The war in Vietnam was neither illegal (we had a treaty that required us to go there); nor imperialistic, as we never tried to take over their government.
Yeah know what, fuck it, I just read the rest of his drivel, I can't even begin to argue with this tool. He's a moron. haha, I'm a fucking terrorist, ok. Gruss Gott wrote: > Not having been alive in the 60s, and not having studied it, I don't > know much. Hearing the McCain campaign dredge up the Vietnam era > vis-a-vis Bill Ayers I thought it couldn't be a good thing. > > I could see how many college students, hearing about armed agents of > the government storming a campus and killed unarmed passersby or the > FBI that in the middle of the night broke into an apartment and killed > 2, would feel they were at war with the government. > > Not a good time - or a clear time - in American history. And NOT a > good thing dredge up for review. We've got current battles to fight. > > But since they did, I've looked into it, read a lot, but thought Bill > Ayers should be heard from too: > > ------------------------------- > April 2008, Bill Ayers > Abridged by me > > Day in and day out I go about my business, I hang out with my kids and > my grandchildren, take care of the elders, I go to work, I teach and I > write, I organize and I participate in the never-ending effort to > build a powerful movement for peace and social justice; now and then > (and unpredictably) I appear in the newspapers or on TV > > The other night, for example, I heard Sean Hannity tell Senator John > McCain that I was an unrepentant terrorist who had written an article > on September 11, 2001 extolling bombings against the U.S., and even > advocating more terrorist bombs. Senator McCain couldn't believe it, > and neither could I. > > I've written a lot about the Viet Nam period, about politics, about > schools and social justice, and I read and speak about all of it. I > encourage people to argue, to agree or disagree, to discuss and > struggle, to engage in conversation. > > So in that spirit here is another attempt at clarity: > > 1. Regrets. I'm often quoted saying that I have "no regrets." This is > not true. For anyone paying attentionand I try to stay wide-awake to > the world around me all/wayslife brings misgivings, doubts, > uncertainty, loss, regret. I'm sometimes asked if I regret anything I > did to oppose the war in Viet Nam, and I say "no, I don't regret > anything I did to try to stop the slaughter of millions of human > beings by my own government." Sometimes I add, "I don't think I did > enough." This is then elided: he has no regrets for setting bombs and > thinks there should be more bombings. > > The illegal, murderous, imperial war against Viet Nam was a > catastrophe for the Vietnamese, a disaster for Americans, and a world > tragedy. Many of us understood this, and many tried to stop the war. > Those of us who tried recognize that our efforts were inadequate: the > war dragged on for a decade, thousands were slaughtered every week, > and we couldn't stop it. In the end the U.S. military was defeated and > the war ended, but we surely didn't do enough. > > 2. Terror. Terrorismaccording to both official U.S. policy and the > U.N.is the use or threat of random violence to intimidate, frighten, > or coerce a population toward some political end. This means, of > course, that terrorism is not the exclusive province of a cult, a > religious sect, or a group of fanatics. It can be any of these, but it > can also beand often isexecuted by governments and states. A bombing > in a café in Israel is terrorism, and an Israeli assault on a > neighborhood in Gaza is terrorism; the September 11 attacks were acts > of terrorism, and the U.S. bombings in Viet Nam for a decade were acts > of terrorism. Terrorism is never justifiable, even in a just causethe > Union fight in the 1860's was just, for example, but Shernan's March > to the Sea was indefensible terror. I've never advocated terrorism, > never participated in it, never defended it. The U.S. government, by > contrast, does it routinely and defends the use of it in its own cause > consistently. > > 3. Imperialism. I'm against it, and if Sean Hannity and others were > honest, this is the ground they would fight me on. Capitalism played > its role historically and is exhausted as a force for progress: built > on exploitation, theft, conquest, war, and racism, capitalism and > imperialism must be defeated and a world revolutiona revolution > against war and racism and materialism, a revolution based on human > solidarity and love, cooperation and the common goodmust win. > > We begin by releasing our most hopeful dreams and our most radical > imaginations: a better world is both possible and necessary. We need > to bring our imaginations together and forge an unbreakable human > alliance. We need to unite to transform and save ourselves as we fight > to change the world and save humanity. > > http://billayers.wordpress.com/2008/04/06/episodic-notoriety-fact-and-fantasy/ > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;207172674;29440083;f Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:272515 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
