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Politics : Proof that John Kerry is Unfit for Command -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ann Corrigan who wrote (15390)	10/4/2004 7:45:20 AM
From: cirrus	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 27181

You are correct. Communism is an oppressive system which advocates social change through revolutionary (violent) means if necessary. Communism has a horrible worldwide record of economic and social disasters and any sensible person opposes such a system. But we defeated Communism in Europe without firing a shot, so war is clearly not the only remedy. In Viet Nam we supported the government of Ngo Dinh Diem, who, while not communist, was a tyrant every bit as evil as the worst communist. In supporting the Diem and successor regimes, we became identified with them and became, in the eyes of the people, every bit as evil as the regime we supported. In the late 1940s, it is said that Ho Chi Minh requested US assistance in creating an independent Viet Nam from the French Indochina colony, a request the US failed to consider. Receiving no US aid, Ho Chi Minh the turned to Viet Nam's historical rivals, the Chinese, for assistance in ousting the French and creating a free Viet Nam. Of course, when the French were unable to hold their colony and left, and America realized that the new government had been assisted by the hated Red Chinese, the "Domino Theory" required that we fight Ho Chi Minh. You know the rest. In the sense that Ho Chi Minh was a revolutionary who led his country in a war of independence, he was every bit the "George Washington" of his country. George Washington would have been hanged as a traitor had Britain subdued the colonies. The Crown viewed Washington much the same way as we were told to view Ho Chi Minh, as the embodiement of evil. Had the US adopted a different policy and assisted Ho Chi Minh in the late '40s... who knows? Perhaps the Viet Nam war would never have happened. It is impossible to rewrite history, of course, but a careful study of history often causes one to understand that issues are often far more complex than initially believed, that the world problems are not always as simple as black and white. Regarding your term "oppressive"... a country need not be communist to be oppressive... our close ally for decades, the Saudi Royal family in Saudi Arabia, is one of the most oppressive regimes the world has known. Yet we love that regime. So "oppression" is certainly not the limitus test for foreign policy, is it?