Thursday, August 23, 2007

thumbnail

Doing the math on the aftermath of Vietnam

As I expected and talked about last night on The MacRanger Show, the MSM is up in arms that President Bush would dare to use their oft comparison of Iraq to Vietnam against them. Proving the adage, they can dish it out but won't take it, is the NY Times in this article today, using quotes from leftist historians who see Vietnam only through their Grateful Dead glasses.

"The American withdrawal from Vietnam is widely remembered as an ignominious end to a misguided war — but one with few negative repercussions for the United States and its allies.

Now, in urging Americans to stay the course in Iraq, President Bush is challenging that historical memory.

In reminding Americans that the pullout in 1975 was followed by years of bloody upheaval in Southeast Asia, Mr. Bush argued in a speech on Wednesday that Vietnam’s lessons provide a reason for persevering in Iraq, rather than for leaving any time soon. Mr. Bush in essence accused his war critics of amnesia over the exodus of Vietnamese “boat people” refugees and the mass killings in Cambodia that upended the lives of millions of people.

President Bush is right on the factual record, according to historians. But many of them also quarreled with his drawing analogies from the causes of that turmoil to predict what might happen in Iraq should the United States withdraw.

“It is undoubtedly true that America’s failure in Vietnam led to catastrophic consequences in the region, especially in Cambodia,” said David C. Hendrickson, a specialist on the history of American foreign policy at Colorado College in Colorado Springs.

“But there are a couple of further points that need weighing,” he added. “One is that the Khmer Rouge would never have come to power in the absence of the war in Vietnam — this dark force arose out of the circumstances of the war, was in a deep sense created by the war. The same thing has happened in the Middle East today. Foreign occupation of Iraq has created far more terrorists than it has deterred.”


Before we look at the effect of Vietnam and how it doesn't square with the academic pinheads, let's do the math on that deterrence mentioned in the last sentence. Before Iraq we have WTC-1 in 1993, the Khobar Towers, the USS Cole, oh and yeah, that 9/11 incident - 3000 dead. All of which happened well before Iraq.

After Iraq not one attack on American soil has occurred. It's the greatest measure of success of the President's plan in Iraq, it did deter attacks on the homeland. As far as "producing more terrorist", that is absolutely not so. The fact that global terrorism and it's tens of thousands of terrorist existed before Iraq. In fact the opposite is actually true. Al Qaeda has been for the most part neutered in world wide efforts to carry off attacks being relegated relatively to a local threat in the region. This is a great success. Additionally we know where most of them are at - we had no real clue before that.

Now on to Vietnam. While this article refers to the repercussions of the fall of Saigon as a blip on history - as if millions killed and others forced into camps is a "blip". Jules Crittenden writes today of the other "blips".

"1975: U.S. ally South Vietnam, overrun by North Vietnamese regulars when the ammo and the air cover stopped. U.S. allies Laos and Cambodia, taken over by Chinese and Soviet-backed Communist insurgencies.

1975-early 1980s: Untold thousands upon thousands in Vietnam and Laos executed or sent to “re-education” camps. Hundreds of thousands flee, in overcrowded boats that sank or were attacked by pirates; swimming the Mekong to Thailand; walking through minefields to Thailand. Phnom Penn emptied out by gun-toting teenagers, who drove the people into the fields were 2 million were worked and starved to death, or executed outright. (NYT in its article astonishingly presents this as “tens of thousands,” while Bush in his speech cites “hundreds of thousands.”)

1979: Afghanistan, invaded by an emboldened Soviet Union, which knew a humiliated, war-weary United States led by a handwringing peacenik would do nothing.

1979: U.S. embassy in Tehran overrun by “students,” including the current president of Iran. American diplomatic staff held hostage, subjected to isolation and beatings, for 444 days. Handwringing peacenik president did nothing. A single rescue attempt failed disastrously.

1979-2001: Muslim extremists attack and kill U.S. military missions and personnel in Lebanon, Somalia, Saudi Arabia, Yemen. U.S. withdraws, occasionally fires missiles. Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein, citing Vietnam, Beirut and Mogadishu, base their strategies on the notion that the United States has no stomach for a fight and will blink."


The most telling aftermath of course is on the courage of America itself. Once proud and brave and victorious after WWII, after Vietnam we became tentative and well, scared to respond to the world as it is. We sat by and let terrorist dictate to us, kill our people, all while we - shaking in our shoes - sought "peaceful means" to quell their anger. The result of that goodwill is well known by now.

