|
The Vietnam war, like the Iraq war, did not happen in a vacuum. The American
intervention in the Vietnam conflict was a product of hundreds of
years invasions, revolutions, and aspirations.
The French colonized Vietnam. They exploited people  and resources,
but did not have the technological
capacity to extract or locate oil in the Gulf. ... We sent in CIA advisors, established a beachhead,
and for ten years Standard Oil did soundings in the Gulf.
The Vietnam war was the arguably our first "oil war."
The American and Vietnamese peopled suffered devastating
losses, but
Standard oil still controls the industry in Vietnam. For
a sacrifice of 58 thousand dead Americans,
and hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese, we got MORE expensive oil and
the enmity of the globe. The Vietnamese lost hundreds of
thousands of lives, while their lands were devastated. The
people of Vietnam and America lost big.
"President Franklin Roosevelt and President Truman both opposed French colonialism in Vietnam, but they also
opposed tyranny under another
label, and that is how they saw the popular election of Ho after World
War II.
When the French surrendered to the Vietnamese resistance in 1954, Vietnam was cut in two at the
17th Parallel -- the Communists under Ho in the North, and a puppet
French Government (initially under Ngo Dinh
Diem) in the South.
Ho’s defenders like to point out that President Eisenhower cancelled the
1956 election proposed for all of Vietnam.
It’s true. At the time, Ho
was the only politician known in all of Vietnam, and, despite
suspicions about his intentions,
he was a lock to win a vote so soon after the French defeat."
We "lost" in Vietnam because the war was un-winnable.
The US government, a stand-in for French occupiers,
was indeed in the
wrong. We delayed the self-determination of the Vietnamese people, but inevitably
had to give
back their nation.
In Iraq, we are once again on the wrong side of history. We installed a dictator, then removed him, only to occupy
Iraq and enforce corporate colonialism paid for with American and Iraqi lives. We will indeed lose in Iraq because
our president and his sponsors did not learn from history, and instead saw fit to repeat the errors of the past.
We can still do the right thing, but only by opening up the bidding, including the Iraqis and our allies, transitioning to
multilateral
international peacekeepers, and ending our military occupation and economic exploitation of Iraq.
Finally.
In these last throes of a misguided American colonialism, .. criminals have bankrupted our nation, sold-out our people, abandoned our values, and betrayed our traditions.
The Bush and Blair governments are fighting for money and a
bleak corporate colonialism which is evil and dangerous.
The "democracy talk from the neo-cons" is lies and spin for the
masses. Too many, for too long, bought it
hook, line, and sinker...
but now, new and increasingly sophisticated technological developments
in political communications have
unleashed the truth.
They may control all three branches of government plus the fourth estate, but there is a "fifth estate." We can
be redeemed by the fifth estate of hearts, minds, and souls of Americans who are provided
with accurate information.
This movement may yet save us from these pretenders and their incommensurable greed and
treason.
Tim Flanagan
writer, activist, labor union official |
![[Buy Opera!]](ow-get-00-en-mic.gif){kind=small}
