Monday, February 20, 2012

Evils of War

Paul Appell: Must not forget evil of war
Feb 19, 2012 - Retired Maj. Larry Johnson called me recently to ask if I would write something about the Vietnam War, since he feared many may have already forgotten about it.

Many of us who participated in that war wish we could forget. But alas, as Plato is alleged to have written, “War is only over for those that have died.”

It is painful to see the lessons of the Vietnam War forgotten. Some of us feel that our current wars are a repeat of the mistakes of Vietnam.

Many of those who celebrate wars quote the St. Crispin’s Day speech in Shakespeare’s “Henry V” about the band of brothers. They usually fail to quote the advice given to Henry by Williams earlier: “But if the cause be not good, the king himself hath a heavy reckoning to make.” Henry Kissinger was pontificating at an Ivy League school a few years ago about how his great diplomatic skill ended the Vietnam War. A Vietnam vet in the audience asked him after the speech to name one person killed in the war. A flustered Kissinger could not name one. In today’s times, the reckoning is not made by the king. Wars are declared by the elite few, but fought by the poor masses.

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As Country Joe McDonald sang in his song “Agent Orange,” “They killed me in Vietnam, and I didn’t even know it.” read more>>>

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