Displaying 871 To 900 Of 3,237 Comments Iraq And The Ghosts Of South Vietnam True. And rarely said. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On June 25, 2014 @ 9:19 pm Interesting discussion about “the draft”. This would make a good major post. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On June 25, 2014 @ 9:18 pm Interesting discussion about “the draft”. This would make a good major post. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On June 25, 2014 @ 9:18 pm I saw a professor on Al Jazeera America showing a map of modern day Iraq, and then an overlay of the likely breakup of the country and then another overlay with a map of the area in 1887. Guess what? Where that “country” is going is where it has been. As to what WE wanted….again, as I see it the neocon plan was to impose a government of our making creating a secular state aligned to U.S. interests giving the U.S an Islamic base in the heart of the Middle East. The nature of the Islamic sects remained a mystery to them and thus their barely tamped down antagonism under Hussein remained an unknown as well. When the crowds pulled down the statue of Hussein the neocons cheered without realizing that it was one sect pulling down the statue of the other sects leader and the civil war was on. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On June 25, 2014 @ 9:16 pm Just reading through the replies here I am stuck again by how much your experience and your ability to capture that experience in powerful narrative touches others. so honored to know you…. you live a life of powerful commitment. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On June 25, 2014 @ 9:00 pm No more than you richly, fully and honestly deserve. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On June 25, 2014 @ 8:56 pm I agree. I also worked on the McGovern campaign. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On June 25, 2014 @ 8:49 pm boy….do you ever pack a punch. Has anyone ever published a biography, or even an in-depth article about Vinh Ngo? Is this the same person as Ngo Vinh Long? I am very interested in this story. Have you more? Your passion and compassion come through quite clearly. Thank you for sharing this. P.S. How overlooked were the two stories you started with- Putin and Asad backed off by our President and his allies. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On June 25, 2014 @ 8:48 pm Well….until you get a verdict they remain, in a technical sense, alleged….now how do we get things like this to trial…? Yes the Cold War Warrior Mantle was laid down and a NeoCon one picked up – same people, different language, same goals. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On June 24, 2014 @ 8:37 pm Extraordinarily well said. “To my mind, true patriotism as opposed to the cant of the mindless jingoist — the sunshine patriot and summer soldier, the immoral belief in “My country, right or wrong, but nevertheless, MY country!” — lies in insisting we uphold our highest principles at all times and not blindly agreeing with those who too lightly let loose the dogs of war.” What a wonderful paragraph. Jingoism vs. Patriotism It makes patriots of the soldier and of the protestor and all of those in between….and that is in keeping with the spirit of true devotion to your homeland. Bravo. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On June 24, 2014 @ 8:07 pm Actually the error is mine. Here is the paragraph: “The political side that accompanies the rebuilding of a nation’s armed forces is even more complex. The U.S. and it allies “installed” governments in Germany, Japan, and S. Korea that took root. No other example comes to mind. In much of the world it is ethnic, religious and tribal roots that drive governance and we do not understand this.” It should have been. “The political side that accompanies the rebuilding of a nation’s armed forces is even more complex. The U.S. and its allies “installed” governments in Germany, Japan, and S. Korea that took root. No other example comes to mind. In much of the world it is ethnic, religious and tribal roots that drive governance and we do not understand this.” Two distinctive points. Your understanding of the nature of the armed forces in both Japan and Germany is right on the mark. Good catch! Tired and all. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On June 24, 2014 @ 8:03 pm Most welcome. Please join in when the spirit moves you. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On June 24, 2014 @ 7:59 pm Perhaps Hussein’s cobbled together dictatorship would have fallen anyway but it is clear to be that our invasion hollowed out that government making it a shell…that did not change in the decade of U.S. efforts to stand up the military and the government. National building barely worked in the period of New Imperialsm from the middle of the 19th through the middle of the 20th centuries. Today it is a quagmire no matter who tries it. