A Little Friday History Reminder

I wasn't alive thirty-nine years ago, but I do know the man in front of the camera. He was an astute journalist in his day. He spoke the truth about a war that then President Johnson was escalating. He knew what was coming for the U.S. in Vietnam, does anyone know whats going on now?

Bush Is Right To Compare

Comparing Iraq and Vietnam can be a little scary at times, even for the Decider. His comparisons, like his view of the world is rather delusional. Rep. Robert Wexler (D-FL) actually made some sense yesterday when Petraeus made his way to D.C. for the anticipated (but not surprising) report on the war.

From Crooks and Liars:

Wexler: I vehemently opposed the surge when the president announced that last winter and instead I call for troops be withdrawn. In your testimony today you claim that the surge is working and you need more time. With all respect General, among unbiased nonpartisan expert consensus is far. The surge has failed based on most parameters. In truth, war related deaths have doubled in Iraq in 2007 compared to last year. Tragically, it is my understanding that seven more American troops have died while we’ve been talking today. Cherry picking statistics or selectively massaging information will not change the basic truth.

And please understand Gen. P., I do not question your credibility. You are a true patriot. I admire your service to our nation, but I do question your facts. And it is my patriotic duty to represent my constituents and ask you. question you about your argument that the surge in troops be expended until next summer, especially when your testimony stating that the dramatic reduction in sectarian death is opposite from the National intelligence estimate the Government accounting office and several other non-biased non- partisan reports.

I am skeptical General, more importantly the American people are skeptical because four years ago very credible people while in uniform and not in uniform came before this Congress and sold us a bill of goods that turned out to be false. And that’s why we went to war based on false pretense to begin with.

This testimony today is eerily similar to the testimony the American people heard on April twenty eighth nineteen sixty seven from General William Westmoreland, when he told the American people–America was making progress in Vietnam.

Wexler makes a very good point here. Iraq may not be a carbon copy of Vietnam, but there are many eerie similarities that make it seem like Bush and his team are taking the lessons of thirty years ago and repeating actions that have been shown to lead to failure. A small percentage of Americans believe Bush is exhibiting leadership in the Middle East, but it looks a lot more like insanity to me.

Bush On IraqNam

Cenk Uyugr takes on the comparisons:

Rudy Doesn't Remember Vietnam

I know that the Vietnam War was a long time ago, a senseless conflict that killed tens of thousands of Americans and millions in Southeast Asia. Rudy Giuliani acts as if he forgot all about it, specifically on how it ended. At a recent event in front of the Jewish Community Relations Council here in New York he showed his historical ineptitude.

From ThinkProgress:

[I]f we flee Iraq, if we do what the Democrats want us to do — which is to not only flee Iraq, not only retreat in Iraq, but give them a timetable of our retreat.

Have you ever heard of that in a history of war? Have you ever heard of an army being required to give a printed schedule of its release to the enemy? It makes no sense, does it? Whether you’re for the war or against it, you would never have an army retreat on a six- month, one-year, 18-month schedule explaining, We’ll reduce the forces by 20,000, then by 30,000, then by 50,000. Gee, you can then figure out when the forces are depleted enough so you can really do damage to them.

Giuliani needs to brush up on his history. A publicly-announced gradual reduction of forces is exactly what the United States did in the Vietnam War. On May 14, 1969, President Richard Nixon laid out an “eight-point peace plan” calling for the gradual withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Vietnam.

Whoops. Democrats are the ones that want a timetable to get out Iraq, so does most of the country. Rudy forgets that the first pullout in this manner was done by a Republican. Richard Nixon, even though he was a corrupt criminal in the White House, had a timetable to get out of Vietnam. Bush is also a corrupt criminal in the White House. Unfortunately he won't follow in the footsteps of Nixon. Getting out of us out of this war and resigning would have been a great way for him to go.

Now it is time for Rudy to brush up on some history of the United States. He really should keep his fat mouth closed until he does so.

Atonement For Using Agent Orange In Vietnam? Never.

For all the talk about other countries using chemical weapons and us fearing them for having them, the worst offender has always been the United States. We dropped the atomic bomb first, discarded old WMDs in the ocean and firebombed Vietnam with Agent Orange (Not to mention the current war on Columbian farmland drugs).

More than thirty years after the war ended, the Vietnamese appealed to the U.S. for the war crimes committed especially by the companies that manufactured Agent Orange by including the poisonous Dioxin compound. Even now with tremendous evidence on the plaintiff's side the Judges ruled for companies such as Dow, Monsanto and others.

From The Daily News:

Plaintiffs lawyer Jonathan C. Moore said the companies were reckless because they deliberately took steps to make sure the highly toxic chemical dioxin was not kept out of Agent Orange.

"I do believe the conduct of the defendants was intentional. They knew the risk and went ahead anyway," Moore said. "The effect it had on the people of Vietnam was certainly significant and drastic."

Judge Roger J. Miner said he heard indications that neither the government nor manufacturers were aware of the toxicity of Agent Orange.

Judge Peter Hall noted that U.S. troops were directly exposed to Agent Orange and U.S. aircraft sprayed more than 21 million gallons of it between 1962 and 1971 in attempts to destroy crops and remove foliage used as cover by communist forces.

