Letters to the Editor
cabdriver
Published Letters: 594 Editor's Choice: 8
-
Vietnam and...Iraq?
[Read the article: John McCain's Vietnam-based view of war]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'm open to hearing an ongoing historical debate about all aspects of modern Vietnamese history, the involvement of outside nations, and the war. I've read more than one history of the American military effort in Vietnam that seeks to call into question many of what have become the most widely accepted tenets about the war. I have no problems with honest attempts at historical re-assessment, per se.
But I question the relevance of a historical review of the Vietnam conflict that seeks to bring those insights into play regarding the present situation in Iraq, in any but the most general sense (for example, insights that make note of the principle of "home field advantage", which is common to both conflicts.)
It's imperative to keep in mind that there are actually very few specific analogies to be drawn between the course of the U.S. involvement in Vietnam, and the invasion of Iraq and its aftermath.
In South Vietnam, there was a pre-existing friendly political regime playing host to the U.S. diplomatic and military missions. A large fraction of the population had cordial familiarity with various attributes of Western culture that could provide common ground- the French language and the religion of Roman Catholicism, for instance. There was only one armed adversary for the US and RVN to contend with- the Viet Minh, supported by Ho's regime in the North. We were welcomed in by the official political regime, we didn't simply invade. A pre-existing state of armed conflict was in effect. The amount of direct American military involvement began at a very low-key level, and remained that way for several years. Even after the American military presence had grown to several hundred thousand troops, at no point did any RVN government, or faction of the government, ever even hint that the US armed effort had overstayed its welcome.
Questions of the legitimacy of the succession of various RVN regimes or the level of popular support for the American presence aside, that much is clear.
None of those conditions apply to the invasion and occupation of Iraq, which was, and is, driven almost exclusively from outside, by the directives of George W. Bush and his minions.
-
spelling correction for Vallely
[Read the article: John McCain's Vietnam-based view of war]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The name is spelled V-A-L-L-E-L-Y.
I ordinarily would let that go by, but I consider a correction to be relatively important, in light of the fact that Paul Vallely's name is misspelled "Valley" within the text PDF of the "Mindwar" document itself, as found on the Internet.
http://www.xeper.org/maquino/nm/MindWar.pdf
You'd think they would have caught that mistake.
Lots of interesting quotes in there...I was always struck by the use the word "ethical" in the essay, especially as related to perhaps the most telling phrase employed by the authors in their summary- "coerced into effect by the United States."
-
Slow Train Coming
[Read the article: John McCain's Vietnam-based view of war]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"fools glorifyin' themselves & tryin to manipulate Satan"
--Bob Dylan
-
@ Derbig Mooser
[Read the article: Finding Obama guilty of insufficient devotion to Israel]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Perhaps some Zionist can refresh my Jewish mind; What was it Jews were supposed to do for God in Israel that they couldn't do anywhere else?
And what was it God was supposed to do for the Jews in Israel that he couldn't do for them (or not do, as He chooses) anywhere else?
I never have figured that out.
I've never read a reply to that query from a territorial Zionist, which has been known to lead me to unwholesome speculations- such as my trepidation that if it were ever to be expressed, the answer would consist of the thunderous declamation that "quantum physics is Aryan physics!"
-
@david sugarman
[Read the article: Finding Obama guilty of insufficient devotion to Israel]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]it's in the genes. the never-failing antenna.
Oh. Is that what they are? I hadn't heard.
The extensive research and discoveries that must have led you to develop such a paradigm are bound to revolutionize the science of genetics.
Make your findings public at once, I implore you.