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Sunday, May 18, 2008

Democrat Tom Harkin: Nothing Bad Happened After Our Withdrawal From Vietnam

Complete with “Oh my God” goodness from John McCain.

Of course, nothing bad did happen after our withdrawal from Vietnam.  I mean, what’s a few million slaughtered and oppressed Vietnamese people right?

The problem is that liberals like Harkin are the same people who tell us that nothing bad will happen should we pull out of Iraq.  Should we really be listening to these people when it comes to foreign policy?

Comments

Avatar for Halatbis

The question to Senator Harkin, “Who are you referring to when you say nothing bad happened?” Do you mean that the Vietnamese did not invade the USA? So nothing bad happened to us? Or, do you feel that anything bad that happened to the South Vietnamese or the Cambodians was a non-event?  Kind of like those people don’t really count? I find it most interesting that the liberal mind does not see the lives of thousands of Iraqis saved from a killer dictator---it is only the dollars spent in Iraq that seem to matter to them.

Halatbis on May 18, 2008 at 04:35 pm

Liberals are never responsible for anything, remember?  Noam Chomsky still does not acknowledge that two million Cambodians were murdered after the Democrats pulled support in 1975.  The same could happen in Iraq.  It happened after 1991.


Communism is evil

Chief RZ on May 18, 2008 at 05:15 pm

do you feel that anything bad that happened to the South Vietnamese or the Cambodians was a non-event?  Kind of like those people don’t really count?

That’s about it.  They care nothing about people other than themselves; kind of like the muslims.


You don’t have to be a moron to be a liberal Democrat but it sure helps.

docdave on May 18, 2008 at 05:20 pm

Harkin means after our dear liberal leaders granted that filthy Ho from the North victory over the United States, with our soldiers still in the field; and we ran away like rats from a sinking ship, we could ignore those slant eyed gooks in Asia and invest more taxpayer money in social welfare programs so they could enslave minorities here at home rather than help the South Vietnamese live in liberty and prosperity.

There has never been a war the Democrats did not want us to lose, they hate America that much!


No matter the age or state of health, for a military man it is always glorious to tilt at windmills, rescue a fair Dulcinea and be a gallant knight in armor in a glorious cause.

Neiman on May 18, 2008 at 05:25 pm
Avatar for Citizen315

Both points are invalid.
The dem is a fool for trivializing the death of so many people. It makes him as an easy target.

According to amnesty and other international sources the civilian death toll in the Vietnamese theater of war to present day is somewhere closer to six million and likely higher.

So as horrible as it was for 3 millions to have died after we left; we did our own fair share in far less time. The fact that the US supported the KHMER ROUGE and Pol Pot with money, intelligence, and food after the loss of Saigon should also be considered when determining blame for the remaining 3 million deaths.

Citations:
http://chss.montclair.edu/english/furr/pol/polpotmontclarion0498.html

http://chss.montclair.edu/english/furr/pol/polpotnus.pdf

Citizen315 on May 18, 2008 at 05:42 pm
Avatar for citizen 315

Chief RZ,
People are dying now.
People will die when we leave.

When people resist their government they are usually punished. In 1991, Bush called upon the people of Iraq to revolt and they did; only to find the us pulling out once the war was over.
You dont have to be Machiavelli to figure out what will happen next.

If the US pulled out I’d expect to see some pretty ugly headlines in the news - not significantly worse than I’m reading now mind you, but ugly for sure. What would make the situation far worse for everyone involved would be for the US to continue to fund a client government without any popular support.

In essence a continuation of what we have now.

citizen 315 on May 18, 2008 at 06:00 pm

Complete rubbish, Citizen.

The US supported the Lon Nol government, not those trying to undermine it. That article you cite to as ‘proof’ that we supported the Khmer Rouge is completely dishonest - we gave aid and support to Prince Sihanouk, not the Khmer Rouge, but Sihanouk in his typical cowardly way later collaborated with the Khmer Rouge. The Khmer Rouge decimated the population of Cambodia and hundreds of thousands of them fled to Thailand, where they received humanitarian aid. That is hardly giving support to the Khmer Rouge.

