[Rhodes22-list] Long Winded Political Diatribe - Hit Delete Now!

[brad haslett]

Well , at least the list is 100 years ahead of
Memphis.  The controversy here is still over re-naming
Forrest Park, named after perhaps the greatest general
of either side in the Civil War, Nathan Bedford
Forrest. That Forrest was a slave trader prior to the
war incenses the local majority black population, and
Mayor Herrington is more than happy to defer local
anger against anything but his own incompetent
administration.  But that is not my point.

Revisiting Vietnam is not altogether an unhealthy
excersise.  There were serious mistakes made and
lessons learned.  However, looking at that experience
without taking off ones partison glasses or re-writing
history to fit current events is not helpful.  Iraq is
not Vietnam.  In case you’ve forgotten, we ceded most
of Eastern Europe to the Soviets and left China to
fight a civil war at the end of WW2.  For that we got
50+ years of Cold War.  Those of you on the list under
45 may never have had the pleasure of  “drop, tuck,
and roll” or participating in a fallout drill, but the
Cold War was real.  When the Soviets threatened to
“bury us”, launched Sputnik, and moved nuclear missles
to within 90 miles of our shores, it was a real war. 
JFK followed up on his inagaural comments of “we will
bear any burden, pay any price”, by sending advisors
to South Vietnam among other things.  LBJ escalated
the commitment of men and material to Vietnam after
the Gulf of Tonkin incident (one could make a
comparison to WMD here but let’s not go there) but
could never bring himself to call it a war or ask for
a war resolution.  Nixon defeated Humphrey on a “Peace
With Honor” Vietnam platform but just as he was making
real progress at the Paris table, stopped the bombing.
 We could ask him what was going through his
brilliant, but tortured mind but he’s dead.  We did
not lose a single major battle in Vietnam.  We lost it
in the news, on the campuses, and at the dinner table.
 Our mission was to stop the spread of communisiam, A
REAL THREAT, but we were trying to prop up a corrupt
and illigetimite government in South Vietnam with no
clear end game.  Now that Jane Fonda is trying to sell
new books and movies, she has apologized for her
actions during that period.  I could care less, I’ll
forgive her for whatever her beliefs were nearly 40
years ago, but still won’t buy her products.  Other
war protesors of that period have yet to suggest that
to some degree, they were wrong.  John Kerry, for
example, has yet to explain the difference in the
number of people he thought would be killed if we
pulled out of Vietnam, 300,000 according to his
testimony, versus the in excess of three million who
were actually executed.  But, I forgive the junior
Senator from Mass. as well.

Now to Iraq and why its different than Vietnam, we
have a real opportunity for the Iraqi’s to form a
legitimate and stable government where we didn’t stand
a “ghost’s chance in hell” in Vietnam.  The Iraqi
people have lived in fear of a brutal dictator for
over thirty years and are split by ethnic divisions,
encouraged by Saddam, but they ARE capable of handling
democracy.  To suggest otherwise more than hints at
outright racism.  If you talk to soldiers returning
from Iraq or read soldier bloggers who are still
there, they are making great progress.  The MSM
doesn’t air these stories because they don’t sell soap
and it doesn’t reflect their values formed during
Vietnam or as a result of its hangover.  The enemies
of Iraqi freedom are not behemoth states like China
and the Soviet Union, they are extremists and
pervertors of Islam.   The United States, Israel, and
Iraq are not their only targets.  Every European
country, the former Soviet Republics, China, and
nearly every other country in world has the same
problem with these people.   While the number of
extremists number in the thousands, they are in no way
the strength of the communists that  supported North
Vietnam.  Saudi Arabia is the single largest source of
the extremists to date.  The bad news is we have to
kiss the Saudi’s ass, or hold their hand as the case
may be.  The good news is that they have gotten about
all the use they can out of allowing Wahabbi Islam to
flourish and are fighting it as well.

I care about as much about the debate of the GOP vs
the Dems as I do Ford vs Chevy.  I don’t drive either
one.  The GOP represents my views about 70% of the
time and usually, but not always get my vote.  Your
milage may vary.  This list gets personal every once
in a while and it always stings when its aimed at you.
 Attack the opinion, not the person.  I’ve never been
a great fan of Bill Clinton, and that pre-dates his
Presidency by at least fifteen years.  However,
Clinton, always the pragmatist, sees hope for Iraq.




Brad Haslett
"CoraShen"

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