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On June 24, 2014 @ 4:20 pm Look at our operations in Afghanistan in the first 18 month there. Textbook use of special forces and logistical support. But that kind of warfare does not “take” the land per neocon objectives. They cannot occupy and Americanize. Of course, as we found out, Big Force movement doesn’t do that ether. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On June 24, 2014 @ 7:26 am The Saudis play a nasty game- firing in all directions to keep everyone off balance. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On June 24, 2014 @ 5:00 am Very thoughtful, Ad Lib. You expand the playing field in your essay. Let me widen it a bit more with this oft quoted elegy to 19th century imperialism…. The White Man’s Burden: Take up the White Man’s burden, Send forth the best ye breed Take up the White Man’s burden, In patience to abide, Take up the White Man’s burden, The savage wars of peace– Take up the White Man’s burden, No tawdry rule of kings, Take up the White Man’s burden And reap his old reward: Take up the White Man’s burden, Ye dare not stoop to less– Take up the White Man’s burden, Have done with childish days– The poem was originally written for Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee, but exchanged for “Recessional”. Kipling, who has been characterized as a pro-colonial apologist who may have, in fact, been a staunch critic, changed the text of “Burden” to reflect the subject of American colonization of the Philippines, recently won from Spain in the Spanish-American War. At face value “White Man’s Burden” appears to be a rhetorical command to white men to colonize and rule other nations for the benefit of those people, it has come to be seen as Kipling’s somber warning of the costs of such efforts for a cause of dubious value. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On June 24, 2014 @ 4:59 am The proverbial…. Rock and The Hard Place ================================= And Obama is taking the heat for the actions of the neocon Bush Administration……. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On June 24, 2014 @ 4:48 am Thanks for this. The film is a documentary based on the book- The Trial of Henry It’s worth the time. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On June 23, 2014 @ 9:07 pm “I Get Bergdahl- Been There.” Words From A Young Iraq/Afghan Vet As the many comments here point out- his experience is not at all rare. Thanks for the kudo. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On June 22, 2014 @ 2:08 pm We will not say it…we will not even whisper it but the feeling that the Vietnam Vets represent America’ first lost war hangs like a boulder around their necks. From then on, the volunteer armed forces (read mercenary forces) made it easy NOT to invest in the vets way we had with the WWII generation. Your story captures that well- or rather sadly. You are a good lady, choice…and well named. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On June 22, 2014 @ 2:06 pm Great accompanying comment. Your statement that “They are our ‘lost generation’ again. WW I, Korea, Vietnam, Mideast — we’ve waged countless wars that had no reason to exist and our young people know it.” resonates very strongly with me. What made WWII and Korea as memory bearable for many of our soldiers, sailors and airmen was the sense of having been part of a noble crusade against a demonstrable evil that enslaved the people we were forced to fight. This meme does not fit the wars in your list and that, I think, increases the pain by a factor of three. Of note, I read an article that said that one of the considerations by those who planned the war in the desert, the Gulf War, were concern about PTSD. Your last paragraph is stunning. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On June 22, 2014 @ 1:57 pm This sounds very much like the experience of my neighbor and of Bergdahl. I think this is very common and I think that it is unacceptable, still, to say so. For many of our young vets, the mythology of the brave warrior haunts them when they are, in fact, broken and angry. I am adding your story to my growing list. When you say this young man is an advocate- it sounds like your man is the one taking care of this young man. Is that so? » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On June 22, 2014 @ 1:38 pm Your training saved you- ironic is it not? To be saved from being the warrior you did not want to become you had to become a good soldier. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On June 22, 2014 @ 1:30 pm The young man is getting both- one to one and group counseling. He seems to be better- his dad says he is now in a brotherhood of “broken warriors.” I did not know your story. I knew others who were entrapped as you were. I see that you did not have to go “in country” because of Vietnamization. Fortunate. Those last months of U.S. involvement were among the most brutal. Still you were a Marine and that means you experienced your own brand of brutal. