Soda Jerks
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till selfish gain no longer stain
The banner of the free!
--America the Beautiful, Bates/Ward
Heard it all before
All of ya lies, all of ya sweet talk
But your lies ain't working now
See I had to shut you down
--Heard It all Before, Sunshine Anderson
_______________
Ranger is a POW, and neither habeas corpus nor military commissions will remedy this fact.
Although he was a legal combatant, his mind never strays far from his war, the Vietnam War. His body is free but the mind doesn't release the memories of the ignominy that passes for freedom fighting.
The story goes that U.S. policy in the Republic of Vietnam was freedom and democracy, elections and all that good stuff. The peasants in the thatched huts with dirt floors were going to embrace and love our way of life. They would do this in the voting booth, where they would rubber stamp the U.S.-backed leader du jour.
These leaders were as varied as ice creams on a Baskin-Robbins menu, the only constant being that these Mandarins were Franco-fied and Westernized and fully corrupt before our arrival. U.S. involvement only amplified and validated their behavior. The proof is the sumptuous lifestyles in which these leaders lived, both in country and in exile.
So 35 years have passed, and countless Vietnam vets have died from complications of their exposure to Agent Orange (many, friends) and 58,000 soldiers are still dead -- to what end?
Hindsight is 50/50: North and South Vietnam would have united or separated without U.S. interference. The country has prospered since foreign forces were ejected from their homeland. The supreme irony perhaps is that the Vietnamese have become a major supplier of goods to a floundering U.S. market.
Ranger's meta-analysis : The war was not about freedom, democracy and all that jazz, but rather about whether Communists or Capitalists would profit off of the labors of the Vietnamese people. War is always about money and exploitation. One giant porno film.
If the foreign Capitalists had won, the only difference in the outcome would be the profits of their labors would accrue to the U.S. corporations. Even with elections, how is that freedom?
It does not matter in the whole scheme of things whether Vietnam was split or unified, nor does it matter if Capitalism & Democracy or Communism was triumphant. The only thing that mattered was who would benefit from the exploitation of the Vietnamese people.
Releasing violence upon a nation is unjustifiable, even if done for freedom, or for the national security of America.
"National security" and "freedom" become lies when used to justify bloody mayhem.
Although he was a legal combatant, his mind never strays far from his war, the Vietnam War. His body is free but the mind doesn't release the memories of the ignominy that passes for freedom fighting.
The story goes that U.S. policy in the Republic of Vietnam was freedom and democracy, elections and all that good stuff. The peasants in the thatched huts with dirt floors were going to embrace and love our way of life. They would do this in the voting booth, where they would rubber stamp the U.S.-backed leader du jour.
These leaders were as varied as ice creams on a Baskin-Robbins menu, the only constant being that these Mandarins were Franco-fied and Westernized and fully corrupt before our arrival. U.S. involvement only amplified and validated their behavior. The proof is the sumptuous lifestyles in which these leaders lived, both in country and in exile.
So 35 years have passed, and countless Vietnam vets have died from complications of their exposure to Agent Orange (many, friends) and 58,000 soldiers are still dead -- to what end?
Hindsight is 50/50: North and South Vietnam would have united or separated without U.S. interference. The country has prospered since foreign forces were ejected from their homeland. The supreme irony perhaps is that the Vietnamese have become a major supplier of goods to a floundering U.S. market.
Ranger's meta-analysis : The war was not about freedom, democracy and all that jazz, but rather about whether Communists or Capitalists would profit off of the labors of the Vietnamese people. War is always about money and exploitation. One giant porno film.
If the foreign Capitalists had won, the only difference in the outcome would be the profits of their labors would accrue to the U.S. corporations. Even with elections, how is that freedom?
It does not matter in the whole scheme of things whether Vietnam was split or unified, nor does it matter if Capitalism & Democracy or Communism was triumphant. The only thing that mattered was who would benefit from the exploitation of the Vietnamese people.
Releasing violence upon a nation is unjustifiable, even if done for freedom, or for the national security of America.
"National security" and "freedom" become lies when used to justify bloody mayhem.
Labels: exploitation of Vietnam, using lies to justify war. national security and freedom as justification for war, vietnam war
posted by rangeragainstwar at 4:17 PM
4 Comments:
one of the things that struck me deeply during my tour with secure hamlets was that one of the things we needed to protect "our" village from was the provincial thugs from the government.
your post says it all. we got nothing but graves to fill and a recession that lasted nearly 8 years once we stopped the depraved spending for that war.
had truman not given the french ww2 surplus to retake vietnam after they abandoned it i am pretty certain that the veterans of resistance to japanese occupation would have been able to work things out politically. if we had spent 30% of the funds we spent trashing the place and carpet bombing on real aid we would have been able to start a relationship with a nation full of beautiful folks who make some of the greatest food in the world.
i hate what we did there, i still love vietnam and its people.
The irony of Vietnam is that it illustrates the bald faced lies that our so called leaders use to justify wars. That's why we must forget Vietnam or cling to the old lies. Otherwise, we'd be smart enough to reject war as an instrument of national policy.
The development of oil in the Gulf of Tomkin, I think, reveals wht we were so concerned about Viet Nam. The Domino Theory was just a cover.
And Big Minh was probably the best leader South Viet Nam had while we were interfering but he wouldn't toe the US line.
MB,
One of the most cynical exploitations of American values was the French convincing the US leadership that the fight in Indochina was against Communism rather than what it was.
It was nationalism and anti-colonialism with Communism thrown in. The mixture of these elements IMHO would've created an equitable government.
Let 'em work out their own regional concerns. We did.
Then it was Communism; now it is Terrorism. Always an -ISM, and they always provide the same rationale for aggression.
jim
Post a Comment
<< Home