Will History Repeat?

Will History Repeat?

Millions of Vietnam Veterans are watching history begin to repeat itself as the debate continues on winning or leaving Iraq. It is a fact that those Vets who served in Vietnam have the first hand experience to address America on the dangers of appeasement and retreat. The fact that after we left Vietnam, it fell very quickly; is that not the danger of leaving Iraq before victory? The reason we left Vietnam was we did not exercise the plans that were in place for a complete victory, and yes we again underestimated the enemy, then came the debate over the war and the American people quit supporting the war effort. That led to a loss of political will and the decision to begin the pull out. It was carefully framed in the context of the Paris Peace Talks, but our enemy had no intent of honoring any agreement, they only wanted US troops out so they could take the country; and they did in a matter of weeks. This history lesson has a familiar theme, Americans need to step back and look at what is happening today, our national debate is being influenced by a press who only reports one side, and by politicians who only want to defeat a sitting President’s party. Public support is declining, it may be followed by a loss of political will, and then retreat. The enemy waits as in 1973, for America to come home, and then we will see history repeat itself in Iraq. We must learn from history before it is too late.

This Veteran wants to say a word of support for our current President. He led when we were attacked, and he continues to lead in spite of the vicious unwarranted and undeserved personal attacks. He has stayed the course, and Americans should look at the facts and give him their support. We have people in our nation that should be ashamed of their words during a time of war. Vietnam Vets will remember the words we heard that were divisive and broke down the unity of our citizen’s support of the national effort in Vietnam. Veterans need to speak out in 2008!

The Swift Boats of 2008

The Facts were that the Swift Boat guys in 2004 were Vietnam Veterans who cared enough to get active in the election of that year and share their first hand experiences and "facts" on John Kerry. We will never know if their mission might have helped prevent Kerry's election, which would have been a step back in the war on terror. Now in 2008, we need Vietnam Veterans to step forward again and remind the American people that this election needs to focus on facts not rhetoric. We have an extremely well qualified patriot running against someone without experience but with great charisma and communication skills; we dare not go down that road. Here are some facts we can focus on:

1. In recent elections we have had "minority presidents" (less than 50% of the vote), President Clinton had around 43%, and Bush less than 50% the first term. Now realize that 35-40% of the American people support President Bush, that is close to what elected him. He has protected our nation for over 7 years, we have carried the battle to the home of the enemy, the economy is not "in recession", unemployment is good, and only the press tells us how bad it is.

2. With that in mind, Vietnam Veterans need to go on the offensive in 2008, reminding our citizens of the positives, and the dangers of giving up the gains we have fought for over the past seven years. We must continue to achieve victory in Iraq, and take the next steps to defeat radical Islam, the sooner the better.

3. Senator Obama has no plan, very little understanding of the threat, no experience in international diplomacy, and seems to be under the false assumption that he can talk to our enemies who have the stated purpose of killing him along with the rest of us.

4. Vietnam Veterans can join with the 35-40% of Americans who support our President, and counter the media and Senator Obama's worldview which is wrong for America. Americans must be awakened to the threat and become motivated to consider the facts, and make the right choice for our country.

It is not a question of Senator McCain being the perfect candidate, many young people give that label to Senator Obama because of his attraction. The question for Americans is to consider the facts, the qualifications of the candidates, and the serious threat to our nation over the next four years. Vietnam Veterans can make a difference again in 2008, just as the Swift Boaters did in 2004. We must accept the mission and help wake up America before it is too late!

Obama is a Threat

We need civility and manners in America, so here are some facts ,without any name calling or personal attacks, that we need to consider as we choose a new President.

1. The War on Terror is the key issue, it is battle for the survival of this nation against radical Islam. John McCain is tested and understands the enemy, Barack Obama displays little knowledge and understanding of the threat or how to fight it. He advocates talking to people who want only to kill us, and are the enemies of America.
2. The economy is a legitimate issue; if we look at 20 of the past 28 years, low taxes in those years generated economic growth and prosperity, John McCain understands that. Barack Obama has said he will raise taxes to pay for bigger government programs.
3. Barack Obama is the product of a political machine in Chicago, the people he associates with are proven radicals, criminals, or currently under indictment. John McCain has a long record of integrity and honesty, and his character was tested and proven in a prison camp in North Vietnam.

On the facts, this should not be a contest, however, the main line press has picked their candidate (Barack Obama). His charisma and charm have drawn many young voters who are not well informed on the issues. Our best hope is to elect John McCain as our Commander in Chief. Vietnam Veterans understand appeasement and lack of political will during a war; it can spell defeat for our great nation if we are not vigilant. We must wake up America.

The War on Terror - Have we forgotten?