Now we have over 10,000 American veterans that receive disability benefits due to the effects of Agent Orange. For these Judges to deny the same reality to the Vietnamese that lived on the land is absurd. Our government at the time was complicit in committing war crimes by using Dioxin in the Agent Orange and should hold itself accountable. Of course, accountability isn't an ideal that is upheld in our government anymore. So we shouldn't expect much from the Federal Appeals Court, especially since the Judiciary is being stacked with plenty of conservative Judges these days.

South Korea Versus Vietnam

President Bush may want to compare Iraq to South Korea now instead of Vietnam but neither look good for him. If Bush gets his way, Iraq will look like a combination of the two. Staying in Iraq for decades is just as bad as being there now from a day-to-day perspective. Meaning that on any given day, we are going to see the deaths of our soldiers. Over the long term Iraq will become bloodier for all of us.

Newspapers Are A Bunch Of Sluts

I don't know about them being sluts, perhaps in some instances maybe. I would never make that assertion like former President Nixon did a while back. Who the media are sluts to is another difference between Nixon and myself. Today I would say they are beholden to their corporate masters by and large. Thirty-five years ago the only thing that mattered was Nixon's enormous ego.

This information and more was brought to light by Vanity Fair's Robert Dallek. In addition to writing an article for the magazine, he is writing a book on the power struggle between Nixon and Kissinger. While both men agreed on the newspapers being sluts, the two sparred against each other in their own quests for power of the Nixon Administration.

From RawStory:

In next month's Vanity Fair, Robert Dallek illustrates how President Richard Nixon "was losing his epic power struggle with Henry Kissinger," a thesis drawn out in his upcoming book Nixon and Kissinger: Partners in Power. He describes the two similarly as "paranoid and insecure, deceitful and manipulative, ruthless and strangely vulnerable."

Dallek bases his argument on a new analysis of Nixon administration archives -- what he calls a "real-time rendering of events often at variance with official portrayals" -- which includes diary entries, transcripts, tapes, records and official papers. "Henry Kissinger never wanted the 20,000 pages of his telephone transcripts made public," writes Dallek, "not while he was alive, at any rate. And for good reason."

The historian highlights "moments of high drama" and depicts Kissinger as "a man whose growing power derived from Nixon's deepening incapacity." Dallek also discusses how the archives "reveal Kissinger's troubling personality and methods across a broad front."

There'll be plenty more in the article and the upcoming book. Be sure to check it out, the pages should be exciting, even if you aren't a Presidential historian. The battle between these two paranoid and egocentric men is one for the ages.

John Fogerty's Deja Vu

John Fogerty sees our country has a serious case of deja vu when it comes to war.

Dr. King Spoke About War At This Church

An earlier post today covered the 2nd annual MLK event at the Riverside Church here in NYC. Senator Edwards referenced Dr. King's speech when he said that silence was betrayal when it comes to the war. Here is an audio broadcast of his incredible words on April 4th, 1967. His message is as imperative today as it was when we were losing soldiers in Vietnam nearly forty years ago.

LBJ is to Bush, as Vietnam is to Iraq

People have been making the comparison for quite sometime now. As the fourth anniversary of the invasion approaches, there is still no end in sight. Last night Bush announced that he will has already started deploying an additional 21,500 troops into Iraq. There are also news reports that show he is becoming increasingly hostile with Iran. G-d (or whatever you ascribe to or not) help us all if the Escalator keeps escalating with the Iranians.

Just as hostilities poured out all over Southeast Asia with the help of Nixon and Kissinger, Bush is going all out on his own. The insanity is increasing ladies and gentlemen.

Take a look at these comparisons (from AttyTood):

LBJ, Jan. 10, 1967: This forward movement is rooted in the ambitions and the interests of Asian nations themselves. It was precisely this movement that we hoped to accelerate when I spoke at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore in April 1965, and I pledged "a much more massive effort to improve the life of man" in that part of the world, in the hope that we could take some of the funds that we were spending on bullets and bombs and spend it on schools and production.

GWB, Jan. 10, 2007: A successful strategy for Iraq goes beyond military operations. Ordinary Iraqi citizens must see that military operations are accompanied by visible improvements in their neighborhoods and communities. So America will hold the Iraqi government to the benchmarks it has announced.

LBJ, Jan. 10, 1967: We have chosen to fight a limited war in Vietnam in an attempt to prevent a larger war--a war almost certain to follow, I believe, if the Communists succeed in overrunning and taking over South Vietnam by aggression and by force. I believe, and I am supported by some authority, that if they are not checked now the world can expect to pay a greater price to check them later.

GWB, Jan. 10, 2007: The challenge playing out across the broader Middle East is more than a military conflict. It is the decisive ideological struggle of our time…In the long run, the most realistic way to protect the American people is to provide a hopeful alternative to the hateful ideology of the enemy – by advancing liberty across a troubled region.

There are many more comparisons via the link above. People this is getting crazier by the day. I watched that 'speech' last night with sadness and rage combined into one. Sadness for our country and our troops that take the brunt of Bush's actions, rage for Bush's unconscienable acts as Commander-in-Chief of our armed forces and as President. This insanity must stop, we need to take action against him. The only option is to impeach him, the sooner the better for all of our sakes.