Ken McCracken on May 18, 2008 at 06:00 pm
Avatar for The Douglas

We killed 2 million Vietnamese during the war.  For what?  So American munitions manufacturers could thrive, politicians get re-elected, generals get promoted?  We lost 58,000 dead Americans and 250,000 wounded, many amputees from boobytraps.  Two years after we pulled out, the North Vietnamese were fighting with their alleged allies, the Red Chinese to the north.  While we were still bleeding and killing in Vietnam, redbaiter Nixon travelled to Peking and opened the door to Red China, which has become a phenomenally successful capitalist trader.  Today, the Vietnamese rule their own nation & manufacture sneakers for Nike.  Vietnam was a fool’s errand that wasted unspeakable blood and treasure, as has the invasion of Iraq.  And yes, I saw the waste first hand: I served in an infantry brigade in I Corps, RVN, for a year.

The Douglas on May 18, 2008 at 06:01 pm

There’s something very sick and evil about these people…

golfmann on May 18, 2008 at 06:07 pm

Citizen 325.  In that case, we do not need any laws.  Let all the “root causes in the USA” work themselves out.  Let one million babies continue to be murdered.
Do you believe that people can and should make laws against murder?  Should or would you “help other people”? 

People are dying now.
People will die when we leave.

In your statement above, we do not need a military.  People will die in the USA.
Then we certainly should not have invaded Bosnia and Kosova.  We probably should not have gotten involved in Europe’s thousand year wars in World War I (The Great War) and World War II.  Certainly not in Korea nor Vietnam according to your logic. 

We don’t even need hospitals nor “socialized medicine” “” People will die"”

I will stay here for about another hour for your reply.


Communism is evil

Chief RZ on May 18, 2008 at 06:09 pm
Avatar for Citizen 315

Ken McCracken,

If the US was not backing KR?
Why then, in 1979, when the Vietnamese kicked Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge out of Cambodia, did the US refuse to recognize the new Vietnam backed government at the UN.
They insisted that the UN seat be held by the Khmer Rouge. Odd, dont you think?

Finally,
Even if you dont believe that the US assisted the KR in many ways and is thereby complicit at best in the these post war deaths; you still have to admit that its a bit appalling to be worked up over the 3 million that died as fallout from the war and not the 3 million that died in the war.

The ones we killed - they count too.

Citizen 315 on May 18, 2008 at 06:12 pm

Citizen an douglas, 2 more that hate America.  Tell me, guys, why are you still here?  Think how well you could live in say Palestine or Vietnam.


You don’t have to be a moron to be a liberal Democrat but it sure helps.

docdave on May 18, 2008 at 06:36 pm

And yes, I saw the waste first hand: I served in an infantry brigade in I Corps, RVN, for a year.

Well I take you at your word on that, as such I am not going to argue with you on this topic.

Ken McCracken on May 18, 2008 at 06:42 pm

All the other crap aside, just for the record, we (I served there) were absolutely winning the war militarily, but just like they are in Iraq today, the Democrats miocromanaged the war, fought against it at home and underminded our soldiers while they were still fighting in the field. This was JFK and LBJ’s War, we fought it as hard as we could, but like today in Iraq, we were ultimately betrayed by the Democrat Party and people like Robert effing Kennedy.

My brother served three tours, my brother-in-law two and my father-in-law one. I lost many friends and many more came home wounded for life. So, please argue the minutiae all you want, it was a real war for me, Iraq was a real war for my son and it is a real war for my grandson and nephew, and we were all stabbed in the back by the Democrat-Socialist effing Party.


No matter the age or state of health, for a military man it is always glorious to tilt at windmills, rescue a fair Dulcinea and be a gallant knight in armor in a glorious cause.

Neiman on May 18, 2008 at 06:50 pm
Avatar for Citizen 315

Chief RZ,

Im sure if we went war by war - you and I have very different views. To keep this moving in one direction Ill keep my comment relating to only the current war.

According to some sources the death toll in Iraq is over 1.2 million. Thats a lot of people to die in a few years.

To say that the rate will climb even higher if we leave I think overestimates our current popular support in Iraq. The client state that we have set up in Iraq has little to no authority on its own and without American military might wont last long as it has little to no popular support of its own.

I’d expect a revolution to hold accountable the current government that has destroyed or sold everything of value in the country to be short, bloody, and then be over.

Our continued presence prohibits this from happening, and is only allowing more people to die without any possibility of resolution in the near future.

