A letter from an Vietnam Vet regarding Iraq - permission granted 2 post

[paula777]

Iraq

As the war in Iraq progresses, one can’t help noticing the similarities to a war we endured thirty-six years ago in another remote part of the world ... Vietnam. I was drafted and sent there in the infantry. During my tour of duty I eventually became a combat photographer for the 1st Division and witnessed more than I would have as a “lowly grunt”. This is what I learned about guerilla wars and my thoughts about Iraq ...

1. You cannot win a guerilla war against a dedicated enemy on his home turf ... he lives there, you don’t. You can win specific battles, but loose the war.

2. You cannot win a guerilla war without an extensive intelligence network ... if you can’t penetrate the enemy, he eventually has the upper hand. When you pull out, he walks right in.

3. You cannot win a guerilla war when civilians are suffering collateral damage. That’s “military speak” for murdering and mutilating thousands and thousands of innocent civilians.

4. High ranking officers in a guerilla war tend to be myopic ... they tend to treat the war “as it should be”, not as it is. The end result is failure.

5. The “Westmoreland Syndrome” might happen next ... “If only I had more troops etc etc etc”. The draft might come back so take careful note ... however many bodies we send over there, as many and more will rise up against us.

6. Our “religious element”, in whatever form it may be, is no match to their “religious element”. Perhaps you think you have God’s blessing to sacrifice our children to this carnage? Their religion tells them to repulse these foreigners from their land, a more logical and extremely powerful belief.

7. Finally ... we are cursed with an inflexible government run by draft dodgers. None of our “leaders” have been in combat ... during Vietnam they all shirked their duty to fight for their country (not that I blame them, Vietnam was a nightmare). But now they act as if they are “tough” ... how easy it is to order other lives to war when you have no personal idea of the consequences.

In the meantime, and this is huge, Osama bin Laden, the real enemy of the United States, thumbs his nose at us while the war in Iraq only solidifies his position and status.

Perhaps this war will be different ... there is a chance, however small, that our objective in Iraq will succeed. On the other hand, for some of us who served in Vietnam, Iraq is looking a lot like Vietnam redux. In the days ahead, let facts be your guiding light, not political rhetoric. May our troops come home safely.

[freedom_to_read]

1. if this is from a friend of yours

do him a favor and remove his name from the bottom of the post. no need getting him signed up on some Freeper's personal shit list.

[paula777]

2. I don't know what "Freeper" means, but I took his name off

Thanks

[StClone]

4. Thanks paula777 -- Verity

Thanks for posting and a Freeper is a member of the website Free Republic. They are Conservative foot soldiers that will attack you and your friend if they can locate him. They hate truth.

[11 Bravo]

5. "Freepers" are the bottom-dwelling, scum-suckers

who inhabit Freerepublic.com. They never met a war they didn't like. Of course, they also never met a war that they actually had to fight in, either.

[paula777]

10. An these 'Freepers' come to this website?

What, to discredit us and spew mis-information. They sound like they are the income supplementers that appear on all the news shows?

[Dr Strangelove]

3. If You Read "Peoples War People Army"

by General Vo Nguyen Giap you will note that he maintains that there IS NO WAY IN HELL to beat a dedicated insurgent army. You can send more troops and bombs, but short of nuking the place out of existence the people will always fight back. What else can they do? They have no where else to go.

The US premise that Iraq is "winnable" is a crock. The only question is how much oil we can steal before we are thrown out.

[Xipe Totec]

8. If you ever visit Mexico City,

You will see a golden statue in the center called "The Angel of Independence". To get there, you travel down "Avenida Insurgentes". It is named such to remember the insurgents that defeated the Spanish monarchy and created the modern Mexican Nation.

There's a lesson in there somewhere.

[DemoTex]

9. Gen. Giap beat the French in 1954 and the US in 1975.

He knows of which he speaks. He beat the French at Dien Bien Phu with bicycles and cooly labor. He beat the US with the Blood Road (the Ho Chi Mihn Trail). When will we ever learn?

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. For those who have studied the Nam war

this does sound like Vietnam on steroids as well

And draft, just a matter of time...

[ChiciB1]

12. BIG KICK!

[karlrschneider]

7. He could have quit after # 1, it sums it all up.

Interesting though.

[nomatrix]

11. Thank you for your service and welcome to DU

We all want our soldiers back home safely.

[Buddhakitty]

13. I wish some one in the administration would take this guys advice

[EndElectoral]

14. I was in Nam and couldn't have said it better...with one addition

8. A media that doesn't ask the tough questions of our leaders (McNamara or Rumsfeld) is an accomplice in the deaths of thousands.

[GetTheRightVote]

15. When it is your home, you fight until there are no more to fight

and even then someone else will pick up the flag and carry it forward
in your name, in your memory. We can not defeat them and we will lose this war, but let us not lose more of our children to it.

There is a rally/protest in NYC on Dec 4th, listed thread in Activism and Events area, look it up, I will be there myself. Bring the soldiers home.

[Buddhakitty]

16. I know this is jumping ahead but ....

Do you think if some miracle happens in Ohio and Kerry wins, do you think after the January elections he can just put an end to it and bring our guys home? Is there even the slightest possibility of this or would he do the same as *?

[Buddhakitty]

18. same ol same ol, just what i thought

[Selatius]

19. John Kerry couldn't get us out if he wanted to

Even if he advocated immediately turning it over to the UN and getting us out, he'd be destroyed politically by the Republican machine, which would call him a coward for "cutting and running" and losing the war. Instead, he had to say that he could fight the war "better" than how it is being fought now, but I see nothing in that strategy except quicksand.

Personally, I think the only way we're going to get out of Iraq is when Iraqis evict us after much pain and bloodshed. I fear, like Vietnam, we've become victims of our nation's collective pride. Individually, we may see the errors made, but on a national level it may go unseen and unheard because people would be too proud to admit that we made a mistake.

[LibertyorDeath]

17. Kick for an important thread

Please keep this kicked so many more have a chance to read it.

:kick::kick::kick: