Hi Neocon; Re: "... French did, indeed, bail out of Vietnam ... the ambiguous termination of our phase of the Vietnam War ..."
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! LOL!!! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
Re: "... it is also obvious that we have been reluctant to use force unless we have an overwhelming advantage, and are likely to sustain few casualties, so there is something to the idea that our will to fight was damaged by Vietnam ..."
In this you are dead wrong. Our willingness to fight (or more accurately, to die) is undiminished over the years. It is renewed with each new generation, just as it is renewed in other nations. What changes is the particular details of the conflicts.
If we get invaded or attacked, our willingness to take casualties is unchanged from that of WW1 or WW2. If, on the other hand, the dumbass neoconservatives drag us into a hopeless unilateral land war in Asia, you will discover that our willingness to die is no more than we once had willingness to die for the corrupt South Vietnamese rulers.
Our military spirit is unchanged. What changes is the national importance of the conflict.
If the conflict is on our doorstep, like the Civil War, or the Revolution and 1812 wars, then our willingness to take casualties is equal to that of any other nation similarly threatened. This is simple human nature. We will fight, where it is necessary.
We are not pansies, nor are the other nations of the world. We are humans and we will fight. But we will fight a hell of a lot harder in our own territory.
-- Carl |