Citizen 315 on May 18, 2008 at 06:51 pm
Avatar for citizen 315

docdave,

Be careful there fella…
I love this country and the people in it. I dont like some of the things our country is doing and I think that there have been times where the government has pulled the wool over our eyes.

I may talk about things that some people dont want to hear, and you may not agree, but that doesn’t make me unAmerican.

citizen 315 on May 18, 2008 at 07:01 pm
Avatar for Lestat

Citizen,

Like many people on this board, Docdave believes that this country is blessed by God and as such can never do anything wrong.  So to claim that this country does wrong things is to say you are against God.

In other words, he is a moron.

Lestat on May 18, 2008 at 07:08 pm

Citizen 315.  First, I will not allow you to delimit this debate to just this Global War On Terrorism of which we were attacked on 9/11/01 by a facist fanatical religious enemy not unlike the JAPS who also attacked us without a declaration of war on 12/7/41.  Should we have just not worried about the JAPS?  Should we have lost millions of our good men? 

Even if I were to accept 1.2 million people killed in Iraq, many of those are and will be the religious Muslin fanatics.  For your information, during the Iraq-Iran war over 2.1 million soldiers and innocent civilians were killed.

Now.  We (the USA) has not set up a

client state that we have set up in Iraq

The heroes are those Iraqi citizens who have voted THREE times for their own government and their representatives.  Many did that with the almost certainty that they would be killed on the way to the voting booths.  I could tell you stories of the rituals that the women underwent the day before, but I am not sure you would appreciate their heroism.

What evidence do you have for this statement?

I’d expect a revolution to hold accountable the current government that has destroyed or sold everything of value in the country to be short, bloody, and then be over.

We stayed in Japan for many years following 1945.  We are still in Germany.
The French are still in Germany.  We had over 300,000 men in Germany even just before 1990. 

I suppose you condone the Russians slaughtering the Hungarians in 1957 also. 

I almost can not believe or understand your thinking.  You so easily would leave millions of innocent people to be slaughtered by Muslim extremists who are NOT elected, but are no more than thugs hiding behind a religion just like the JAPS did in WW II.

Well, which wars would you or do you approve of--with 20/20 hindsight?


Communism is evil

Chief RZ on May 18, 2008 at 07:14 pm

Docdave believes that this country is blessed by God and as such can never do anything wrong.  So to claim that this country does wrong things is to say you are against God.

In other words, he is a moron.

Why have you deliberately read things into DocDave’s position that he has not expressed herein? Is that honest? Is that fair? Is he a moron solely because he believes in God and loves our country? On what objective scale to you measure one to be a moron (having significant learning difficulties and impaired social skills)?

I cannot speak for him, but once our troops are committed to war, I believe each true American should measure very carefully the words they use to criticize American foreign policy, which criticism is certainly in the best tradition of America; so that it does not unintentionally give emotional aid and comfort to our enemies and encourage their resistance to the point of increasing the battlefield casualties. It is not unAmerican to criticize how we are prosecuting a war or to denounce criminal activity that arises therefrom; but in my opinion everytime when a person chooses to so challenge our policies and military strategy, IMO it should always include the caveat that such statements do not weaken our resolve to gain the ultimate victory nor our support for our soldiers while they are in the field.


No matter the age or state of health, for a military man it is always glorious to tilt at windmills, rescue a fair Dulcinea and be a gallant knight in armor in a glorious cause.

Neiman on May 18, 2008 at 07:23 pm

Chief: The vast majority of Iraqi citizens killed during this war have been killed by fellow Muslims, terrorist fanatics, not our troops. When we are forced out by the weak sister Left, are we to suppose those militant Muslims will turn into Islamic Rodney King’s and say, “great, now lets just all get along!” I expect a huge bloodbath, sectarian and by Iran and even Syrian backed fanatics, the number of dead will make the number of deaths thus far pale by comparison.


No matter the age or state of health, for a military man it is always glorious to tilt at windmills, rescue a fair Dulcinea and be a gallant knight in armor in a glorious cause.

Neiman on May 18, 2008 at 07:28 pm

According to some sources the death toll in Iraq is over 1.2 million. Thats a lot of people to die in a few years.

