This is a lie concocted by the veterans of the International Brigades:

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=80D1D48A-4AAE-4254-ADCC-FDC6A7911294

"Despite all these confident assertions, “premature antifascism” is a myth. Not only is there no evidence that the United States armed forces ever used the phrase “premature antifascists” to describe those Americans who fought in Spain, there are indications that it was Communists and the veterans themselves who first employed the term. Moreover, many of the veterans were also “interim profascists” who in obedience to Soviet instructions dropped their anti-Nazism in September 1939 and opposed resistance to Fascist aggression while Germany conquered most of Western and Central Europe. Only when the Nazis turned against the USSR in June 1941 did the veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade rediscover their antifascism."

Conspiracy theorists often mention that Buckley was a CIA product sent to undermine the Right. Even in the 80s it was pretty squishy, but when they refused my money to buy classified ads to sell conservative bumper stickers I lost all respect for them.

Am I extraordinarily naive to be shocked that this site is blocked by the U.S. military for being "extreme", under a standard that permits MoveOn.org?

It is worse, in many ways, to have only leftist anti-war opinions available to active duty military than to have none at all.

I don't admire the cause or the ideals of those who served in the Lincoln Battalion. I merely find it ironic that many of these men, so eager to fight fascism, were denied the chance by the government, while millions of reluctant draftees went instead. To label the common American soldier in WWII as a "patriot" is a bit of a stretch. I would wager that few thought of their service in such terms.
As for Guernica, we are on the same page. I believe that the reason the incident has such a long half life is that it was one of the first times a civilian center was bombed from the air, in Europe at least. What the Germans did to Guernica was nothing compared to what Bomber Command and the USAAF did to nearly every German town and city in WWII. Of course, with the exception of the SCW, it's the victors who write the history.

Why don't you ask Mr. Frum why he utilized his position at those very public venues mentioned above to revile, condemn and slander as unpatriotic Americans those who were trying to prevent the disaster called Iraq. You illustrate a good point in the duplicity of contemporary ethics that when the sauce for the goose is served to the gander, the sentimentalist in the flock always honk foul.

The US properly kept out of combat and should have kept them out of the OSS, since most of them were communists and not American patriots. I'm sure a few were, and others no doubt served with distinction. But the vast majority were fighting for their real homeland -the USSR -and to advance communism. The Abe Lincoln brigade position from Sept 39 to June 22, 1941 was for the US to stay out the "imperialist war".

As for the bombing of Guernica - certainly a terror raid but given the vast atrocities committed during the war, why single that out? I suggest reading "Homage to Catalonia" by Orwell, where the Communists murdered any number leftists, and probably killed more of Republicans than died at Guernica

Finally, I find it hard to get misty eyed about a bunch of communists who went to Spain to help establish a Stalinist dictatorship.