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Politics : Don't Blame Me, I Voted For Kerry -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Alan Smithee who wrote (15821)	4/18/2004 3:00:37 PM
From: cnyndwllr	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 81568

Alan, you're wrong. The NVA regular army didn't beat us. Yes, they were well trained and disciplined and, even more importantly, they were willing to die for their cause, but we could outfight them. What we couldn't outfight was the fact that the people of S. Vietnam provided support for them as well as a fighting force that on it's own was capable of creating substantial casualties. And what we really couldn't outfight was the FACT that our objectives in Vietnam were internal in nature and those people, that culture and those religions would not line up and march to our tune. That left us with an unrealistic and unachievable GOAL that we could never meet. Eventually we came to realize that the tremendous costs we were paying would NEVER lead to the results we wanted. We also came to realize that the results we sought provided limited benefits. The cost/benefit analysis was one that rational people would view as requiring only one decision, and that decision was to butt out and go home. The clear parallels between Vietnam and Iraq aren't necessarily in the emergence of the insurgencies, although there are clear parallels there, the real similarities are that in each instance we occupied under flawed assumptions and, when that should have been clear, PROUD AND EGO-BLINDED PEOPLE DUG IN THEIR FEET, VOICED PLATITUDES AND SENT OTHERS TO DIE FOR AN ULTIMATELY PREDICTABLE AND DISMAL FAILURE. A few days ago I posted the words of the then-in-power politicians. Most of them were democrats and their words about "will not fail" etc. eerily echoed the words of this administration and, to some extent, Kerry. The truth is that when you start hearing from those in charge that "we cannot afford to fail and we will not fail," you'd better understand that failure is not only an option, it's a very real option.

To: Alan Smithee who wrote (15821)	4/18/2004 6:43:07 PM
From: the navigator	Respond to of 81568

I would argue that the war was not won, it was lost. Truth be told, the winning of the war would have cost too high a price so we opted out. It's just too bad that we came to this realization some 58,000 dead people later, (this doesn't include the wounded), and who knows how many dollars. So here we are again, thinking that we can occupy and control a land thousands of miles from our shores, whose culture is diametrically different than ours. Don't you see the parallels? Good grief, how can we tell these people we want to "free" them while practicing censorship on their newspapers? Do we (the government) really think they are that stupid? When the entire population of Iraq has risen up against us, as it will, we will then have to decide if owning that country is worth what it will cost. What do you think it is worth? Are you ready to give your child?