George Bush turned America around, from being a global wimp, to again a force which will defend itself and deal with terrorism where ever it may be. For all the hangwringing about Iraq the fact is that it's only been five years since we entered the country. Saddam has been deposed and hung, his sons dead, and a new - howbeit fledgling - nation has been formed.

All those that decry failure of the politics after only five years need to remember that after nearly 240 years we in America still don't have our politics together.

Take a look at Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi and ask yourself, "Have we arrived?"

Sunday, August 19, 2007

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

thumbnail

Night of Tornado Terror


My sister sent this picture that shows the tornado that came through the Villages Retirement Community in central Florida last week. She lives in the ajacent Lady Lakes and survived, but 20 persons did not.

Again people still need your help as over 500 homes were destroyed or damaged. Contact the Central Florida Red Cross to help. Give deep!

Saturday, February 03, 2007

thumbnail

Temporary Home

After pulling my hair out over the incompetance of website host Gate.com, I've temporarily moved back to blogger. Thanks to all who have written to tell me of problems accessing the old site. I will be looking for another host for wordpress (suggestions welcome). In the meantime I'll be directing traffic back to here.

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

thumbnail

Do not adjust your bookmarks

First, the webhost Gate.com sucks, avoid them for any web hosting of blogging software, they couldn't keep a SQL database if they're life depended on it.

Secondly, you can read the main blog here, otherwise until I find a new hosting company I will be again blogging here on blogger.

Sorry for the inconvenience, but I can't overcome the incompetence of others.

Saturday, January 13, 2007

thumbnail

They will be known by their fruits

So said Jesus of false teachers, but it is also true of politicians. Time and time again we see Democrats, the party of “Love and Compassion” and yet “Progression and Understanding and Tolerance” repeatedly use racism, sarcasm, and lying to get their cheap shots across.

Barbara Boxer is no exception. A woman of little class and grace with issues from youth coming after Condi Rice in a hearing about the troop surge, attacking her no less, for being a childless woman.


“Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer, an appalling scold from California, wasted no time yesterday in dragging the debate over Iraq about as low as it can go - attacking Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for being a childless woman.


Boxer was wholly in character for her party - New York’s own two Democratic senators, Chuck Schumer and Hillary Rodham Clinton, were predictably opportunistic - but the Golden State lawmaker earned special attention for the tasteless jibes she aimed at Rice.


Rice appeared before the Senate in defense of President Bush’s tactical change in Iraq, and quickly encountered Boxer.

“Who pays the price? I’m not going to pay a personal price,” Boxer said. “My kids are too old, and my grandchild is too young.”

Then, to Rice: “You’re not going to pay a particular price, as I understand it, with an immediate family.”

Condi, who has more grace in her little finger than Boxer and the whole of Democrats on the Senate and the Hill have in their hugh over porked bodies, didn’t respond with the same school-yard tattiness, she doesn’t have to, she is not in the wrong.

Boxer has no room to talk of children as one who relishes in the thought and practice of drilling holes in their heads through partial birth abortion, who for that matter has never stood on the side of life and liberty.

This is not the first time the left has used this tactic, especially in relation to Dr. Rice. They - meaning the entirity of the left - have constantly used her race and gender to relate some type of dishonesty and weakness on her part.

Stop the ACLU has more reacts. For now a full written and personal apology ought to be forthcoming from Boxer, yet that would only hold true for persons of character and for Boxer, the two are not synonymous.
thumbnail

Yet another hack

Looks like the punk that hacked us yesterday, got us again. Fact is that he actually deleted posts all the way back to December as well as most of the comments.

But for all that we got his IP signature and his IP and they are tracing his activity, in fact we have it down to his neighborhood.

In any case if you are visiting from the New York Times article reference the Boxer/Rice post I apologize, such is the life in Conservative blogging when liberals who can't argue on the merits resort to criminal activity.

So for now I will blog from Blogger until we get things back up on the regular site. I'll have the Barbara Box/Rice post up shortly.
Powered by Blogger.

Followers

Total Pageviews

Search This Blog

Pages

Pages

Pages - Menu

Macsmind - Official Blog of The MacRanger Show on Blog Talk Radio

About

Go here.