Vietnam War: A Day of Mourning

Joseph Warren, Editor

http://TheIndependentDaily.com

Come “Celebrate” the Vietnam War this Veteran’s Day! Celebrate is the word that most frequently appears in each of the articles and notices I’ve read the past few months regarding this year’s Veteran’s Day activities around the US.

A reminder: We did not win the Vietnam War. We lost more than 58,000 American men and women. More than 160,000 were wounded. We increased our national debt massively. We alienated ourselves from much of the world and from ourselves as division over the war served as ice in a crack of concrete, expanding and fracturing the cohesion of America-then.

On the other side of the war: Estimates are that from two to three million Vietnamese died in combat or combat related (collateral) actions – men, women, and children. Lots and lots and lots of children, just as in Iraq.

So, 50 years later what was the outcome of our involvement in Vietnam’s civil war?

We began freely trading with them some years ago, just as we did and do with China, one of Vietnam’s primary supporting nations during the war. Today, we now amass every month a Trade Deficit with Vietnam of more than 2.5 Billion US dollars: admittedly a pittance compared to our long-time (and likely to continue to be) nemesis, China, where our annual Trade Deficit currently hovers at One-Half Trillion US dollars per year.

In the next few years we can expect that these numbers will significantly increase to our detriment as Obama’s Trans-Pacific Trade Agreement begins: More Manufacturing jobs shifted to overseas locations to the benefit of the few at the expense of Americans, reducing us further to Third-World status.

But you don’t really care, do you? The vast majority of Americans keep voting the same way for essentially the same candidates committing us further and further to a cycle of decline, economically and morally.

Vietnam was the wrong war for us. Many of us knew it then, just as many of us knew Iraq was wrong, as well. Recalling that 50% of Americans are below average by mathematical necessity, explains much. But, it doesn’t explain the cycle of violence that has permeated our country’s leadership and citizens. We have all come to learn that the best way to deal with opposing views is through violence: That’s our solution to all conflicting views.

Will I be “Celebrating” the Vietnam War this Veteran’s Day? No. A National Day of Mourning might be more appropriate.