Larocca: Have we forgotten the anger in the eyes? (Vietnam)

[protect freedom impeach bush now]

http://www.dodgeglobe.com/stories/081503/opi_0815030026.shtml

Story last updated at 9:12 a.m. Friday, August 15, 2003

Larocca: Have we forgotten the anger in the eyes?
By James L. Larocca


Ordinarily, our boats patrolled Vietnam's rivers in pairs. But on this night we had several teams operating together as we launched the Pentagon's latest ingenious scheme for winning the war in the Mekong Delta.
The concept was simple enough: instead of surprising people with conventional gunfire during raids, the boats would first set the houses and buildings on fire with bows and arrows. The brass called this early version of "shock and awe" Operation Flaming Arrow.

Of course, the flimsy huts burned like matchbooks, leaving the families homeless and destitute. The next day, civil action teams of soldiers would arrive bearing sheets of corrugated tin for new roofs and bags of rice to help the villagers get started again. There would also be bars of soap and clothing from church groups in the states.

I remember a particular time when, with the fires still smoldering in the stultifying heat of a Delta morning, the teams distributed boxes of heavy sweaters.

I'm sure the church folks back home felt good about their gifts. But we shared with the villagers a sense of absolute mystification at a policy that would burn down people's homes in the middle of the night, then give them tin and soap and sweaters to rebuild their lives.

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[teryang]

1. Thanks for posting this

It's just common sense isn't it?