seriously are the combat military."

We're about to enter the seventh year of this phony war against ... , and we're losing."

A more effective approach, said Gingrich, would begin with a national energy strategy aimed at weaning the country from its reliance on imported oil and some of the regimes that petro-dollars support.

"First of all, we have to have a national energy strategy, which basically says to the Saudis, 'We're not going to rely on you,' " he said.

“The Phoney War” October 1939 - April 1940

After the initial terror of the Polish campaign, everyone expected heavy combat, like the summer of 1914. The British Expeditionary Force landed in France, British children were sent to Canada or the countryside; At various times, neutral Belgium and Holland braced for invasion.

The heavy combat in France did not immediately materialize. Instead, the warring nations settled into a lull in fighting. The British press dubbed it the “sitzkrieg” — the expected terror of Total War had not yet emerged. Overlooked was the hot war in the Atlantic. British merchantmen were fighting for their lives to keep Britain supplied with resources.
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The Phoney War did lull many French and British citizens into a false sense of complacency, thinking the Germans would not prove to have the mettle to invade the vaunted Maginot Line.

Also, the weather in the Winter of 1939 precluded blitzkrieg. In April 1940, the Allies and Germany came to blows over Norway. On May 10, 1940, the “Phoney War” came to a swift and terrible end with the invasion of France and the low countries. The Germans went around the Maginot Line, counting on its garrison to remain in place. The Phoney War was over; Total War had arrived.

http://www.worldwar2database.com/html/phonywar.htm