According to no sources is the Iraq death toll 1.2 million. The Lancet study has been thoroughly discredited. The Iraq government is putting death tolls at around 100k. The IBC is placing them at between 85-100k. WE believe them to be around 120k. The Lancet study is ridiculous. You have to believe that 4-6 times as many people died YEARS ago as to any official death count today. That is not reasonable.

To say that the rate will climb even higher if we leave I think overestimates our current popular support in Iraq. The client state that we have set up in Iraq has little to no authority on its own and without American military might wont last long as it has little to no popular support of its own.

That will, by its very nature, send the death count through the roof. If the government is toppled, the various violent forces in Iraq will fight for control/ There’s no way THAT won’t cause massive death counts.

You don’t seem to have much clue what you’re talking about. The average estimate for civilian deaths during the American phase of the Vietnam role is consistantly around 300k. You seem to like to inflate figures by a multiple of 10. That’s dishonest enough in and of itself. That you pretend those deaths are all America’s fault is anti-American and downright moronic.


Obama/Biden is not change. It’s more of the same.

Kenny on May 18, 2008 at 07:31 pm

One more for tonight. 

as such can never do anything wrong

Yes, WE/US can make mistakes.  WE/US have the freedom to express ourselves and vote for our representatives or petition for redress.  Majority rules.
WE are the government!  “A government of the people, by the people and for the people.”
Now, in other countries like several current ones who are trying to vote for change--namely Zimbabwe’s Mugabe who seems to be on the edge of dismissing the recent vote to throw his out there, their citizens do not have the right to express themselves or vote for change in their government.  China, North Korea, and Cuba come to mind.


Communism is evil

Chief RZ on May 18, 2008 at 07:34 pm

Neiman.  Correct.  Just like the left tries to say that many children are killed with guns.  They try and put the idea into the general population that little Betty and Jack get killed in their own homes fooling around with “billy-boy’s” gun collection.  The Truth is that the liberal call anyone under 18 a child.  Most of them are killed by gang warfare just like the Iraqi fanatics killing each other.

The vast majority of Iraqi citizens killed during this war have been killed by fellow Muslims, terrorist fanatics, not our troops.

Sorry to draw the analogy, but I thought it was apropos.  Yes, the “lancet” study vastly overestimates deaths in Iraq.  I could go on and on with personal and second hand observations, but certain people seem to incapable of honest debate.


Communism is evil

Chief RZ on May 18, 2008 at 07:41 pm
Avatar for Lestat

The average estimate for civilian deaths during the American phase of the Vietnam role is consistantly around 300k.

However if you include military deaths it is generally around 1.3 million.

Lestat on May 18, 2008 at 07:53 pm

However if you include military deaths it is generally around 1.3 million.

If you include military deaths, that includes US (58k deaths...obviously we weren’t killing ourselves), the North Koreans (666k median average...the bad guys, who we were definately killing), and the South Koreans (181.5k deaths, who we were trying to protect). So, if you take out, US, the bad guys, and the South Korean soldiers that number drops drastically by 905,000. Almost all citizens were killed by Viet Cong and N.K. military.

And that number jumped through the roof once we left.


Obama/Biden is not change. It’s more of the same.

Kenny on May 18, 2008 at 08:23 pm
Avatar for Lestat

Why would you want to take out the North Vietnamese deaths.  They have families and are now part of Vietman.  I also have no clue what you are talking about having 181k South Korean deaths.

Lestat on May 18, 2008 at 08:31 pm

Actually,we were.
American troops killed there officers, refused to deploy, mutinied.
Kenny wrote:

obviously we weren’t killing ourselves

WOOF on May 18, 2008 at 08:46 pm
Avatar for citizen 315

Chief

In hindsight, very few wars actually are just.

And lets not forget that the president knew about the incoming Japaneses fleet, and did nothing to prevent it. (though the carrier groups were sent away from the harbor so they would not be harmed during the attack.)

The United States entered world war I because of the sinking of the Lusitania but unbenost to the people on board, as well as the American people at the time, is the fact that the Lusitania was also carrying ammunition to the allied forces.

Did the US do the right thing by entering the war? YES! Im not a pacifist - I would argue that we should have been involved much sooner - About the time that Germany rolled into Poland. Certainly appeasement is out of the question. “millions in defense - but not one cent in tribute!”

