Originally published at http://www.commondreams.org/views/2020/12/22/lessons-two-failed-wars-reflections-vietnam-and-iraq
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Not sure our troops should even defend, deter, and contain. Why, indeed, should âthe troopsâ do these things? What about about preserving the peace as UN peacekeepers are charged to do? What about offering aid in the event of a tsunami, an epidemic, or an earthquake? What about forging connections educational and cultural to bond people together? What about offering out-and-out grants instead of loans to fuel development in poor nations? All of these things would accomplish more than sending out our troops to accomplish goals remote from our national interests.
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" The lessons of two failed wars"?
Andrew, it depends on your perspective, they have been very successful wars from a war profiteers perspective!
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Mark Twain expresses it far better than i can in his âWar Prayerâ
~https://www.worldsocialism.org/wsm/2020/12/01/mark-twains-the-war-prayer/
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Thanks for the link.
"In practice, the Most Powerful Man in the World usually turns out to be not all that powerful. Rather than directing History with a capital H, he (not yet she), like the rest of us, is pretty much just along for the ride. In their own ways, Goldsmith and Haggard implicitly endorsed such a fatalistic perspective."
- Andrew Bacevich
Maybe my favorite article of Andrewâs - so thank you Mr. Bacevich !
At the risk of generalization - all the wars since JFK have been Ikeâs MIC wars - whose purpose is corporate externalization of costs and enrichment of the few.
Livy of Rome, Sun Tzu in âThe rt of Warâ, and more recently John Steinbeck have all made the point that affluence is a destroyer of nations, referring to the main body of people that make up those self same nations.
I am now three quarters of the wat thru Barack Obamaâs âA Promised Landâ - a perfect title, if you think about it.
The quote I began this reply with is EXACTLY what âA Promised Landâ is all about.
How to wrest control of the MIC - not sure - but as Barack decided - âtryâ.
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What I took away from the wars on Vietnam and on Iraq is that the USA and its Military love to kill people. They kill people by the millions. They only consider such wars as failures and ones that should not have been fought when too many Americans die and too much of that treasure spent to do that killing.
Really , how the USA has suffered after these wars concerns me far less then the suffering of the peoples in Vietnam and Laos and Cambodia and Iraq , who did no harm to the United States of America and were no threat to them.
The question is if the USA made war on Iran and lost next to no personnel and spent next to none of their precious treasure even as millions of Iranians died , would the war have been considered a success?
At the end of the day all wars are failures and spending treasures to wage them a failure even if your side âwinsâ.
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Dr. King delivered that message to the world in Riverside Church in NYC, April 4, 1967, in âDeclaration of Independence from the War in Vietnam.â A powerful message that continues to resonate, sadly, 53 years later. Two statements come to mind: âA time comes when silence is betrayal,â and âWar is not the answer.â
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Indeed he did and he remains one of the greatest of âAmericansâ. I admire how he evolved as he recognized the truth of the United States Government and how he went out there to take them on and expose those lies. They murdered him for that but people MUST keep his message front and center.
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this reminds me of something dr. william f. pepper, who has written 3 books detailing a conspiracy involving j.edgar hooverâs fbi which was behind the assassination of mlk⌠said. something he claimed lbj said, pertaining to the vietnam war. âi canât pull out of vietnam; my friends are making too much money there.â one can listen to various talks given by dr. pepper on youtube in which he makes this claim.
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False Flag Events as Well.
Gulf of TonkinâŚinitiated the Vietnam War.
And the false-flagâŚ9-11 controlled demolition of 3 buildings catalyzed the wars in the Middle-EastâŚan inside job for whose agenda are manyâŚ
Thru wars and their profiteers,this country has been destroyed from internal enemies. The sooner a collapse the betterâŚwe are facing collapses from environmental, economic and political enemies⌠the only thing saving this country at this time is the ability to âprintâ moneyâŚto create moneyâŚlook globally at the troubles of other countries, are they able to print money?..
This country is doomed⌠Where are the trials for the criminals?.. The top criminal will soon be walking away free with no one holding him accountable for his crimesâŚ
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And LBJ could have added: And my friends would have me meet the same fate as JFK!
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