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Strategies & Market Trends : Fascist Oligarchs Attack Cute Cuddly Canadians -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: marcos who wrote (622)	9/8/2002 2:39:51 AM
From: E. Charters	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1293

The Vietnam power siezure by the commies showed that Ho was no angel. But I did not see how the reference to Tet is germane to my argument. I say the US lost the war by political vacillation, and as Biu says, by not waging war aggressively enough, not that it was too aggressive. What do you expect them to do? Run up and kiss the enemy on the cheek? Nope. War is killing, no way to pretty it up. You make much of Mai Lai as though everybody wasted villagers on every occasion. The US did burn the villages and move them. Why? For the same reason that Calley paranoically "bugged out". They were supporting the WWI tunneling complexes that Ho, the old trench soldier had assiduously built. Calley was classic case of paranoid psychosis from fear of death, and overtraining. You get that in every force. They brainwash you with camp security and fear of every potential enemy. Your own men could go ever. Well the could and they did. Tunnels are everywhere. Grandmas and kids throw grenades. Well they are and they do. And if you are in the bush with 200 potential spies, you do not think of comforting statistics of "light casualties" from low intensity raids. You are potentially one of those "light" casualties. Fear grips you. Everyone is a liar, every face an enemy. The strangers must die. In fact perhaps 10% of the villages were supporters of the North by duress or heart. Many were from the north, new to farming. The "Cong" had built may straw villages that supported the Ho trail. So he bugged out. Bad. What is the worst he should have done? Simply burnt the village and transported the people out. He did not have the tech to find the tunnels and by the time he did, perhaps 5 of his men would have bought it, and they would have heli-evaced. The same bug out gripped the soldiers of the CDN paratroops in Africa. A kid stealing food was caught in the compound. What could he have been? A spy with a radio. A Fara Ahdid troop. Planting mines. Questioning is usually done. Some duress. During WWII they used to cock a gun and hold it to the German agents head. Talk or die. It's legal by Geneva, believe it or not. So what did these Paratroops do? Beat to death. Not smart. Another Calley bug out. They had the power, and they abused it. What did they need to do? Use candy bars, promises and cleverness. Was the kid a spy? Well, let's not be naive. The people did not need food that bad. It's 50-50. The way to overcome these lapses is better, much better training and supervision. Discipline and better outlook. A better, smarter corp of officers. What happened in Somalia was appalling. Calley was an extreme case. Possibly repeated more often than we would like. But paranoia exists. Fear eats away at reason. Battle psychosis happens. It is a mistake to think that war and the prospect of sudden death would not brainwash you and I into pulling the trigger too fast. Better, our fears would tell us, to pull too fast, than too late. EC<:-}