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Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: stockman_scott who wrote (16513)	4/4/2003 7:39:03 PM
From: lurqer	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 89467

Thanks for the Stratfor article. I'm already giving some thought to post Saddam Iraq. I've been thinking about TET. <Font size=10><Font color=RED>TET </Font><Font size=3> Few under forty years of age have a good idea what this country was like in the mid-sixties. The WWI (a.k.a. The Great War, The War to End All Wars) generation was in the process of handing over the reigns of power to the WWII generation.(a.k.a. the Great Generation). While there were significant differences between these two groups, there was remarkable agreement on the subject of loyalty. For both it meant an unquestioning, flag waving agreement with the commander-in-chief. This behavior had been forged by their experiences of two world wars, a great depression and the never ending cold war. When Vietnam ramped in the mid-sixties, it was time to rally around the flag. By the latter sixties there was a growing anti-war movement, that had the audacity to question both the assumptions on which the war was based, and the wisdom of the “leaders” pursuing that goal. But although loud and growing, this youth based “movement” remained a fringe phenomena. It didn’t even exist in the more conservative regions of the nation. Most believed that the war was being won. Then came Tet. Something was amiss. If what the government had been saying was true, Tet couldn’t happen, but it did. Walter Cronkite, the anchor of CBS’s nightly news, was a trusted member of the establishment. Tet forced him to visit Vietnam. When he returned, he made his famous “We are mired in stalemate” broadcast. The anti-war sentiment took a quantum leap. Where before Tet there was some anti-war sentiment, now there was a lot; where before there was none, now there was some. Tet was a watershed. After Nixon’s ’68 plan to end the war, Watergate, Iran-Contra and the definition of is, many in the American public have learned that the proper response to self serving pronouncements of any administration is a raised eyebrow. Thus the Iraqi War never received the unquestioning endorsement that the Vietnam War initially received. That’s not to say that those that equate unquestioning loyalty to the present administration and patriotism to the country don’t exist. They obviously do. A perusal of the posts on this thread, and many others reveals the presence of “True Believers”. But unlike Vietnam, there are far more skeptics asking hard questions much earlier in the process than was true in Vietnam. However Goering’s statement at Nuremburg still rings true: "But, after all, IT IS THE LEADERS of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is TELL THEM THEY ARE BEING ATTACKED, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. IT WORKS THE SAME IN ANY COUNTRY." So look at any poll. The Goering majority is dominant. Now if my assessment of Iraq is accurate, the Saddam phase is only the initiation. Depending on how quickly Bush and Co. want to end the Baghdad standoff, we may or may not see a large amount of blood spilled. But sooner or later Saddam will be “out of the picture”, and the occupation will commence. That’s when the Iraqi Tet will occur. I don’t know if it will be a single catastrophic event like the Beirut bombing, or will it be the incessant suicide bombings of occupation forces a la Palestine. What I fear is it will be a repeat of the Twin Towers, but this time not from Al Qaeda. Rather from some group whose existence stems from hatred caused by our occupation of Iraq. But one way or the other an Iraqi Tet is coming. Since Muslims don’t have a Tet festival, maybe we’ll call it Ramadan or Hadj. JMO lurqer