Tonya42
“JoB
Member
Tonya… i find it very hard to blithely dismiss the 4,000 lives and 29,000 wounded … having actually lived through the Vietnam conflict as a young woman… and having volunteered with paraplegics vets upon their return.”
Let me second that JoB, I would hope that nobody would blithely dismiss our servicemen, dead or alive as well..
Thank you for taking the time to lay out where you stand with a rational and courteous response, I appreciate that.
You and I have different understandings of the war in Vietnam. I think we as a society have learned the hard way, notably in the Vietnam war, that military victories are not enough. American troops scored a big victory on the battlefield in 1968 that was presented in the American media as a big defeat — and that began the political unravelling of the Vietnam war.
The media seem to think that they did something noble, to get us out of an “unwinnable” war. But the war was unwinnable only because they made it so politically. Even after American troops were withdrawn from Vietnam, South Vietnam was able to hold off the invaders from North Vietnam.
Only after Congress cut off financial support for South Vietnam, while the North Vietnamese continued to get support from the Communist bloc, did South Vietnam fall.
Since then, even the Communist conquerors have admitted that they did not win on the battlefield, but in the American media and in the American political arena, surrounded by an atmosphere created by a defeatist media.
So I do feel most comfortable asking about dates with regard to when the 2 plus million Cambodians were slaughtered.
We could lose this war in Iraq, and if we do it will be a political loss.Right now as I type this troops in Iraq have had their hands tied with “rules of engagement” based on political, rather than military, considerations. This is not good.
Its safe to say that we have opposing views to Vietnam as well as Iraq and that’s okay.
The most fundamental difference between President Bush and his critics has not been in who has made mistakes, because both have. The biggest difference has been that the President has taken a long-run view of the worldwide war on terror, while his critics are seeking a quick fix. I’ve never bought into quick fixes and I don’t intend on starting now.