That's a new one. First of all, I don't see how one follows the other. Also, to the best of my knowledge, McGovern never said that we were responsible for the Cold War.
The last statement is the essence of Kerry's testimony. We had falsely held up communism as an evil, when our real purpose was imperial exploitation of the oil resources of the South China Sea etc.
If you are referring to Kerry's testimony before Congress on April 22, 1971, Kerry says this about the threat of Communism:
"...but I want to relate to you the feeling that many of the men who have returned to this country express because we are probably angriest about all that we were told about Vietnam and about the mystical war against communism."
"We found most people didn't even know the difference between communism and democracy. They only wanted to work in rice paddies without helicopters strafing them and bombs with napalm burning their villages and tearing their country apart. They wanted everything to do with the war, particularly with this foreign presence of the United States of America, to leave them alone in peace, and they practiced the art of survival by siding With whichever military force was present at a particular time, be it Vietcong, North Vietnamese, or American."
But the issue, gentlemen, the issue is communism, and the question is whether or not we will leave that country to the Communists or whether or not we will try to give it hope to be a free people. But the point is they are not a free people now under us. They are not a free people, and we cannot fight communism all over the World, and I think we should have learned that lesson by now."
"...And we may have to fight them somewhere based on legitimate threats, but we must learn, in this country, how to define those threats and that is what I would say to this question of world peace. I think it is bogus, totally artificial. There is no threat. The Communists are not about to take over our McDonald hamburger stands. [Laughter.]"
"I do agree with you that what happened in Vietnam was not the product of evil men seeking evil goals. It was misguided principles and judgments and other things."
Kerry dismisses the threat of communism, but I fail to find in his testimony where he talks about the exploitation of oil resources in the China Sea as the evil underpinning of the war.
Never mind that we now know that Castro was weilling to let Cuba be incinerated just so he could get nuclear revenge on the USA. Khrushchev, thank God, knew he was dealing with a raving fanatic. The Left in this country still arein denial of that fact.)
That's interesting. Could you please provide a primary source for that assertion about Castor's williness to "let Cuba be incinerated just so he could get nuclear revenge on the USA"?
Castro's remark has been found among papers in the Soviet archives.
The remark about oil in the China Sea was often cited and not just by liberals Interestingly enough It remains a matter of disputres between China and Vietnam, although neither has had the resources to explore for what is there. I also heard it from the lips of priest who an old fan of Father Coughlan There was and is an isolationanist element in conservatism. You may recall that Bob Taft was not fond of NATO, and one reason Eisenhower ran for president was to keep Taft from becoming president. (His view of McArthur was also a factor). But this was a minor part of the argument that the domino theory was simply a ploy to maintain capitalist control over Southeast Asia.