[Rhodes22-list] Vietnam War

[Roger Pihlaja]

Bill,

The only reason I brought up the Vietnam war is because I think the United State's experience there is still relevant in the eyes of the world plus I think it had a mojor influence on shaping John Kerry's view of the world and the United State's role in it.

I think the support of corrupt, brutal dictators such as Saddam Hussein and the Shah of Iran for the sake of regional stability is morally indefensible.  That's perhaps the best reason why we need democracies in Iraq and Afghanistan.  The only excuse I can give for the United State's behavior in this matter in the past has to do with the cold war & I don't take much comfort in it.  It's a practice we should not be proud of & definitely should stop doing as soon as possible.  For example, I think the United States and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia would be a lot better off if the KSA were a democracy; but, how that might be implemented given the current world situation is unclear.

In my previous post, one of the mistakes I mentioned was over reliance on air power to fight a jungle gorilla war.  If that statement was not sufficiently clear, it means that it is neither cost effective or tactically smart to expend the amount of ordinance used in Vietnam when most of it is dropped on empty jungle.  Note the US military has learned this lesson & now usually does a much better job with accurate targeting. 

The Tet offensive WAS the turning point in the Vietnam war in terms of American public opinion.  Starting from a relatively small core of protestors right after Tet, popular support for the anti war movement grew exponentially (That means slowly at 1st and then faster & faster with time) until the war ended some five years later.  I did not mean to imply it happened easily or overnight or that it was not massively political.  I was a young adult at that time.  The whole issue was gut wrenching for the entire country.  Heck, evan all these years later, the subject still rubs many a raw nerve the wrong way.

The Tet offensive DID require years to prepare for and used up a huge stockpile of resources.  The North Vietnamese army WAS on the ropes right after Tet.  Note that they never tried anything similar again.  We could have marched right to Hanoi if we'd seized the initiative.  But, we didn't, another of the many mistakes made in the way the United States fought the war.  Sure, by the end of the war, some five years later, the VC had rebuilt their war making capability with the help of their allies.

World opinion of the United States is that we are a military superpower with no stomach for a tough, protracted fight.

But, getting back to the Middle East:

Frankly I don't care what gods these folks pray to, what direction they face while praying, or how many times per day they pray.  I don't want to occupy their countries long-term.  I don't care whether we end with a single unified country, a loose confederation, or several separate countries.  I don't want to steal their oil.  I do want to be able to RELIABLY buy their crude oil on the global commodity markets and allow US companies the right to bid on rebuilding and maintaining their oil infrastructure.  When it comes to them flying planes into buildings, paying a bounty to the families of suicide bombers, beheading kidnapped victims, and other acts of terrorism, which many of their religious leaders applaud and then offer sanctuary inside their scared mosques; my religious tolerance is at an end.  These people are either ready for democracy or they need killing.  To suggest they are not capable of self governance is simply racial bigotry.  FYI, it is also racial bigotry to suggest these people are not capable of building WMD's; but, that's another issue.  The exact form of democracy they end up with does not have to closely resemble what we have in the United States and Iraq does not have to have the same system as Afghanistan.  They need to be given the chance discover a system that will work for them.

I keep saying over and over again that the outcome in the Middle East under Bush's vision is not certain.  But, I would rather fight the war on terror over there than in the United States.  If elected, I believe Kerry will cut and run in Iraq ASAP.  This will destroy the credibility of the United States with all current and any potential future allies.  With us gone, the terrorists will be free to resume their WMD programs, probably state sponsored by disillusioned Iraqi patriots that got cut off at the knees after putting their lives on the line for us.

Yes, the situation and the presidential choice this time around is not very good!  But, that's just the dangerous period of history we live in.  Actually, with the God like standards we apply to judge our leaders, its amazing anyone ever applies for the job!

Roger Pihlaja
S/V Dynamic Equilibrium