The heroes are those Iraqi citizens who have voted THREE times for their own government and their representatives.  Many did that with the almost certainty that they would be killed on the way to the voting booths.  I could tell you stories of the rituals that the women underwent the day before, but I am not sure you would appreciate their heroism.

I’m not faulting the people; thankfully there are patriots that fight for freedom with ballots and not violence. However, if the government cannot stand on its own two feet - and our military is the only thing keeping it alive - then much like Germany after WWI - it is a client state.

Lets be specific here, by client state I don’t mean a puppet government, but a government that is inextricably linked with ours. When we provide their defense, by not providing a shield we have the power to see a bullet into them as sure as their will be assassin.

Being the shield has its benefits, for instance, the oil contracts in Iraq are the best in the industry. We’ve privatized the whole country and moved most of the capitol out.

This is just not how you rebuild a country. Germany and Japan used mostly their own economic machines after WWII to rebuild themselves (and now have amazing car companies heading their economy because of it).

In the case of Hungry, Id have to side with the Hungarians. I also support a Palestinian State as I think every group of people deserves a place to call home.

And this is why I wanted to stay on one topic because we could discuss any of the at length.

My point in posting to begin with was only that we should not belittle the deaths of any civilian people- even the ones we bombed during the war.

So if the KR killed 3 Million, and we killed 1.3; thats still pretty bad.

I think we can do better.
Thats all I advocate.

citizen 315 on May 18, 2008 at 09:01 pm

Why would you want to take out the North Vietnamese deaths.  They have families and are now part of Vietman.  I also have no clue what you are talking about having 181k South Korean deaths.

Well, we take out the North Vietnamese deaths, because they were our enemy and were either armed combatants or guerrila warfarists. We take them out for the same reason we take US out. They were armed combatants. When one looks to count war “attrocities” one doesn’t include soldiers. And by South Korean, I meant South Vietnamese.


Obama/Biden is not change. It’s more of the same.

Kenny on May 18, 2008 at 10:37 pm

I find Harkin, Kennedy and the traitor-Left to be reprehensible and beneath contempt.  They operate as a Fifth Column for the Communists and have done so for as long as there has been Communism. 

They have set the stage for the abandonment of Western Allies since at least the Bay of Pigs, and paved the way for Communist triumphs (which invariably have been followed by slaughters of the intelligentsia and repression of the remaining vassal populations) .

The US-based Left pounded the Defeat Drum incessantly—with Walter Cronkite reading the nightly death toll, Jane Fonda and her Yippie allies rooting for Uncle Ho.

The domestic servants of the Politburo worked hard to turn US public sentiment against continued support for our ARVN allies, and after number of years of incessant defeatist propaganda, made it so, Congress withdrawing support of the South Vietnamese even while under full-scale Communist assault and the bloodbath the innocents ensued. 

The Left never took ownership of the slaughters they set the stage for, and continue their deafening silence over the ongoing carnage that goes on to this day.

They’ve done this in every clime and place Communists were attacking, invariably coming down hard on the side of the Leftists.  El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Southern Africa (to include Angola, Rhodesia, Southwest Africa and ultimately, the Republic of South Africa itself)

Ted Kennedy, along with Jesse Jackson and a Democratic Congress, made sure the Southern Africa went Communist, leaving the basket-case countries that exist now, the slaughters that took place there unmentioned in the news and film.

[The U.S. Peace Council] is the American branch of the [Marxist Soviet] World Peace Council. It was founded in 1979 largely by the initiative of the U.S. Communist Party. Michael Myerson,a high ranking CPUSA official, becanme the Executive Director of the USPC, and Alexandra (Sandy) Pollack, another top CPUSA official, became the USPC’s ‘international solidarity coordinator.’” The main purpose of this new organization intitially was to
promote the cause of the [Marxist] Sandinistas in Nicaragua.
A major player in these events was the [USPC]. It organized a National Conference on Nicaragua in 1979, along with several other radical [Marxist?] groups, to discuss a strategy to ensure that the Sandinistas took control....Ron Dellums, Tom Harkin, and Walter Fauntroy in the House, and Mark Hatfield and Edward Kennedy in the Senate ...lent support to this Conference. [Both groups were]...cited in several FBI and State Department publications as communist fronts that concentrate on undermining the U.S. defense effort and justifying the Soviet arms build-up .

They are traitors in every sense of the word.


