BillCosby

Simple enough..................

Yes or no...............

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Preventive war is not war!!!!Counter-terror is not terror

ibex

No, it wasn't. Our involvement started after WWII and was simply an effort to protect the status quo of European colonialism in the Third World. Ultimately, the burden of aiding the French and then a few puppet regimes in South Vietnam proved unsustainable. Our government relied on the domino theory to bolster its arguments for remaining in Vietnam, making incursions into Cambodia and turning Laos into the most bombed country in history at that time. We were warned by hawks that China and Vietnam would create a super alliance that would turn all of Southeast Asia Communist. In reality, the two countries were at the brink of all out war less than four years after the fall of Saigon to the VC and the North Vietnamese. All wars of aggression are started by the ruling elite of the aggressor nation taking the military option to protect what it sees are its own geopolitical and economic interests, Vietnam was no exception. If anything, our actions in Cambodia, deposing Prince Sihanouk in 1969 and replacing him with a thuggish junta, ultimately resulted in the triumph of the Khmer Rouge and the genocide that followed, but try telling that to the "America can do no wrong" crowd.You'd think Vietnam would have taught the American public not to trust the government so willingly when it comes to these seemingly pointless foreign ventures, but we apparently learned nothing. Just look where the pigs in charge have taken us today.

bornright

yes..........

Kanadesaga

Let's not forget the 5000 destroyed helicopters. The 500,000+ commercial air flights for military personnel. and all the other sundry expenses that profited American defense industries like a long protracted war can do. Just like Iraq.

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"..., because hope don't park the motherfucking car."

ibex

Playing it safe this time eh Hoss? Please don't elaborate, your one word responses are your best work.

BillCosby

I know you are familiar w/ the "just war theory".......... SO how in the world would this qualify???

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Preventive war is not war!!!!Counter-terror is not terror

bornright

Well actually you asked us to answer it simply yes or no. I will be more than happy to exlain my view on the Vietnam war to you.

I was in Vietnam and I know how the South fought the North. Most of the South Vietnamese wanted us there. I do not know why JFK and Johnson put me in Vietnam other than what was told to us by the media at that time.

I was in College at the time when I joined the Marines. My dad had fought in WWII and I felt it my duty to fight in any war that my country felt we should be involved in. You need to understand that I come from a responsible family and we do not depend on others to do for us. I did not want to be in a foriegn land with people trying to kill me.

While in Vietnam I saw the North Vietnamese as the aggressor. The South Vietnamese was not invading North Vietnam. The Viet Cong were made up of some from the south that wanted destruction of the South Vietnamese government.

Now to explain to you why I feel it was a just war. It was proven to me that it was a just war that we should have stayed with when we actually pulled out. You realize that when we pulled out we took weapons and money to assist the South Vietnamese in defending themselves. We abandoned them. They fought and died trying to defend their nation against an enemy that was financed and armed by Russia and China. Many of the ones that did not die in the battle were executed. They definitely thought it to be a "just war".

PursuitOfHappinessParty

Absolutely. Our sacred duty to fight communism. AKA BS . AKA MIC empowerment. If it had been a 'just' war, then RVN would be a thriving democracy now. You don't 'export' democracy, you import it thru earning and fighting for it as all thriving, successful democracies have done. I've read many, many books written by soldiers there (mostly SEALs), and the average person did NOT want us there. Not that it was us, it was the fact that the war was taking their family memebers away, destroying their homes, and disrupting their livelihoods. Simple folk with a simple outlook.

BTW, during WWII Army Medical Personelle saved Ho Chi Minh's life. He and his followers were pro-American, with an eye toward the future. Big parellel there with Osama Bin Laden.

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Its like a finger pointing at the moon. Don't concentrate on the finger or you'll miss all that heavenly glory. - Bruce Lee in 'Enter The Dragon'

BillCosby

I guess you know then that there were suppose to be democratic elections & the dictator (our Catholic man running the Buddhist country) would not agree to hold them. THis was w/ the full support of the USA....

He was assassinated via a cia coupe & replaced w/ our general shortly before JFK was assisinated........

Does that bother you???

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Preventive war is not war!!!!Counter-terror is not terror

BleedingPinky

Yes.