If Robert E. Lee was a "great general", what's that make Osama bin Laden or Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi?

[ck4829]

The civil war lasted 4 years, Osama bin Laden was able to elude being killed for how long?

Fighters with jerry-built weapons and no air forces or navies being able to withstand that long against governments with that much more military power? And as far as we know, al-Baghdadi still hasn't surrendered.

Don't get me wrong, I'm definitely not admiring the two monsters, but it's just weird that “Whether you like it or not, he was one of the great generals" is what we hear about Lee, but not of these two.

White is the difference here?

[Ilsa]

1. For trump, it's the

Uniforms and epaulets.

[GeorgeGist]

2. OH FFS ...

Robert E. Lee killed far more Americans than OBL or ABB.

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. Many people say Rommel was a "great general", but the Germans have never tried

to put up a statue of him, let alone claim that removing one would be some great tragedy, denial of history etc.

[rampartc]

4. lee seems to have been an inspirational leader

but i've wondered about his skill for as long as i've been interested in the unpleasant events of the 1860s. by 1863 the folly of a frontal assault upon fortified high ground like cemetary ridge would have been obvious to any "great general."

i suppose, to be fair, that the confederates were fighting against great odds.

[mucifer]

5. President Lincoln had some realllly bad generals

It was all horrible

[rampartc]

6. very difficult to disagree

maybe the purpose of the war was to thin out an excess of working class men on both sides?

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

8. As long as Lee had Stonewall Jackson to advise him, he was great

The quality of his generalship declined after Jackson was killed by friendly fire. At Gettysburg, Longstreet pleaded with Lee not to order Pickett's charge, because he was certain it would be a disaster; Lee ignored him. But Lee's ability to hornswoggle Burnside during the Peninsular Campaign was brilliant.

[gladium et scutum]

9. Did You Mean McClellen

during the Peninsula Campaign. Burnside was successfully launching amphibious operations along the Carolina Coast while the Peninsula Campaign was in progress.

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

17. You're right. I should have looked it up before I posted. n/t

[gladium et scutum]

13. Wasnt obvious to Grant

Cold Harbor

[exboyfil]

7. Ask yourself why The Rock of Chickamauga

The Virginian George Henry Thomas doesn't have statues throughout Virginia. His record is every bit as strong as Jackson and Lee as a tactical commander. Guess it is because he never renounced his commission.

Another one with very few statues in the South - James Longstreet. The general who was right at Gettysburg. It might be because he became a Republican after the war and worked towards reconciliation.

[gladium et scutum]

10. George H. Thomas

owned a slave throughout the war, only freeing her when the XIII was ratified.

[exboyfil]

15. No statue for him either

I was just contrasting the fact it wasn't about being a successful general, it was about lording over the blacks of the Jim Crow era. I am not holding Thomas up as paragon of virtue, but he was a successful general just like Lee. He just doesn't get recognized for it in Virginia for the obvious reason.

[Recursion]

19. There are two statues of George Henry Thomas

One is an equestrian statue in Thomas Circle in DC (a posh neighborhood east of DuPont) and the other is a non-equestrian statue in Lebanon, KY.

I'd love to see a statue of him in Richmond.

[Codeine]

14. Yeah, Longstreet so rejected the Lost Cause nonsense

that the unreconstructed types running the cultural show down south began to blame him for the failure of the Slaver’s Rebellion.

[Recursion]

18. Thank you. John Bell Hood lost more troops at the Battle of Franklin

than Grant did at Cold Harbor, but you never hear about that.

[loves_da_dems]

11. Lee owned slaves

MF45 is a racist who loves slavery. OBL did not.

[malaise]

12. What I don't get is that the Con says he hates losers

Lee was a treasonous loser

[procon]

16. Lee was a traitor. Only another traitor like Trump would praise

the military prowess of a general who lead insurgent forces to overthrow the legitimate government of the USA to destroy the America created by our Founding Fathers.