Back to Basics, #18
My last couple of blogs were essays, fairly long and roundabout; this post will be more direct.
Carl von Clausewitz, who knew about such things, said that war is "the continuation of political policy (Politik) by other means," that it is "an act of violence intended to compel our opponent to fulfill our will."
Under Ho Chi Minh and the Communists, the "Viet Minh," "Viet Cong," and the People's Army of (North) Vietnam worked to drive out the French, Japanese, and the French again, and then the Americans, and rule a united and sovereign — and eventually socialist — Vietnam. The policy of the United States was to block those goals and keep as much of Vietnam as possible out of the communist camp; our major method was warfare.
By the end of 1975, under his successors, Ho's nationalist goals had been achieved, and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam had asserted its will over the United States of America.
America lost the war in Vietnam.
There was no invasion of the United States nor economic collapse nor externally imposed change of form of US government. By the 1980s Ronald Reagan was declaring "morning in America." (And by the 21st century, the US was on good terms with a not-so-socialist Vietnam: not a republic, and with an unfaced history of repression and murder — but with a mixed economy and some hope of moving toward freedom.)
We lost the war in Vietnam, and no horrible consequences followed for the United States. It is plausible that the US would have been better off if we had never gone to war in Vietnam. Honor is an issue for a full essay — but no vital interests of the United States were at stake in Vietnam, by definition of the word "vital."
So we Americans attempted to impose our will by violence, by lethal violence — which is what war is about — for less than vital interests. We killed, wounded, maimed, burned, and poisoned a lot of Vietnamese and put our own fighters in harm's way — with 58,183 of them dying — for less than vital interests.
One of the architects of the war, Defense Secretary Robert McNamara came to call the prosecution of the war "wrong, terribly wrong." Unless you believe that wars should be fought — that we should try to impose our will by lethal violence — without something vital at state, then you should agree with McNamara; and as we debate more recent gains and losses in Iraq and Afghanistan, I'll want to talk about honor — but let us hear little more in way of Realpolitik in defense of US actions in Vietnam.
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jlsathre
TheBadScot
Jess Adams
Mark Wilson
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Comments
I'd not 'pluck' pig chin hairs. huh? My Respect. The agrarian peasants are hurting.
H. Kissinger is in devil-pack with corrupt high-level (base and depraved beast) thugs.
H. Kissinger etc., CEO's`
`
The are 'Pure-Evil' thugs.
Learn history. Genocide.
Why? they. who? Proxy.
Merchants of death do it.
truth . . . Arm salesmen `
they
Dropped toxins and bombs.
The CEO saw money in trees.
The Mahogany Trees are gone.
Central Highlands were raped.
International thugs cut trees.
You/we know the history.
Peasants were murdered.
CEO's exploit them today.
`
Nike factories sell $200.00 shoes.
OSHA glue/vents are not installed.
Make shoe for $2.00. Sell @ profit.
`
We need honest critiques in America.
A blogger ask`Can we believe MSM?
We can't believe or trust skunk/FOX!
`
I took my two sons to Viet`Nam to see.
The youngest who's in college ask me?
`
"Why don't Americans smile beautifully?"
`
That conversation is between we three.
My eldest was behind a water buffalo.
He plowed in a rice Paddy. Thank you.
`
I spent two months in Yien Vien in 1990.
Bush CO. Etc and evil Ghouls planned the
Pillage of Iraq Museums and the Oil Wells.
Recall `1990 - Desert (military-rats)Storm.
`
Yien Vien was bombed mercilessly in 1972.
It was the Christmas bombing of Hanoi city.
Veterans built a `Friendship Health Clinic.
Hanoi's populated city was bombed. Truth.
Yien Vien was 6- km outside of old Hanoi.
Two months was a Time of rural peace.
`
I recall a elder woman ask me Why? Why?
Why did Mothers send youth to die here?
Vietnam's our Motherland. Why die here?
She told me about a young Mother there.
The Mother brought to the clinic a baby.
The baby was decapitated. Mom cried.
Why?
Woody Guthrie sang a Why O Why Why.
It's always been this crooked or worse?
The corporate thugs are Evil Incarnation.
I could vent/rant more. CEO's are crooks.
That's what they Chose. The Devil's Tool.
Dark daemon owned their inner essences.
Post conks they get sent to howl in Hades.
It's all been written for our wisdom/fools.
Fools sense one another. FOX knows hole.
Vermin can smell each other. They sniffs.
You can see and sense. They smirk/stinks.
Never get too close. They are evil/brutes.
`
Vietnam is beautiful in the countryside.
Peasants are mature and can distinguish.
They can discern who is evil. CEO is false.
Plutocrats are the fools and fools are blind.
Once one sells a Soul (nephesh) you do die.
The filthy crooks are afraid to live and die.
They are miserable on Earth. They FEAR.
They die fearfully. They are able to intuit.
Inwardly the devil's fool-tools await Sheol.
Thanks again. I always have sad memories.
No be drafted. Drink bali bali bali - 333 beer.
It's a vietnamese beer. Buy in Georgetown, DC
after mao and china 'stood up' at tiananmen, there was a climate of rabid rage amongst the rich at the apparent triumph of communism over the will of america. from then on, no one dared take a step backward, who hoped to prosper in politics.
tying the destiny of nations to the will and career of individual politicians is insane if it were a choice, but it is our legacy of struggle on the plains of africa. the alpha males assert dominance, the rest obey.