...for great justice

egpzpj.jpg

Move_Zig on May 18, 2008 at 10:40 pm

And lets not forget that the president knew about the incoming Japaneses fleet, and did nothing to prevent it. (though the carrier groups were sent away from the harbor so they would not be harmed during the attack.)

This foolish slander continues to come up time and time again by imbeciles who believe that the government is evil. FDR was a socialist and a fascist, but the man did not deliberately help the Japanese bomb the homeland.

Being the shield has its benefits, for instance, the oil contracts in Iraq are the best in the industry. We’ve privatized the whole country and moved most of the capitol out.

Except that’s not what’s happening in Iraq at all. We’re pooring tons of money into the country and getting next to nothing out of it.

I also support a Palestinian State as I think every group of people deserves a place to call home.

The Palestinians HAVE a place to call home. And they have no right of return.

My point in posting to begin with was only that we should not belittle the deaths of any civilian people- even the ones we bombed during the war.

It’s even worse to blame us for civilians that the enemy kills. And to inflate the numbers by a power of 10.

So if the KR killed 3 Million, and we killed 1.3; thats still pretty bad.

The total death count for the American era of Vietnam was between 1.3-1.7 million dead. 75% of that was military troops. The rest was mostly South Vietnamese who were killed by the NK and Viet Kong. None of that is remotely our fault.


Obama/Biden is not change. It’s more of the same.

Kenny on May 18, 2008 at 10:57 pm

Citizen 315.  Thanks for the adult reply and discourse.  I will reply in kind.

“millions in defense - but not one cent in tribute!” I agree.  Those were the words debated when we went to war with another Muslim group, the Barbary Pirates who like the present day Muslin-facists did not have a country, but hid in several North African ones.

In hindsight, very few wars actually are just

I agree.  Most wars in this world were not started by the United States, however.  You report correctly on the Lusitania.  Therefore, we should not have been involved in Europe’s Great War.

the president knew about the incoming Japaneses fleet

Interesting that you would say this.  He is one of ten named in the book,
Pearl Harbor:  Final Judgement by Henry C. Clausen and Bruce Lee
The book was written with the knowledge of the Top Secret memos from the USA and Japan.  We had cracked their codes before they invaded.  They destroyed their code machines about two weeks before they attacked.

But, none of this excuses Japan’s attack on us, or China in the 1930s except the “spirit warrior” mentality coupled with the same fanatical religious perversion outlined in another book, Flyboys by James Bradley.

We face the same type of spirit warrior with these Muslims.  They think they are right and are using their religion to justify attacks on innocent civilians and anyone else who is not like them.  In another word, they are racists.

Lets be specific here, by client state I don’t mean a puppet government

I am glad you defined that word.  This is what adult conversation is good for.

Germany and Japan used mostly their own economic machines after WWII to rebuild themselves

I think that you dismissed the Marshall Plan a bit too much with that statement.  I agree that we have helped Iraq to modernize their infrastructure, including oil production which is their natural resource.  In Germany and Japan other resources, such as their work ethic was used.  The Japanese citizens were virtually freed from the facism of their own government.  I think you would get a good insight into their society by reading Flyboys.  Germany, France and England had been fighting for over a thousand years.  Remember Napoleon?  Just why is he a “hero”?  He marched through Germany and met his end at the steps of Moscow?  He devastated more of Europe than Hitler in my opinion, but that is 20/20.

Palestinian State as I think every group of people deserves a place to call home.

I’m with Kenny on this one.  They already have a state, but Syria keeps their hand in it. 

Here is a good question for our next discussion:  Would you advocate a “place to call home” for the Kurds?

Back to Democrat Tom Harkin’s remarks:  “Nothing bad happened after our withdrawal from Vietnam.” He, in my opinion is ignorant of The Truth, is ignorant in general or is intentionally lying.


Communism is evil

Chief RZ on May 19, 2008 at 05:41 am

If FDR knew the Japs were coming would have have left all of the battleships sitting there?

Bombing an empty navy base is every bit the justification to go to war as bombing a full one.

The thing is it’s easier to go to war when you have a fleet.


What’s going to happen to US industry when the global warming extremists like John McCain double the price of electricity?  I would think all these factories will close and set up in countries where they aren’t scared of technology.


