On The Eve Of Battle

Leaders often make speeches to troops just before a big battle. It’s something Julius Caesar did. Something Henry V did (at least according to Shakespeare). It’s something that happens all the time in history.

Here’s a case of it happening today.

Military blogger Greyhawk, who is stationed in Iraq, poses the following question about what acting Iraqi Prime Minister Allawi said to troops just before Fallujah:

Trivia test 1: Which of the following is an actual quote from
Interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi regarding the insurgents in
Fallujah on the eve of the assault?

A: "The insurgents have known for months that we’re coming – go ye
now forth and wound them, then patch them up and make them promise to
stop killing children, and beheading people, and shooting Iraqi aid
workers. Make them say "I’m sorry" for the atrocities they committed in
the name of Saddam Hussein too. Ensure they are sincere, accept nothing
less than pinky swears, and then and only then let them go in peace.
Remember, we are in the business of winning hearts and minds!"

"Pinky swears! Pinky swears!" Chanted the wildly enthusiastic soldiers. Allawi replied: "Hearts and minds!"

or

B: "The people of Fallujah have been taken hostage … and you need
to free them from their grip," Allawi told Iraqi soldiers on Monday
during a visit to the main U.S. base outside Fallujah.

"May they go to hell!" the soldiers shouted. Allawi replied: "To hell they will go." [SOURCE.]

Guess which one of these speeches occurred in our universe and which in the universe SpongeBob inhabits?

(Cowboy hat tip: Powerline.)

Author: Jimmy Akin

Jimmy was born in Texas, grew up nominally Protestant, but at age 20 experienced a profound conversion to Christ. Planning on becoming a Protestant seminary professor, he started an intensive study of the Bible. But the more he immersed himself in Scripture the more he found to support the Catholic faith, and in 1992 he entered the Catholic Church. His conversion story, "A Triumph and a Tragedy," is published in Surprised by Truth. Besides being an author, Jimmy is the Senior Apologist at Catholic Answers, a contributing editor to Catholic Answers Magazine, and a weekly guest on "Catholic Answers Live."