rhondabrwn
Posts: 2570
Joined: 9/29/2004 From: Snowflake, Arizona Status: offline
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And I should add that I served two years in Viet Nam with the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment so I've seen a futile war up close and personal. I've had decades to reflect on what lessons I've learned from my life experiences during those days. Lessons learned? You can't impose a government on a people or nation at the point of a gun. You can't put enough troops into a country to suppress opposition. Ultimately, people have to be responsible for their own government, good or bad. The best we can do is try to keep outsiders from fanning the flames. No matter how noble the intentions, the ultimate cost of imposing a solution (or trying too) must be weighed against what would have happened without the intervention. In Vietnam, for example, we were certainly wearing the "white hat" in attempting to stave off the Communists, but ultimately the country was reunited under North Vietnamese leadership just as it would have been if we had stayed out, but think how many millions of Vietnamese lives were lost during the war... plus the lives of our American troops and our allies. I think it is very telling that Robert McNamara, Secretary of War under Johnson, would later bitterly regret his role in escalating the Vietnam conflict. It wouldn't surprise me at all if Donald Rumsfeld eventually comes to a similar conclusion once the game is played out and the costs totaled. Not trying to pick a fight here. Just sharing one veteran's reflections on another troubled time in our nation's history.
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Love & Peace, Far Dareis Mai My old Piczo site seems to be gone, so no more Navajo Nation pics :(
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