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On June 22, 2014 @ 1:28 pm I have shared my admiration of your father before. So few vets would have done what he did. Risked his own exposure in doing it. I have spoken with this young man’ dad and he says that he has made connections with fellow “broken warriors.” I am happy for him. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On June 22, 2014 @ 1:21 pm I have heard the term….did not connect it in this way before. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On June 22, 2014 @ 1:17 pm And in the world of the volunteer army…the gulf between the privileged and underprivileged opens even further. Not only are our leaders exempt from the ravages of war but so are their children- the creation of the volunteer army made a system of money based virtual deferment permanent. Now, the leader can wage war without fear of its ravages getting too close. So many in the trenches in war are drawn from the have nots and from the ranks of the ideologically dedicated, the zealous. Both get deeply hurt in the face of war. The have nots see themselve in the faces of those in the war theater and the zealous discover their so called crusade is not as it seemed to be. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On June 22, 2014 @ 1:16 pm Hey there…fine thoughts. I sent the video to my friend, the father of the young man in this post. I got a note back this morning. “Not my kind of music, but I get what the guy is saying…and right now I know he is right….I was so proud when my kid enlisted and now I wish he had never even considered it…..Figting for his country, BS.” Sounds like the video hit a bulleye. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On June 22, 2014 @ 1:07 pm So good of you to make such a substantive comment. Thanks. You are right on the mark with this. Not only are our leaders exempt from the ravages of war but so are their children- the creation of the volunteer army made a system of money based virtual deferment permanent. Now, the leader can wage war without fear of its ravages getting too close. I got a chance yesterday to meet a vet counselors and he said that on the side lots of vets speak about a sense of complete disillusionment with our national purpose vs. their loyalty to each other. It put Bergdahl’s sense of torment into perspective. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On June 22, 2014 @ 1:01 pm How did your father get into the military at 15? I imagine your VFW after school time was eye-opening. It is not surprising that what they spoke of was their comradeship and not their battle experience. Very typical. It sounds as if he did the kind of work that made the Pacific Theater so horrifying (much like the Russian front). What branch of service was he in? Not only are our leaders exempt from the ravages of war but so are their children- the creation of the volunteer army made a system of money based virtual deferment permanent. Now, the leader can wage war without fear of its ravages getting too close. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On June 22, 2014 @ 12:58 pmComments Posted By MurphTheSurf3
The United States and The Philippine Islands”
Go bind your sons to exile, to serve your captives’ need;
To wait in heavy harness, On fluttered folk and wild–
Your new-caught, sullen peoples, Half-devil and half-child.
To veil the threat of terror And check the show of pride;
By open speech and simple, An hundred times made plain
To seek another’s profit, And work another’s gain.
Fill full the mouth of Famine And bid the sickness cease;
And when your goal is nearest The end for others sought,
Watch sloth and heathen Folly Bring all your hopes to nought.
But toil of serf and sweeper, The tale of common things.
The ports ye shall not enter, The roads ye shall not tread,
Go mark them with your living, And mark them with your dead.
The blame of those ye better, The hate of those ye guard–
The cry of hosts ye humor (Ah, slowly!) toward the light:–
“Why brought he us from bondage, Our loved Egyptian night?”
Nor call too loud on Freedom To cloak your weariness;
By all ye cry or whisper, By all ye leave or do,
The silent, sullen peoples Shall weigh your gods and you.
The lightly proferred laurel, The easy, ungrudged praise.
Comes now, to search your manhood, through all the thankless years
Cold, edged with dear-bought wisdom, The judgment of your peers!
Kissinger (2001) by Christopher Hitchens. It is an examination of the alleged war crimes of Henry Kissinger, the National Security Advisor and later United States Secretary of State for Presidents Richard Nixon and President Gerald Ford. Acting in the role of the prosecution, Hitchens presents evidence of Kissinger’s complicity in a series of alleged war crimes in Indochina, Bangladesh, Chile, Cyprus and East Timor.
Why not make your story an article/post so it can be discussed more fully.
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