General Discussion

A Familiar Odor in the Air: The Vietnam Connection

Is it just me or is there a smell of Vietnam in the desert air? Once again, in its haste to get its war on, the U.S. has gone into a foreign land, ignorant of its culture, believing that its technological might would lead to a swift victory, forgetting the force of nationalism when a people believe themselves to be invaded.

And the U.S. generals and politicians in charge pretend that all is going swimmingly and that the war willl be over just as soon as the "coalition" forces get into downtown Baghdad and punish the enemy Big Time.

Does any of this sound familiar? How do you spell Q-U-A-G-M-I-R-E?

As we now know, the generals and policy advisors warned successive U.S. presidents not to get involved in Vietnam (see Daniel Ellsberg's book, Secrets), but each President dismissed those inside experts and went ahead anyway, the result of which was the expension of our blood and treasure - and our sense of ourselves as a moral nation - in an unwinnable war.

We know that the top echelons of our current military early on warned the Bush politicos and Mr. Bush himself not to launch this war on Iraq, absent an overt provocation and without a huge international coalition on board; the brass were warned by Rumsfeld to get in line with Bush policy or get another job. They got in line.

Continued...