On Thu, Nov 13, 2003 at 03:10:19PM -0700, Fred White wrote:
> All 4 of us did that gladly. Not because we were heroes and not because
> wars are fun but because, unlike the war in Iraq, those wars had some
> merit.

The war in Iraq has merit. Without it, we'd still be having to deal with a
madman with weapons of mass destruction (just because they haven't been
found yet doesn't mean they won't be, and why would their army be equipped
with chemical protection suits? Certainly not because of a US threat to use
them, since our armed forces are prohibited by law from doing so, and we
don't have a usable chemical arsenal), who supports and encourages terrorism
(he had been harboring known terrorists, including the mastermind of the
Achille Lauro hijacking, and paying cash bounties to the families of suicide
bombers), and commits and encourages unspeakable atrocities on his own
people (he fed live people into shredders for *fun*, ferchrissakes).

> Stupidity cost 58 thousand American lives and 120+ thousand American
> wounded in Vietnam.

And this has what, exactly, to do with the war on terror or the war in Iraq?
Be specific.

> Personally, I consider stupidity, be it individual or national, nothing
> less than contemptible.

Assuming you distinguish stupidity from ignorance, as I do, I do as well.
Personally, I believe the main problem with the war in Vietnam was that it
was prosecuted in an idiotic fashion, but the decision to go to war in the
first place was at best questionable. The lesson to learn from Vietnam,
however, is that, having decided to go to war, we should use our many
military advantages to make the war last as little time aspossible to
achieve our national objectives. The first Gulf War demonstrated the proper
use of our military power, and the second is, no matter what leftists choose
to say, a success - for the people of Iraq, and the people fo the world, are
free of Saddam Hussein.

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