I was not concerned with those who were concerned with securing
"the non-Communist coalition we desperately need to build in
Europe or "hopefully mak[ing] some good money", but with the
ordinary draftee or, for that matter, volunteer. He had the
capacity to think about whether Vietnam was capable of hurting
this country. [Under international law, he had the duty to, but I
am putting it in terms of the ordinary guy who knows nothing of
Nuremberg trials.] So either he was a good German: "when my
country calls" or he believed that we had the right to tell
everyone else how to behave. I will not honor either of those
attitudes.
William Mandel
>
> William Mandel wrote:
>
> > Joe: Please explain something to me. Anyone who went to fight in
> > Vietnam went to a country incapable of hurting the United States:
> > no air force, no fleet. The simplest kid with any kind of
> > morality whatever -- religious, you name it -- was capable of
> > understanding that. So he was an invader, a killer of people who
> > couldn't do anything to his country. Why should I memorialize
> > such people?
> > In all sincerity,
> > Bill Mandel
>
> While I can respect the sentiment, and in fact it may be such an overriding logical
> concern that there isn't any need to discuss the details further--I think it's an
> oversimplification.
>
> Obviously we came into Vietnam as the last of a long line of invaders and
> exploiters. The Chinese give way to the Japanese give way to the French. So here's
> DienBienPhu, and there's suddenly a vaccuum of power as the French bandage up and
> get out. A vibrant, charismatic Communist asserts control--pitching repeatedly for
> OUR help, at the beginning--and so here stands our realpolitik decision. We're in
> the first heat of the cold war, and we're presented with a cause that has three
> seemingly reachable goals: staunch Communism, theoretically from China (although
> this was a ludicrous mistake); show support (again) for a defeated ally and thus
> secure the non-Communist coalition we desperately need to build in Europe; and
> hopefully make some good money off a country with a pearl of a capital city (once
> we got it back from Ho, of course).
>
> It was a dumb decision, but when you're the ones making the decisions, it comes
> down to a lot more than "can they hurt us."
>
> --
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> Mark Bunster **It's a different kind of feeling
> Survey Research Lab**you might not have felt at all
> VA. Commonwealth U **makes me jump and touch the ceiling
> Richmond, VA 23284 **if I fall well then I fall.
> mbunster@vcu.edu **
> rbunster@earthlink.net** --Chisel
> http://www.imagineradio.com/mymusiclisten.asp?name=mbunster
-- To be removed from list, e-mail "Opt Out." You may find of interest website www.BillMandel.net
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Jun 16 2000 - 23:29:35 CUT