OT - Kerrey story/Vietnam in general
Age: 37. Tail end of the baby boom / leading edge of GenX. Training and experience as an Armor (M-1 tank) officer in the 80's and early 90's.
opinionjournal.com
worldnetdaily.com
Hackworth and Webb have clearly described my feelings on the subject. Both were there and understand those incidents better than I could. In the absence of CONCLUSIVE evidence, I believe the benefit of the doubt rests with Kerrey. I point to several things in summary:
1) War is hell; Civil war is more so. Civilians get caught in the crossfire; in fact, they may also participate as combatants and become legitimate targets. Usually, they lack the uniforms or characteristics of regular soldiers, and their behavior is the only means to judge whether they are targets.
2) This expose has been pitched for several years. Only now has it passed someone's editorial scrutiny. That someone began his career giving slanted reports from the field on US participation in Vietnam; in retrospect, Dan Rather helped to lose the war. Given his recently blatant political leanings, I'm suspect of the depth of this story. It's carried more by his (failing) reputation than by fact.
3) Quoting Webb, "Given the tone of the story, this radio transmission was probably included because it refers to the Kerrey patrol as having committed an atrocity. But a closer reading would appear to confirm the position of Mr. Kerrey and the five others on the patrol that they took fire and returned it, with the loss of civilian lives an unfortunate consequence."
Mike, you're reliving a phenomenon known as survivor's guilt. In my view, you have NOTHING to feel guilty about. If you honestly and honorably opposed our participation, you may feel as proud as those who served and fought. I feel strongly that, GIVEN the fact that we were engaged in Vietnam, we should have made the effort to win; however, we probably should never have been engaged in that manner in the first place.
History is made by the participants, but written by the survivors.
- Mitch |