The Whistler's signature
The Whistler on May 19, 2008 at 06:34 am

Back to Democrat Tom Harkin’s remarks:  “Nothing bad happened after our withdrawal from Vietnam.” He, in my opinion is ignorant of The Truth, is ignorant in general or is intentionally lying.

Chief,

It’s a tough call.  Harkin has never established himself as a particularly well-informed individual, and he has a known penchant for lying, particularly where military service is concerned.  He lied about his own service, claiming to have been a fighter pilot over North Vietnam when in fact he was a ferry pilot in and out of Japan.  And he lied a number of times about the military service of both John “Magic Hat” Kerry and George W. Bush.

On the other hand, to say that Harkin is lying again, is to acknowledge implicitly that he knows the difference between what he’s saying and the truth.  Clearly, that level of intelligence on Harkin’s part is not in evidence.

My gut instinct, since Harkin is a devout leftist, is that he’s lying again, but like I said, its a close call.


“Poverty of goods is easily cured; poverty of the mind is irreparable.”

Bat One on May 19, 2008 at 08:12 am

Bat One.  I agree, this is a tough call.  I had forgotten that he has already lied.

He lied about his own service, claiming to have been a fighter pilot over North Vietnam when in fact he was a ferry pilot in and out of Japan.

Liberals, Socialists and Communists are professional liars; that is they do it for money--or power that converts to money later.


Communism is evil

Chief RZ on May 19, 2008 at 08:47 am
Avatar for Citizen315

Cheif

I would have to say yes, I would support a Kurdish state. They are broken between countries formed during Europe’s empire days and have more to to with who controlled what at the times than the will of the people.
I would rather see their governments stop strafing them with helicopters and then maybe it would no longer be unnecessary for them to secede.

I agree.  Most wars in this world were not started by the United States, however.  You report correctly on the Lusitania.  Therefore, we should not have been involved in Europe’s Great War.

Not exactly. What I said was that the US should have been in both wars, much sooner. We should not need a slap on the face -like the sinking of the lucitania or the bombing of pearl harbor- to be woken up from our xenophobic pacifist stupor.

If some other nation in the world is going to war - then they had better be ready for the world to go to war with them. When Germany invades Poland, we should have been thinking - get the guns ready. When the other countries were gobbled up one by one - there is no excuse for not already being at war against the aggressor nation.

Sometimes finding the agressor is easy (Germany, Japan) and so action should be swift. Othertimes we’re dealign with an Ethiopia/Etretnia/Somollia situation and its a mess. What do we do? I dont have the answer for that.

Another example; was the Boston Massacre one of our nations first fight for freedom or was it an act of terrorism? What about the weapon stockpiles in Concord? Perspective is a mean thing, so I dont want to limit the discussion to just perspective.

In a conversation about Israel/Palestine, perspective will make all the difference as to who you think is correct even before any facts are stated. I would argue that they are both acting like children and should both be disciplined.

Citizen315 on May 19, 2008 at 09:09 am

Citizen135.  Then it seems that you would have been in favor of US going to wars in Europe then and hopefully in the Pacific.  Would you have considered the attack by Japanese planes on our US gunboat on the Yangtze River in December 1937 an act of war similar to the attack on the USS Cole?

If some other nation in the world is going to war - then they had better be ready for the world to go to war with them

Of course it is better to have the whole world on your side, but if that were the case, the one country would and could be isolated.  However, many people are cheaters and deal indirectly as the UN did with iraq.  In World War II, there were only about three democracies left, remember?  Should we have just given up, not fought?

The Boston Massacre one of our nations first fight for freedom or was it an act of terrorism?

as I remember when history was taught straight, there were only about seven people killed, but the newspapers played up the story and got sympathy.  One of the first cases of sensationalism.  An act of terrorism?  Maybe not.  I do not remember if there were any colonial soldiers in the square at the time.  But, this pales in comparison to the Tiananmen Square massacre that did not get as much press in Communist China, who still says “nothing happened” just like Tom Harkin says nothing bad happend after our withdrawal from Vietnam.

Good discussion.

Somollia situation and its a mess. What do we do? I dont have the answer for that.

These situations, in my opinion are right up the UN’s alley.  Same for Kosova and Bosnia.

Communism is evil

Chief RZ on May 19, 2008 at 10:18 am
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