Vietnam, the War That Won't Heal
Wednesday, August 18, 2004 at 04:02AM
TheSpook
Three decades have passed since the last helicopter rose
from the American embassy roof in Saigon, and in that time, our leaders
still feel the need to announce, at regular intervals, that the Vietnam
War is behind us. Yet, in stone-headed contradiction, they also
regularly haul the nation into situations that repeat the bungled
thinking behind that war. So here we are again, this time mired along
the Euphrates instead of the Mekong. Listen up to a few of the obvious
lessons of Vietnam: Military superiority alone cannot trump an
adversary's political staying power. Never underestimate the forces of
nationalism. The majority of the people in the country your army has
entered may passively support the basic goals of your mission, but it
is angry minorities who more often determine the outcome. No single
nation-state, regardless of the immensity of its armed power, can carry
out these missions mostly alone. The United States is now bending,
economically and otherwise, under the costs of the mostly unilateral
invasion and occupation of Iraq. [more ]
Article originally appeared on (http://brownwatch.com/).
See website for complete article licensing information.