I'm with LB and Dragon on this one. I was there flying AC 130 Gunships. Our Rules of Engagement were being dictated right out of the White House. The only thing we cared about was protecting those poor guys in the fire support bases throughout the country. I came very close to a court martial because my crew refused to leave a fire support base unprotected so a flight of B-52s could bomb some empty jungle nearby that we had already checked out. My Squadron suffered some heavy losses and I had some very close calls. We all knew that it was a no win situation as the South Vietnam government was just as corrupt as that of North Vietnam. Of course, it made a lot of money for the arms manufacturers. We developed some pretty neat weapons that came in handy in the Gulf War, but it just wasn't worth it.
My First Impressions of War
by Robdar 13 Replies latest jw friends
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jack2
Robyn, I also grew up with the war in Vietnam on TV and my oldest brother served there. The war was a mistake and a lost cause, a waste. Sure, one might say that with "20/20 hindsight it looks like a waste, but at that time there was real fear of the "domino effect" should the Communist North win out". But in doing some reading about that war, I am convinced that it was a most tragic chapter in US history. The Congress gave LBJ the green light after the Gulf Of Tonkin incident, and things really escalated from there. Johnson had been given the power to act almost without hinderance and look at the results.
On Iraq, I am divided. I've read a lot about the reasons for acting militarily, and the reasons why it might be best not to. It's a tough call.
Edited by - jack2 on 12 November 2002 22:50:48
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Robdar
Seems to me we are merely going to go in and attack somebody because now they may have weapons to somewhat compete with the US and the US doesn't want competition. Weapons-of-mass-destruction are bad - except when it's us. And we're merely guessin that they have them and that they'd be used against us.
JWS,
You make a good point.
It was similar reasoning that lead to the cold war. The US was worried about the USSR using their weapons against us. We were afraid that they were gonna nuke us before we could nuke them and that is why we had such an arms race. Looking back, we can see that our fears were unfounded.
Now we are hearing more and more talk about "democracy" and "weapons of mass destruction". There are some politicians that would have us believe that this is why we should attack Iraq. This is nonsense. Why would Iraq issue a first strike knowing that we would nuke their asses to kingdom come? The Russians wouldn't and neither will Iraq.
"Meet the new boss, same as the old boss"
Love,
Robyn
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Robdar
I was just thinking about all the protest songs that were sung about Viet Nam. Here is a great link:
http://www.rockinwoman.com/protest.html
If you have trouble with the above link, here is another:
http://www.sfheart.com/protest/index1.html
Enjoy!
Love,
Robyn
Edited by - robdar on 13 November 2002 5:43:34