-Caveat Lector- If it takes some 500,000 armed personnel to keep peace in Bosnia and Serbia, why only deploy 130,000 to a much harder campaign, against a much larger force, namely in Iraq? Sounds like just the kind of toke presence to make a showing but not really piss off the sheiks, just the kind of presence necessary to sell some bombs and distract Americans from the systematic dismantling of environmental protections, among other things.
Quoting Sean McBride <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > -Caveat Lector- > > http://www.uexpress.com/printable/print.html? uc_full_date=20031104&uc_comic=gg > > > > > VIETNAM AND IRAQ HAVE MORE SIMILARITIES THAN DIFFERENCES > > CHICAGO -- To my immense surprise, I recently ran into the American > scholar who, for many correspondents in Vietnam, offered the most > fair-minded analysis of the war. > Suddenly, there was Gerald "Gerry" Hickey at the Chicago Public > Library, a little grayer after 35 years, but still much the same, with a > big smile on his face and a welcome "Hello!" > > I remembered well how Gerry, then the Rand Corp.'s top man in > Vietnam, had meticulously explained for us the cultures and behavior of > highland tribes such as the Montagnards, but also the Viet Cong and the > "pro-American" Saigon government. > > "And now we're doing the same thing all over again," he said as we > talked about Iraq. "First, we suffer from the same invincible ignorance > about Iraq that we suffered over Vietnamese culture. Second, in Vietnam > we set the military impact with no concern about our effect on South > Vietnamese culture. By the time we left in 1975, they were just > exhausted. They were just tired out -- and so was I. > > "It is so sad now that I can see the same mistakes being made in > Iraq. The GIs busting down the doors, breaking into homes, doing > everything wrong. But, you know something," he went on, sadness outlining > his voice, "I'm shocked at much of what we are seeing in Iraq: The > Americans are much crueler than they were in Vietnam. Remember, when > American correspondents found American troops burning down houses -- that > was remarkable then; today it's the norm." > > Gerry and I talked a long time that day, mulling over our common > experiences, wondering primarily why the United States can't ever pause > to analyze a country correctly, and above all comparing the two > conflicts. > > Despite the myriad voices in the press insisting, "Iraq is not a > Vietnam!" the indisputable fact is that, if you consider the passions and > principles applied there, it really IS another Vietnam. Among the causes > for the war are obscurantist theories about foreign threats that have > little basis in reality; civilians at the top who play with the soldiers > they have never been; and the underlying lies that give credence to > special interests (the Bay of Tonkin pretense in Vietnam, the supposed > weapons of mass destruction in Iraq). > > In Vietnam, we were following the bizarre notion of the "domino > theory," the idea that a communist Vietnam would mean that all of > Southeast Asia would fall to communism. The Johnson administration > refused to realize that it was a colonial war, and that in colonial wars, > people fight forever. > > With Iraq, the second Bush administration accepted the idea, > perfervidly pushed by civilian neoconservatives, that Iraq was the center > of terrorism, the cause of 9/11 and an immediate threat, ignoring the > Greek chorus of voices warning against such intellectual, military and > moral folly. > > Curiosly, in both cases it was civilian ideological fanatics in the > Pentagon, enamored of American technology and with no knowledge of > history or culture, and not the U.S. military, who pressed for the wars. > (It was Robert McNamara and his "whiz kids" then; now it's Paul > Wolfowitz, Douglas Feith, Richard Perle and others.) > > Perhaps the old American maxim of civilian control of the military > might be changed, with what we are seeing, to military control of the > civilians. > > Other comparisons of the two wars: > > Today, one hears a doublespeak that almost echoes the communists of > the old days. In Vietnam, it was, "We had to destroy the village to save > it." With Iraq, it is President Bush's statement of last week that "the > more successful we are on the ground, the more these killers will react!" > > > Today, it's called "Iraqization." In Vietnam, it was called > "Vietnamization" -- late-hour attempts to make everything look as though > it's working. As military historian William Lind wryly remarked to me of > Iraqization, "It presumes that because you pay someone, he's yours." > > In 1967 in Vietnam, I spent a lot of time interviewing officers and > troops all over the country, and I wrote a series of articles that my > paper, the Chicago Daily News, headlined with: "The GI Who Asks 'Why?'" > Today's GIs are beginning to ask that same question. > > America needs to look seriously at these two wars and analyze why > it repeatedly gets involved in painful and costly faraway conflicts. Why, > when we could with little effort be a great example for mankind, do we > allow the driven and arrogant technocrats of the Vietnam era and the > cynical and extremist Jacobins today to carry us to war after useless > war? > > COPYRIGHT 2003 UNIVERSAL PRESS SYNDICATE > > > > > > www.ctrl.org > DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER > ========== > CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing > propagandic > screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These > are > sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, > mis- > directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups > with > major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and > thought. > That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and > always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no > credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. > > Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. > ======================================================================== > Archives Available at: > > http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ > <A HREF="http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A> > ======================================================================== > To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: > SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: > SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Om > www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
