Hi, Suma; "And what do we do now..."
It's mid-year, 1968, South Vietnam. The writing is on the wall; the Tet offensive is over, leaving a shaken US public and military command in its wake. The President has announced he won't seek re-election. What should we do?
Begin to lay the groundwork for an orderly withdrawal and try to ensure, as much as humanly possible, that when our puppet regime inevitably falls, the disorder will not spread throughout the rest of the region. Be as ruthless as US law and public opinion will allow--a Pheonix program is not a bad idea to weaken and disorient the local insurgency leadership. We have about 5 years before the final bugout and collapse. The Shia-dominated regime will wait less than a year before crushing the Kurds--with the help of Turkey--while we look on.
More to the current situation, we can make Goddamned sure that Bush and the ideologues who dragged us into this mess with their lies, messiah complexes, end-of-times mentality, and fearmongering are kicked so far from any position of power that the only talking head gigs they can ever get afterward feature Tammy Faye.
Of course, Kerry will bring in a comparable pack of stooges, with different baggage (two words: Madeline Albright), but at a minimum, our political system MUST hold the current pack of loons accountable. |
