01-21-2020, 04:59 PM
(This post was last modified: 01-21-2020, 05:00 PM by Eric the Green.)
I don't know who knocked veterans of the Vietnam War. I thought they should not have gone, and I thought they should not have gone to Iraq too. But I don't remember any friends or people I knew who put them down. I know there were some people who did after the Vietnam War. But we hippie-age blue boomers and silents who protested the wars wanted to save their lives by bringing them home. And we wanted to stop the killing. War did great damage to many people who fought and were victims of it. And the supposed cause was defective, and not worth killing and deforming millions of people for.
Sure, it would have been nice if the United States could have set up a democracy in South Vietnam. Communism is not so good, although sometimes it can be reformed. But what business did we have to go invade a country half way around the world and set up their government for them by burning women, kids, houses and villages, as Arlo Guthrie put it? It was up to the Vietnamese to fight this out. And there never was any such democracy there to defend.
Much the same issue came up about Iraq. What right did we have to just go invade another country and set up their government for them? Was it our oil that was under their sand? Maybe it will turn out OK. But in the meantime, hundreds of thousands of lives were lost, and the demon of the Islamic State was released. Maybe we could have helped them with money and intelligence and supplies once the Iraqi people rose up in the Arab Spring, IF they wanted our help (as the Syrians did, and we failed to provide).
These wars are the archetype of the quagmire. The United States must avoid them in the future if it wants to keep its standing in the world. My country right or wrong, is wrong. If my country is right, it's because it allows its people to decide what is right. To fight for democracy abroad, and destroy it at home in the name of "Americans," is the road to destruction. If saying these things make me a blue hippie un-American, then I'm proud to be one.
Sure, it would have been nice if the United States could have set up a democracy in South Vietnam. Communism is not so good, although sometimes it can be reformed. But what business did we have to go invade a country half way around the world and set up their government for them by burning women, kids, houses and villages, as Arlo Guthrie put it? It was up to the Vietnamese to fight this out. And there never was any such democracy there to defend.
Much the same issue came up about Iraq. What right did we have to just go invade another country and set up their government for them? Was it our oil that was under their sand? Maybe it will turn out OK. But in the meantime, hundreds of thousands of lives were lost, and the demon of the Islamic State was released. Maybe we could have helped them with money and intelligence and supplies once the Iraqi people rose up in the Arab Spring, IF they wanted our help (as the Syrians did, and we failed to provide).
These wars are the archetype of the quagmire. The United States must avoid them in the future if it wants to keep its standing in the world. My country right or wrong, is wrong. If my country is right, it's because it allows its people to decide what is right. To fight for democracy abroad, and destroy it at home in the name of "Americans," is the road to destruction. If saying these things make me a blue hippie un-American, then I'm proud to be one.