Yes, I made a mistake
Submitted by Altima on 2002-11-8 14:18:09, Friday
In reply to A minor correction submitted by Drifter on 2002-11-8 13:59:03, Friday
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I made a pretty big mistake there, but I still stand to my statement that the American crimes were simply publicised more, demonising the Americans and thus glorifying the VC cause. Thing is, the whole conflict shouldn't have happened at all. (In fact, Vietnam could have been a Democracy if President Wilson had even acknowledged a request from Ho Chi Minh before he turned to Soviet Russia for inspiration) I think we cal all agree it was one screwed up affair. It all could have been over with three bombs dropped on the Northern side (the destruction of three major dams would have devastated North Vietnam) but this plan was rejected because of a policy to keep the conflict on the southern side, thus drawing out the fight to 9 years. Yes, destroying those dams would have destroyed a lot of food that North Vietnam was already short on, and it would have hurt or killed many non-combatants, but that same decision was made when Hiroshima was attacked with an atomic bomb. Even the morality of that, decades later, is debated. By killing those 140,000 civillians they saved an estimated 900,000 American lives that would have been lost in an invasion of the Japanese mainland, and many more Japanese lives (Also taking into account the practice of Suppuko (spelling?) that was popular in Japan, it was much akin to the suicide bombings we see today in Israel.) Morality is an unfortunately difficult business. All it takes is for one side of a conflict (whether a national or individual conflict) to sacrafice a morality and the other side is faced with whether or not to try and win by all means or to try and survive with a clear concience. Life is sad. |
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