It's too bad that the President did not put America on a more serious "war footing" in 2001 when this began; perhaps building up our forces, a war tax, and going on offense in places like Somalia. We can only guess that the intelligence given the President under-estimated the enemy (again). So now we are in a political campaign, and a recent interview asked candidates Clinton and Obama what they would do if Israel was attacked by Iran? Obama's answer, "take appropriate action"; McCain is on record of taking on Iran if they attack Israel. So why have we forgotten that we are at war? Is seven years too long for the American people to remember? Do we not understand radical Islam? The next President will not have a chance to back away from this war, Iran will not go away, we must defeat that regime one way or another. The American people need to wake up and realize the magnitude of the struggle we are in, and make sure we do not elect candidates who believe we can "talk to our enemies", history is full of those examples, none of them worked out. Wake up America!

Remembering 1968

Vietnam Vets might remember the 1968 Tet offensive by the NVN and the VC as the turning point in the war. It brought street riots to the Democrat convention in Chicago, and America's political will continued to slide towards withdrawal. The fact is no battle was lost by US forces, only the headlines. Does Tet remind us of the enemy's attempts in Iraq to grab headlines and influence Americans to encourage our government to back away again. We must not let our citizens be influenced by a few headline events in Iraq; the enemy is smart and learns from history, we must not make the same mistake again. Vietnam Vets can see what is happening, it is up to us to sound the alarm.

A Sad Commentary (Author Unknown)

Everyone has a different opinion on the war and our current President. But this article probably makes sense to those of us who remember. Read it and give it some thought. What a difference 60 years makes..!!!

'You Ain't Gonna Like Losing.' Author unknownPresident Bush did make a bad mistake in the war on terrorism. But the mistake was not his decision to go to war in Iraq .
Bush's mistake came in his belief that this country is the same one his father fought for in WWII. It is not.

Back then, they had just come out of a vicious depression. The country was steeled by the hardship of that depression, but they still believed fervently in this country. They knew that the people had elected their leaders, so it was the people's duty to back those leaders.Therefore, when the war broke out the people came together, rallied behind, and stuck with their leaders, whether they had voted for them or not or whether the war was going badly or not.
And war was just as distasteful and the anguish just as great then as it is today. Often there were more casualties in one day in WWII than we have had in the entire Iraq war. But that did not matter the people stuck with the President because it was their patriotic duty Americans put aside their differences in WWII and worked together to win that war.Everyone from every strata of society, from young to old pitched in. Small children pulled little wagons around to gather scrap metal for the war effort. Grade school students saved their pennies to buy stamps for war bonds to help the effort.Men who were too old or medically 4F lied about their age or condition trying their best to join the military. Women doubled their work to keep things going at home. Harsh rationin g of everything from gasoline to soap, to butter was imposed, yet there was very little complaining.You never heard prominent people on the radio belittling the President. Interestingly enough in those days there were no fat cat actors and entertainers who ran off to visit and fawn over dictators of hostile countries and complain to them about our President. Instead, they made upbeat films and entertained our troops to help the troops' morale. And a bunch even enlisted.And imagine this: Teachers in schools actually started the day off with a Pledge of Allegiance and with prayers for our country and our troops!Back then, no newspaper would have dared point out certain weak spots in our cities where bombs could be set off to cause the maximum damage. No newspaper would have dared complain about what we were doing to catch spies.A newspaper would have been laughed out of existence if it had complained that German or Japanese soldiers were being 'tortur e d' by being forced to wear women's underwear, or subjected to interrogation by a woman, or being scared by a dog or did not have air conditioning.There were a lot of things different back then. We were not subjected to a constant bombardment of pornography, perversion and promiscuity in movies or on radio. We did not have legions of crack heads, dope pushers and armed gangs roaming our streets.No, President Bush did not make a mistake in his handling of terrorism. He made the mistake of believing that we still had the courage and fortitude of our fathers. He believed that this was still the country that our fathers fought so dearly to preserve.It is not the same country. It is now a cross between Sodom and Gomorrah and the Land of Oz. We did unite for a short while after 9/11, but our attitude changed when we found out that defending our country would require some sacrifices.We are in great danger. The terrorists are fanatic Muslims. They believe t ha t it is okay, even their duty to kill anyone who will not convert to Islam. It has been estimated that about one third or over three hundred million Muslims are sympathetic to the terrorists cause...Hitler and Tojo combined did not have nearly that many potential recruits.So...we either win it - or lose it - and you ain't gonna like losing.America is not at war. The military is at war. America is at the Mall.

McCain Understands

John McCain understands what happened in Vietnam when America lost its political will because of a press that misrepresented the facts, and lied to the people. John McCain was there, he spent five years in Hanoi, and came home and watched it all go down. Vietnam vets can see the signs of a repeat of history in Iraq; we must sound the alarm and jump into this election by supporting Senator McCain in all ways possible. Get involved, write letters, hit the internet circuit; as a veteran you know the truth of what happened almost forty years ago, and because we love our nation, we need to do all we can to prevent those forces from doing it again in Iraq. The enemy today is different and focused on our homeland, we must win this war. Vets step up for one more mission.