letter to times, turning the tide, critical mass

[jimboloco]

Subject: "Why were we in Vietnam" July11, 2008


http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/columns ... 694049.ece

Thanks to Harold Meyerson for illustrating the total irony of Donald Ducks made in Vietnam. Tying this to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial reminded me of a book I have by Jan Scruggs, the founder of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund. His book, "Why Vietnam Still Matters," contains the spectrum of wisdom painfully gleaned from a number of veterans and volunteer guides at the Wall.

I served in Vietnam; being a young man in that era meant volunteering, or being drafted. I heeded the call. But I was deeply affected by the experience. I became alienated and angry, and anti-war. Thanks to the Vet Center program for their profound help, as I was fortunate to connect with them in the 1980's.

What relevance does the circuitous path of post-war Vietnam have for today? Was the war really necessary in the first place? That is the number one question. A more prescient and meaningful usage of the U.S. military is in order.


j loco

st pete, florita
© Copyright 2008 St. Pete Times.

[mtmynd]

Well thought out letter, jimbo. It should cause the reader to think... but that just might be hoping for too much.

[Arcadia]

Then again, the effect of bringing into the global labor pool hundreds of millions of low-wage workers — people whose wages are held in check by both capital mobility and communist repression ... what a panorama! (we would say here..)

thanks for sharing the article, jimbo

[jimboloco]

you never know
someday
critical mass

lady patient i have today 84
he son KIA vietnam \
she says th same thing
we can only keep trying to tell the truth