[Vision2020] [Spam] Re: Tet Offensive
lfalen
lfalen at turbonet.com
Fri Nov 10 14:28:44 PST 2006
Great post Matt
Roger
-----Original message-----
From: "Matt Decker" mattd2107 at hotmail.com
Date: Fri, 10 Nov 2006 14:04:35 -0800
To: sunilramalingam at hotmail.com, vision2020 at moscow.com
Subject: [Spam] Re: [Vision2020] Tet Offensive
> Sunil,
>
> You have a lot or very good points and questions in your last post. What do
> we do in Iraq? I myself won't kid anyone about what we shoould do and not do
> now, for I am not the expert. I will leave that to the people in postion. I
> do feel however, that we did not utilize the best military in world to it's
> full capabilities. We have young very intelligent and highly motivated
> Marines and soldiers. Instead we over used them and now have the national
> gaurd pulling duties. These reservists, no offense, are not as specilized as
> the regulars. Granted it doesn't matter who is driving into the IED, but I
> can also say if we had let the generals do there jobs at the begining of the
> war instead of the senators and brass monkies back home, things would be
> different.
>
> The media has not played a very supportive role in this and vietnam war.
> They tend to remind the public that Marines have surrounded Falujiah and are
> about to destroy a mosque that has Al-Zaqauri in it. They will focas their
> opinion on how destroying that Mosque will be devistating to our cause, but
> won't realize that in war you have to be fast, deadly, and pack fury with
> you. War is never good but if your going to do it, then kill them quick. Use
> sense and only kill the bad ones, including the 13 kid with an ak47 shooting
> at you. But get it done quickly. It sounds bad but all great leaders have
> realized this concept, including Hitler. Bad man but a great leader. Ok now
> i'm rambling.
>
> As in the media, they do whats good for them, the story. Portraying a marine
> as a baby killer, but not have the slightest clue that the kid was shooting
> at him. If they had shown the bad things we did in WWII, we would have never
> one. Shooting unarmed Japanese, bombing Drisdin, assasanations, Etc. I don't
> agree with them, but will also tend to push that aside for the overall
> agenda, victory and peace.
>
> In no means should the media not do story about Cambodia or, Muy Lia, or the
> recent 7 Marines in Iraq that staged a civilians death as terroristic. They
> should. We should know about what going on, in order to learn from it. But,
> the medias portrayal of the Vietnam War and Iraq war has been nothing but
> negative. Which in turn WILL kill more Marines and soldiers.
>
> Try the next time you watch the news and count how many positive stories you
> here about. Kids being helped, buildings being built, area being secured,
> then count how many bad stories you here.
> Then go to conservative web site and look at the good stories you see. A
> total different story.
>
> Anyways I won't go on any further for now, but since I will most likely be
> called a bunch of names and ridiculed for this, not by you, you have too
> much class, but by others, I will just let you know I am leaving town for
> the weekend so a response won't be for a couple of days.
>
> Take care Sunil
>
>
> >From: "Sunil Ramalingam" <sunilramalingam at hotmail.com>
> >To: vision2020 at moscow.com
> >Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Tet Offensive
> >Date: Fri, 10 Nov 2006 11:12:27 -0800
> >
> >Matt,
> >
> >I tried to find the show tonight at 9, and it wasn't there. So I did some
> >reading about Tet here:
> >
> >http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tet_offensive
> >
> >and browsed through Stanley Karnow's 'Vietnam, a history.' I think Kai is
> >right in that neither the Vietcong nor the NVA could claim a traditional
> >military victory after Tet. But I think they scored a propoganda victory,
> >and I don't think that was media's fault or doing. After years of our
> >government claiming we were close to victory, they struck all over South
> >Vietnam, even hitting our embassy. Until Tet, the media went along with
> >whatever the government was saying. Tet changed that, and led to more
> >critical reporting.
> >
> >Ultimately, I think Tet points out some of the problems inherent in wars
> >like Vietnam or Iraq: when you end up in the middle of someone else's civil
> >war, how do you define victory? How can you win? That we had a military
> >victory at Tet was not enough in the end.
> >
> >This is a quote I came across several times in the last couple of months,
> >in articles comparing Iraq and Vietnam:
> >
> >'This brings to mind a story from the Vietnam era, as written up in the
> >March-April 2005 Military Review: "While negotiating in Hanoi a few days
> >before Saigon fell, U.S. Army Colonel Harry Summers, Jr. [later author of
> >On Strategy: A Critical Analysis of the Vietnam War], said to a North
> >Vietnamese colonel, ‘You know, you never defeated us on the battlefield.'
> >The Vietnamese colonel replied, ‘That may be so, but it is also
> >irrelevant.'" '
> >
> >People often blame the media for the outcome of the Vietnam War. Would it
> >have been right for the media not to cover, for example, the bombing of
> >Cambodia? If Americans and Vietnamese had continued to die without news
> >coverage, would that really have changed the outcome or made what we were
> >doing right?
> >
> >I don't think a lesson we should draw from Tet is that the media should not
> >cover what is happening. While I agree that some good things may occur in
> >Iraq, I think there's a civil war going on.
> >
> >Seems to me if you're in the middle of someone else's war, they've got more
> >to fight for than we do. And if you're there for the wrong reason, how do
> >you answer the question 'Why are we there?' If the question can't be
> >answered, public support for that war is going to wane. I don't think that
> >question could be answered in Vietnam, and it isn't being answered in Iraq
> >either.
> >
> >I don't think we should crap on the troops sent off to war by politicians
> >and generals. I think when the politicians and generals send off troops
> >for no good reason, the leaders deserve to get crapped on. I think that's
> >what they did in Vietnam, and again in Iraq. They put troops in situations
> >where victory might only be reached at a price that is obscene, and the
> >troops pay for it first, and then the nation as a whole. They owe the
> >people an answer about what they're doing and why.
> >
> >Today the question is 'What do we do now?' I think the only way out is for
> >us to give up our idea of permanent bases in Iraq, and undo the economic
> >decisions made by Paul Bremmer. He privatized the Iraqi economy (such as
> >it is), basically into our hands. I think the only way out for us is to
> >get other nations to join in stabilizing Iraq. I don't think we can do it
> >alone, but it may happen if others get involved. But no one's going to
> >help if they think it's just going to cement our control over Iraq. Why
> >would they risk their kids for that? How would they explain that to their
> >people?
> >
> >Well, I thought that was the question. I just saw a report that Rice said
> >the election will not change our objective in Iraq, and that Iraq has to be
> >successful. I don't know what that means or how we will get there.
> >
> >Anyway, that's my two cents. Sorry if I rambled.
> >
> >Sunil
> >
> >
> >>From: "Matt Decker" <mattd2107 at hotmail.com>
> >>To: sunilramalingam at hotmail.com, vision2020 at moscow.com
> >>Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Tet Offensive
> >>Date: Thu, 09 Nov 2006 16:47:27 -0800
> >>
> >>Sunil,
> >>
> >>I would think that the negative media towards our troops and how "they"
> >>dictate the battlefield would be a start.
> >>
> >>Take Care
> >>Matt
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
>
>
> >=======================================================
> > List services made available by First Step Internet,
> > serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
> > http://www.fsr.net
> > mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
> >=======================================================
>
> _________________________________________________________________
> Get today's hot entertainment gossip
> http://movies.msn.com/movies/hotgossip?icid=T002MSN03A07001
>
>
>
More information about the Vision2020
mailing list