"Vietnam And Current Demographics" (So You Wanna Talk About Vietnam? Part 1) By R. A. Hawkins

The primary reason the liberals are attempting to use the image of Vietnam is that it is an image that conjures war without end. Kerry recently got together with twelve disgruntled Veterans in a diner for a photo-op regarding the veteran’s benefits and how atrocious they are. Before I mention that Kerry was there as Judas Iscariot I need to mention one very important thing. Kerry is in favor of universal healthcare. Current veteran’s benefits are exactly what that program would look like, too. Veteran’s benefits are government anything: A mess! I was going to mention that Judas Iscariot thing and it looks like I already did, so on with the next major point other than the one on Kerry’s head. Does anyone out there know if all of Kerry’s purple hearts were for head wounds?

For the most part people don’t really remember what Vietnam was or why it was. There are a lot of people who are forty-five and under who really have no idea what Vietnam was all about. If you talk to them many will know that it was under Nixon that we left but that’s really about all they know. Many of them will not even know that. To them it is almost ancient history. That being said I decided to tell a little story, just to update everyone who is unaware.

First off, the Vietnam conflict was started by Harry S. Truman placing advisors in 1950 in the country in order to help the French who were doing what they do best, and that is losing. We went in to help the imperialist French fight the Communist insurgents off. The French finished losing and left us holding the bag. Hey there’s a Vietnam/Iraq parallel right there. Wow. The French were a lot snottier this time however. At the start of the Vietnam War we were fighting Russians helping the North Vietnamese and we ended up fighting the Chinese helping the same. The war was later escalated under Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson.

When we entered that conflict we were there to prevent the spread of Communism and we were also, due to momentum and ease, backing a very unpopular regime. The government of Diem was hated in both North and South Vietnam. By the time Diem was out of there and pushing daisies it was a little too late and the communists had all of the support, and therefore momentum, they needed to pull it off. I’m certain some of the more astute readers have noticed that we didn’t remove the government of Diem like we did the government of Saddam. Not a parallel there now is it? We started this one off right. There are a few parallels that I should mention here though. The Russian advisors were present for the Iraq war just like Gulf War I and Vietnam. There’s a parallel for you.

The same collection of people (and I use that term loosely) is trying their dead level best to turn this war into the same mess they turned Vietnam into. If this war were anything like the Vietnam War, we would have backed the French and Saddam. We would have told the Russians they weren’t welcome, even if France is starting to look politically a lot like Russia these days. The Shiites would have had some serious problems too.

In all actuality this war is nothing like Vietnam except that, as usual, the liberals are on the other side. They are going nuts over the collapsing of a coalition they said didn’t even exist. They are on the side of France and Russia again. Let’s just say they aren’t very American. Before you liberals start up that email you’re thinking about writing to ask me why I’m not celebrating the rights of the protestors out there exercising their First Amendment Rights, I am celebrating it. I’m celebrating it in my own way. You have your freedom of speech. Go ahead and exercise it. I certainly am. That is my celebration of your rights to speak out. I am speaking out too.

Now back to that demographics issue I started out with. I see the same age group protesting this war as I see protesting every war. We have the unrealistic young ideologists being led in many cases by a bunch of ageing protestors who never grew up and have bean dying for a ‘cause’ to come along. The young are being led by the “Bombs for peace are okay as long as you only throw them at your own government” crowd. It is a simple case of the ill-considered leading the ill advised.

The reason so many liberals are grasping for the Vietnam analogy is that they can claim to understand something they didn’t understand in the first place. It is their lie and they can twist it, fold it and spindle it until it meets their needs. They are trying to reach the young and impressionable so they can retake the government at the ballot box. It reminds me of something I read a few years back: “Eagles may soar higher, but weasels never get sucked into jet engines.” –Anonymous

R.A. Hawkins is the author of "Through Eyes of Shiva", available through http://www.amazon.com/. Visit http://www.entropical-paradise.com/ -- Entropical Paradise - The Home Of R.A. Hawkins for more commentaries and editorials by R.A. Hawkins.

