Letters to the Editor
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Same Old Song - Different Verse
Like REMIXEDDOG, I too spent a year at Camn Rahn Bay in Vietnam, and agree that the parallels to the Green Zone are striking. At that time I was very conservative (the default mode for career military personnel), believed in the plausibility of the Domino Theory, the essential purity of America's objectives and methods and the utter nefariousness of war protesters. As revelations trickled out in the years after THAT benighted episode in our history, I had to accept the fact that I and America had been duped. I was in my early 30's in the Vietnam Era and now am in my 60's, hopefully a bit wiser if sadder. As the pressure to invade Iraq ramped up, I was not so naive as earlier in my life and could clearly see that the rationale was the same old song, different verse. It's a shame that most of us must be in the evening of our lives before we have accumulated enough wisdom to question the cynical appeal to patriotism that politicians have always used to seduce citizens into ill-advised ventures. The debacle in Iraq, corruption in Washington, the hollowing out of our industrial base, astronomical budget and trade deficits, glaring income disparity, etc. cause me to fear for my wonderful country. This cynical administration I am sure will be recorded as the nadir of the American Experience - assuming we survive it.