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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: JohnM who wrote (27901)	5/1/2002 9:27:34 AM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

it was a civil war in which we did not belong. I believe this now. Unfortunately, the "bad guys" won. What I have read also shows that the Viet Cong, the southerners, lost. They are on the outs in the south, the Northerners took over the Government. I was in Camp Pendleton helping friends of my mine sponsor Vietnamese out of the camp there, in '75. My car repair guy for many years in Mission Viejo, Twong Do, spent several years in a "re-education camp" before he was able to get out.

To: JohnM who wrote (27901)	5/1/2002 9:55:32 AM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

problem with the Vietnam war I should add a "Caveat" to my previous post on where we will differ, John. I really resent the refusal of the left in this country, the ones who have been around since the '60s, to admit that they were wrong about these "Agrarian Reformers" they supported back then. You know, the crowd that supported "Uncle Ho", and thought socialism was the future of the world? Now, we have seen the results of "Uncle Ho" crowd running Vietnam, and Pol Pots' "agrarian reform" treatment of Cambodia. Socialism is in the ashcan of history, and the human misery it caused in the last century is still being counted. But the left in this country, for the most part, is still very, very, quiet about their mistakes.

To: JohnM who wrote (27901)	5/1/2002 11:24:14 AM
From: Ilaine	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

I think to understand the differences between Afghanistan post war with Soviet Union and Viet Nam post war with France/US you'd have to look at the differences BEFORE the war. Afghanistan has many conflicting ethnic groups, and I do mean conflicting. Viet Nam has one dominant ethnic group. Afghanistan was never a colonial country. Viet Nam was made a colony by Napoleon III in 1857. Afghanistan's war with the Soviet Union was an interval in a conflict which predated it, which has never been resolved. The war in Viet Nam was both a war of national liberation as well as a drive to impose communism in the region. The only way to have peace in Afghanistan is to resolve the conflict between ethnic factions and tribes and establish a representational government. Yikes! That's not going to be easy. These guys have been fighting each other since time immemorial. Hopefully, they're tired of it.