Vietstan
You know it's a presidential election year when the Vietnam War once again becomes a topic of public debate. Barack Obama is a post-Vietnam candidate. His politics were shaped from the aftermath of that conflict, not direct participation and/or opposition to U.S. policies and actions in Southeast Asia. Senator McCain, on the other hand, is a man whose life is understanably defined by what happened over there.
Four years ago, we were told that a bumbling-drunk from Connecticut who had sat out the draft in the Texas Air Guard was somehow more patriotic than a Vietnam veteran who dared criticize the war when he returned. Now, we are told that the war record of another Vietnam vet is definitely "off limits", unless of course it is used as evidence of McCain's awesomeness.
With all due respect to all the vets out there, fuck Vietnam. I don't care what happened to who over there. It was a fucked up, nasty war that no one ever should have fought. I wasn't even born when the whole shitstorm started so I really don't care.
Call me silly, but this seems a little more important than how LBJ fucked an entire generation...
For the second month in a row, U.S. and allied troop deaths in the Afghan war have surpassed those in Iraq, according to official figures tallied by CNN.
In June, 46 foreign troops died in Afghanistan and 31 troops died in Iraq. In May, 23 foreign troops died in Afghanistan and 21 died in Iraq.
A Pentagon report issued last week about Afghanistan said security in many areas of the country is regarded as "fragile" and Taliban militants have regrouped into a "resilient insurgency" after the Taliban was toppled from power in 2001.
June was the deadliest month for foreign troops in Afghanistan since the conflict there began in 2001. Twenty-eight Americans, 13 Britons, two Canadians, one Pole, one Romanian, and one Hungarian died in Afghanistan. The latest deaths were three American troops who died in a vehicle rollover while on patrol in Kandahar province.
The Taliban is back. You know, the primitive-gangsters who we should have been able to wipe from the face of the earth? You know, the people who were hiding Osama bin Laden after 9/11? You know, the man who actually launched an attack on this country?
So for all you Bush cheerleaders out there who thought something John Kerry said thirty fucking-years ago was somehow more important than a war that is actually being fought right now. Fuck you. Fuck you and fuck you some more you fucking assholes.
That is all
1 comments:
I disagree with your philosophy that "you really don't care because you weren't born" yet.
I was born in 1948, so does that mean that everything before then should be meaningless to me? Or is this selective importance?
If it is selective on your behalf, then let me try to convince you why you should care about Vietnam as well as other military events in our history.
In 20 more years, we will still be discussing Iraq. We will probably still have troops there if Bush gets his way with an agreement that is close to being signed.
How is "this" (and I am not sure what you mean by "this"), more important? We are bogged down in Afghanistan and in Iraq, and maybe that is what you mean by this. And Congress is now making noises ala a resolution that Iran poses an international threat.
The results of all wars, conflicts, or whatever they are labeled is that we "pay" for decades in psychological, emotional, and physical effects.
Thirty percent of homeless veterans are from the Vietnam era. Today's veterans sent to Iraq and Afghanistan are surviving at a greater rate than ever before. TBIs and PTSD are rampant in our returning veterans.
We will be seeing the effects of these two wars well past the next generation or two.
So if we follow your philosophy of not caring because you weren't born, then those individuals born 20 years from now won't care about Iraq and Afghanistan, yet they will be saddled with how to handle veterans and the laws that impact them.
I agree that war records are no more an indicator of leadership abilities than any other indicator. Wesley Clark was right when he stated that just because McCain was shot down and spent years as a prisoner of war doesn't make him qualified to be commander-in-chief.
In fact, one of the great fears when Eisenhower was elected was that he was a career military man.
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