(My reprinted response to Dawn Legg's 9/30/05 post.)
Hi Dawn,
I was one of those terrified Americans in combat in 1968 and what you say about the horror of war is very true. In the middle of the cold war, with the communists of the Soviet Union AND China backing the North Vitnamese and vowing to take over the world, the fear of such a possibility was greater than the horror and death.
That the war was fought in such a ridiculous fashion, much like what we see in Iraq, has to do with strategic thinking and planning AND responsible execution.
There is however, Dawn, one HUGE difference between what happened in Vietnam and what subsequently took place since the deaths of 1 to 2 million at the hands of Pol Pot and other communists.
Not a single NVA (North Vietnamese Army soldier) seized the American embassy in Iran in 1979. Not a single NVA was involved in the deaths of 63 people at the US Embassy compound in Beruit in 1983 nor the deaths of 241 Marines six months later.
No NVA in '85 in Madrid, none in August at Rhein-Main Air Force base where 22 were killed. It wasn't an NVA on the Achille Lauro that pushed Abe Klinghoffer over the side in a wheelchair. No NVA were involved in the Pan Am bombing over Lockerbie that killed 259.
It goes on and on to our embassies in Africa with a death toll of 224, to the World Trade Center (first time). There was the USS Cole, then came the beaut, as the World Trade Center towers collapsed, the Pentagon was also attacked and the passengers dove their plane into a field in Pa.
About 4,000 were killed altogether and not a single NVA was involved. Sine then ther's been Madrid, London, and most recently Bali. This Jihad has NO discernable end and if you do not kill the terrorists they will most certainly try and kill you or those you love...GUARANTEED!
So, I don't know what "THE ANSWER" is but I know it isn't capitulation because there is no such thing under these circumstances. No NVA this time kiddo, just people who will deliberately kill anyone including themselves.
What to do????
Bill Benica, Gunners Mate 3/c USN
Boat Captain T-111-10 RivDiv 111
Task Force 117, Dong Tam, Vietnam
Wednesday, October 12, 2005
All Jihad, No NVA
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3 comments:
Bill, your comments are greatly appreciated by this Vietnam vet. Seems like the dissident/jihadists have been at it a long time.
From my research/observation, they are a small subset of Islamic believers. From their long range point of view (a century is a short time), the West has been meddling in their affairs for a long time. For reasons of "self-interest" or "national interest."
Many Moslems in their world are poor and live in substandard conditions to put it mildly. There is not much of a middle class in those countries. 40% unemployment in Saudi Arabia?
So, should the US work on ways to kill the few jihadists who wreak so much havoc...or should we choose to encourage the formation of a middle class, better income distribution and a better life for them though our policies?
I'd be careful around a hornet's nest, and find a way to deal constructively with it, rather than getting stung and learning a hard lesson about winning peace.
Do you think anyoone in America is going to accept an "endless" war?
Bill
One thing we can be sure of is that there is no one-size-fits-all solution. We can also be sure that "terrorism" is not a political entity, like Germany, or North Vietnam.
As with any criminal enterprise there has to be at the least a two-prong approach - suppression and an attack against root causes.
Military force is great at suppressing the armies of other nations; it's lousy at suppressing criminal activity. That's the job for police, of some form, and it is a the job of ALL peace-loving nations.
The root causes include, among many others, poverty, lack of education, a closed society, non-democratic governments, jingoistic patriotism, and religious fanatacism. We can help in a few of these areas, but we cannot completely remove the root causes for others; we can only set an example.
At present we are using the military for police work, and are trying to impose American-style democracy on other nations. Are either of these viable approaches? I think not.
The one thing that we can do, and we have done for a long time, is to set an example of freedom and democracy, and encourage people to follow our example by finding their own way to freedom.
We didn't get free from England becuase the French or the Polish came in and "gave" us democracy. We grew it internally, and are still growing it. That is the example we must continue to set for the world.
Right now, we are destroying the example while bullying others to give lip-service to democracy. Someone has to tell me how this is progress - I don't see it.
Let's keep the discussion going.
Sanford (Sandy) Cook
LTC USA (Ret)
[Ops Officer, 175th RR Co, Bien Hoa RVN 1968-69]
Vice Chair, Veterans United For Truth
Great blog, Mr Bill!
We need to learn from history, and the lessons of Viet Nam are being so fantastically twisted today that we are facing a real possiblity of repeating our single greatest mistake of that era.
Bear in mind, we did not "lose the war" in Viet Nam. The U.S. military never lost a major engagement.
That war was "lost" here in the USA. We the People lost our resolve, turned our backs on our allies and walked away.
Now, a similar anti-American minority is using similar tactics to accomplish the same horrific result in the Middle East.
There are nations all over the Globe who live in peace and freedom specifically because the U.S. military fought and died to see to it they could do so. Not true in Viet Nam.
We can either learn from history and see this conflict through to Victory, or wonder and wager which Middle East dictator will be the next PolPot.
We The People must awaken to the true agenda of these people who want us to believe America is evil, sedition is partiotic and these Islamic terrorists need not be taken seriously.
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