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Last week GARDEN GROVE, California became America's 1st 'Communist FREE Zone'

This week WESTMINSTER, California became America's 2nd 'Communist FREE Zone'

See:

..GARDEN GROVE snub irks HANOI..

http://www.Freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1135666/posts

Little Saigon's 2nd 'Communist FREE Zone' = Westminster

http://www.Freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1139368/posts

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There is a valid comparison between our efforts in Viet Nam and those in Iraq, and it's got everything to do with our troops. Our troops cannot tell friend from foe.

The troops in Iraq talk about the good they are doing in efforts to rebuild Iraq, and how the Iraqi people seem grateful. BUT, these same troops are dismayed because they say the same Iraqi people expressing gratitude are the ones firing at them once the sun sets.

Reports that Ahmed Chalabi, an Iraqi politician, has been spying for Iran offer an insight into the real battle in Iraq. Prior to this war, Ahmed Chalabi assured our government the Iraqi people would welcome us with open arms. This has proven false. Ahmed Chalabi led our government to believe large caches of illegal weapons littered the Iraqi landscape. This has proven false. Ahmed Chalabi has shown us the real face of the Iraqi people, and it is not friendly.

This administration is fighting this war with the continued presumption the Iraqi people want us there. The only Iraqi people that want us there are those collecting weekly incomes from our government. In this respect, the South Vietnamese and the Iraqi people are identical, and the havoc wrecked upon our troops identical.

Either pull our troops out of Iraq, or take the gloves off our military. It is unfair to have our troops facing an enemy hidden behind a mask of friendship. No one that says they support our troops would support ANY administration, Democrat or Republican, that is exposing our troops to such treachery.

This is the similarity between the Viet Nam War and the War in Iraq. In both wars we exposed our troops to a hidden enemy. Money isn't going to win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people any more then it won the hearts and minds of the South Vietnamese people. They'll take the money then shoot you in the back, set booby traps, and kill any indigent allies we might have.

Either allow the military to fight the war, or get out. Do not stay the present course!

Nice post.

The U.S. did not lose the VN conflict - the liberals in Congress conspired to give it away thru withholding of funding for weapons and support of the VN forces which were doing just fine. Once the libs gave up the ship, they proceeded to castigate the Pubbies for failing.

The Dims would like to do the same in Iraq but GWB is achieving too much, too fast for them to screw it all up.

Poor dim Dims!

"Either pull our troops out of Iraq, or take the gloves off our military. It is unfair to have our troops facing an enemy hidden behind a mask of friendship. No one that says they support our troops would support ANY administration, Democrat or Republican, that is exposing our troops to such treachery."

You have no understanding of the Vietnam war. I live in VN 25% of the year. I served in VN in 68-69-70. My girlfriend is Vietnamese. She told me a couple of years ago that only 2 million of the VN citizens are Commies and they rule the rest with fear and intimidation. VN people find it very difficult to get an exit visa (yes, you need two visa's, one to leave VN and one to enter the country you wish to go to); the reason the govt makes it difficult to leave, in my girlfriend's words, is that "if the people could leave, no one would come back."

Contrary to your words, the VN people like and respect the U.S. except for the commies. Learn a little about true facts before you post drivel.

"You have no understanding of the Vietnam war."

No understanding of the Vietnam War, really? Except for some clandestine operations and surface bombing, our military was never allowed to take the war into the north. Had our military been allowed, by our politicians, to fight the communists in the north, rather then waiting for the north to invade the south, you might have seen a free South Viet Nam today.

And no slight intended toward your girlfriend, or the feelings of the Vietnamese today, but our troops faced more then then the North Vietnamese regular army. They were constantly pestered by the Viet Cong which was comprised of communist sympathizers living in the south.

Your reference that 2 million Vietnamese Communists citizens today control the nation of over 80 million proves, does not disprove my contention that politicians hamper our military. If anything, it proves the political strategy used to direct our military efforts failed. The history of Viet Nam would have been quite different had the military been free to do what they do best, win wars to win peace.

And as far as drivel is concerned, the fact you presently live 25% of your time in Viet Nam; your girlfriend is Vietnamese, and present visa requirements in Viet Nam, have no bearing on what transpired during the Viet Nam War.

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