Lessons from Vietnam and Iraq

[bemildred]

In 1964, the U.S. Navy falsely reported that two of its destroyers, operating innocently in the South China Sea, had been attacked by North Vietnamese torpedo boats. The Navy was not operating innocently (it had been making runs at the shore to trigger North Vietnamese radar activity, for future destruction), and its ships were not attacked.

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President George W. Bush, who with full justification attacked Afghanistan as the source of terror attacks on the United States, wanted even more to attack Iraq. He told Congress Iraq tried to buy nuclear bomb material in Africa (not true), that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction (not true), and that Iraq closely supported al-Qaida (not true). He talked of patriotism and asked for war powers. Congress was just as big a fish this time.

If there are some lessons to be learned here, I suggest these three:
- We should despise a Congress that jumps on the bandwagon. We should demand a Congress that offers its own sons as the first to serve, and then fights against a war powers resolution with every fiber of its being until truth demands a yes.

Record-Eagle