Gloria Burd wrote:
>>During the late Sixties ... . My favourite proverb from that
beautiful time is "What if they gave a war and nobody came?"<<
War is not like a birthday party where invitations are sent out inviting
Country A to have a war with Country B. War is like a tornado, or a
hurricane, or a flood, that comes uninvited with little or no warning. Those
who are prepared, survive; those who are not prepared, do not survive.
>>Yes, Roger, but VietNam, for example, was fought by conscripted men. Most
of the imperialist wars (such as VietNam) in which the U.S. engaged
involved drafted men, who came disproportionately from poor and/or minority
backgrounds. The draft is inherently racist as well as classist.<<
So, now it is because of social discrimination that you oppose war? Was it
social discrimination that the majority of casualties of World War 2 were
white, middle class American youth? Why don't you complain about that?
Minorities in World War 2 had to first fight discrimination in this country
to prove that they were as patriotic and as capable of fighting for the USA
as any other American. The Tuskagee Airmen had to first show that blacks
were as capable as, or more so, than whites in flying high powered fighters
before they could serve *their* country in their most capable manner. It was
a black outfit that was one of the early liberators of a concentration camp,
an event the camp survivors remember and are thankful of to this day.
Japanese American (Nisei) men, although they had been interned in internment
camps, had to first convince the U. S. Government that they were Americans
first of Japanese decent and as patriotic as any other American of any decent
before they were permitted to fight for the USA and become the most decorated
battalion in World War 2.
As far as Viet Nam goes, I can tell you a thing or two about that because I
was there for the Passage to Freedom operation just after the Geneva Accord
ending the French-Indo China War. However, I will just refer you to a
sanitized version (the true version is too horrific to publish) as told by
Dr. Thomas A. Dooley in the book, "The Night They Burned the Mountain."
Roger Turk
Tucson, Arizona
