I Would Like To See The "Vietnam Syndrome" Return To The US!

[DistressedAmerican]

There was a long period there where Americans were naturally skeptical of efforts to send out troops to fight in foreign lands. We did not trust the government without question. We had decades of relative peace.

Then we started bombing campaigns from the air. We still did not commit ground troops to combat if there as any way to avoid it. We began to think we could kill with impunity.

Next there was the first gulf war. We rolled in and beat the hell out of Iraq's badly air smashed army with a relatively low number of casualties. It made us even more aggressive as we became even more convinced of this "lone superpower" myth that the politicians kept feeding us.

The days of the much disparaged Vietnem syndrome were over.

Along came the neocons and 9/11, smelling a change in the air, they took their shot. Lied us into an illegal war of aggression that we can't seem to find a way out of.

Holy crap! We sure forget our historical lessons quickly!

I guess this time we will call it the Iraq syndrome...



On Edit: Made it decades of RELATIVE peace.

[Selatius]

1. Heh, "decades of peace"

The 1980s and 1970s were not exactly peaceful. The US government did its fair share of toppling foreign governments in South and Central America and provoking armed conflict in the Middle East during those two decades.

It's true to say that no large numbers of US troops were committed in the name of any of these conflicts happening at the time (Lebanon is arguable), but it's not true to say there was peace. It's an insult to all the victims of Pinochet to the chemical weapons of Saddam given to him by the US.

[DistressedAmerican]

2. Fair Enough. Still, It Was A Hell Of A Lot Better Than This Shit!

My apologies to the victims of Regan's covert wars and those that died from weapons we sold Iraq.

[Selatius]

4. I see no difference, really

People died regardless of whether they were American or some foreign born individual. The only time the American people really ever got up in arms about a terribly unjust conflict provoked by the US governemt in the last 30 years was when a significant number of Americans happened to die. Otherwise, they were simply asleep at the wheel.

The underlying disease of corruption and greed in government was never really addressed. That is a failing that is costing us dearly.

[DistressedAmerican]

6. Here Are A Few Critical Differences.

US Casualties. Not that I value Americans over others. Clearly I oppose all of this shit. however, from the standpoint of the Average American this is much more immediate

Cost. We have spent hundreds of Billions of dollars on Iraq. The events you are referring to did not destroy our economy.

International opinion. We are reviled over Iraq in a way that none of those engagements ever threatened.

Terrorism. Those engagements did not breed international terrorism like the Iraq invasion.

Massive enrichment of corporate puppet masters. This war sets a new standard for war profiteering and graft.

That is a few for you.

[Selatius]

7. That's all true, I don't dispute that, but...

what difference does that make to the dead?

[mrcheerful]

3. Less then 5 years does

not make a decade. Vietnam ended in april or may 1975. Then along came Nixon's mess with Iran and the puppet he supported. Next thing we know Reagan is waring with Cuba and sent troops into Grenada, to destroy the cuban hoard, all 39 of them. There has never been a decade of peace since the WWII.

[DistressedAmerican]

5. Peace Is Relative. We Didn't Send The National Guard To Greneda.

I hearby retract my claim of "peace". I reinsert "relative peace".

Otherwise, I fear this whole thread will be nothing but a list of petty engagements around the world rather than addressing the large mnumbers of ground troops for an extended period, which was more the point.

[leftstreet]

8. It's more the "Katrina Syndrome" now

I seriously question whether this Iraq 'withdrawal debate' would be happening if not for Katrina. The devastation and CorpMedia coverage changed the political atmosphere.

[DistressedAmerican]

9. That Really Seems To Have Had A Lot To Do With Things.

It was the watershed moment!