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.