Goooooooood morning, Vietnam! Hey, this is not a test! This is rock and roll!
“To kill an opponent who is much weaker than yourself is unnecessary and therefore cruel; to let that opponent kill you is unnecessary and therefore foolish. As Vietnam and countless other cases prove, no armed force however rich, however powerful, however, advanced, and however well motivated is immune to this dilemma. The end result is always disintegration and defeat;”
–Martin Van Creveld
A late night viewing of Good Morning Vietnam and a few googled words later, I arrive here. And then I glance at the date of the article….11/7/2003…..
Ten Miles Beyond the City 
“War should be relegated to the shelves of history, as was human sacrifice. If you stop to think about it you become aware that war is just human sacrifice. There is no honor in killing as many as you can as quickly as you can”
-Sgt Kevin Benderman
http://www.mfso.org/Benderman.html
Great article, summing up a lot of what MANY people are feeling. One would think that America ought to listen to the Vietnam veterans. Why do people always say that we should learn from the past and inevitably they don’t?
The warnings were certainly there, but the Bush Administration wouldn’t listen. Also, they did such a great job scaring the crap out of the American public with warnings of anthrax and mushroom clouds that people were too afraid to question them.
Here is a story from before the war that people should have payed more attention to: http://archives.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/meast/09/08/ritter.iraq/
My last comment on the topic….hell, who do I think I’m kidding….fine, last comment for the moment.
The following analogy is definitely from leftfield, but bear with me. The transition from any sort of autocratic leadership to a democracy is a lot like trying to quit smoking. You can stop because you’ve been harrassed into quitting, or for any number of extraneous reasons, but the most successful starting point is the individuals own desire and subsequent decision to quit. Translated into a political framework, this equates to revolution, and revolution is perhaps the most powerful political instrument of all.
I know I’m generalising and I’m sure there are exceptions to the rule, but the outcome of giving the gift of democracy to a nation who aren’t ready for it is always a risky decision.