tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10424035.post5130203525752072639..comments2023-09-11T08:58:24.710-06:00Comments on Reach Upward: National DishonorScott Hinrichshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11831447472339880148noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10424035.post-67535647126038651082007-05-18T05:56:00.000-06:002007-05-18T05:56:00.000-06:00At what point should a person or nation, realizing...At what point should a person or nation, realizing that it has been and still is committing a great sin, choose to stop? Or should one continue in sin because some of your fellow sinners may suffer if you repent? (The fact that others before have committed the same sin does not absolve you of responsibility, by the way.) It is a clear choice as it was in the 1970's. <BR/><BR/>There most certainly were more humane ways to have ended our involvement. Admitting we were wrong from the beginning, paying reparations to the people of Vietnam, and negotiating safety or exit for those who assisted us in our illegal invasion and occupation - that might have worked, but it was too damaging politically for Nixon and Kissinger to consider.<BR/><BR/>Since it was clear before the end of the Johnson Presidency that the American people hated this war and knew the scam that had been perpetrated on them, an honest and moral President would have ended this misadventure in the first year of his term. As the record shows, that's not what Nixon did. <BR/><BR/>The "national dishonor" comes from illegal and unwarranted intervention, covertly or overtly, in the affairs of other nations. Until we stop committing that sin, we cannot have honor.Charles Dhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02975241234146573609noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10424035.post-81869001337598731872007-05-17T20:52:00.000-06:002007-05-17T20:52:00.000-06:00You belie your prejudices when you inaccurately cl...You belie your prejudices when you inaccurately claim that Bennett usually “has his facts wrong.” One may disagree with Bennett’s slant and conclusions, but his facts are indeed correct.<BR/><BR/>By the time Congress cut funding for those the U.S. had agreed to support, our involvement in Southeast Asia had spanned a quarter of a century and six presidential administrations. Our alliances with less than worthy leaders and other mistakes in the region are certainly regrettable. It was appropriate to question the value of aid following our major military withdrawal.<BR/><BR/>However, we knew that cutting off aid cold turkey would consign millions of people to slavery and death, but we went ahead with it to score political points. We shirked our humanitarian duty. We certainly could have found more humane methods of reducing our involvement in the region. We became accomplices to genocide.<BR/><BR/>That is a dishonor to our nation.Scott Hinrichshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11831447472339880148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10424035.post-54861907470485754712007-05-17T12:08:00.000-06:002007-05-17T12:08:00.000-06:00Alas, Bill Bennett as usual, has his facts wrong a...Alas, Bill Bennett as usual, has his facts wrong as well as his conclusions. <BR/><BR/>First of all, the government of Cambodia was a constitutional monarchy until it was overthrown by a military coup in 1970 by Lon Nol and Sirik Matak (at the urging of Nixon, as your Wikipedia article states). It is that dictatorship Rep Fraser was referring to.<BR/><BR/>Second, we did not have "allies" in Southeast Asia (Indochina specifically) until the CIA helped setup a puppet government in the South of Vietnam to subvert the <A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geneva_Conference_%281954%29" REL="nofollow">UN plan</A> to hold free elections throughout the country following the departure of the French. <BR/><BR/>Certainly the end of US involvement in Vietnam was an ignoble conclusion to a bloody and unnecessary intervention in the affairs of another state. It is highly likely that our involvement in Iraq, even more unnecessary and ill-advised than our venture in Vietnam, will meet the same ignoble end.<BR/><BR/>If we wish to avoid future defeats of this nature, we should strive to avoid unilateral intervention in the affairs of other states. We reap what we sow.Charles Dhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02975241234146573609noreply@blogger.com