Gulf of Tonkin Anniversary

[El Supremo]

Today is the 40th anniversary of the first "attack" on our ships in the Gulf of Tonkin. What followed was about 58,000 US dead and over a million and a half Vietnamese deaths.

To me the parallels between the start of the Vietnam War and the invasion of Iraq are mind numbing. The complicity of the Press and Congress. The outright lies by the administration. The jingoism. The wrong war. Read this two year old synopsis at: http://www.commondreams.org/headlines02/0805-09.htm

But what makes me uneasy today, is the Kerry campaign trying to present JK as a "war hero" and W as a "war zero." Kerry killed maybe 20 of the enemy. At the time he thought it was right, but later thought that the war was wrong. I guess the main point is supposed to be that JK had real military experience and was a leader. But, shouldn't he also be talking about how he felt in those later years? Shouldn't he be talking about the parallels of W's and LBJ's rush to war?

Naw... it is much easier to appeal to the dumb-ass voters who like war heroes.

[Nay]

1. There was an excellent Walter Cronkite commentary on the Tonkin

Gulf Resolution on NPR this afternoon -- what a fraud it was, and how the resolution was jammed through Congress, was based on lies (no torpedoes hit our ships as they cruised around 8 miles off the N. Vietnamese shore). All a total fraud, just like now. Only 2 senators stood up against it, and no one in the House. A rout. Just like today.

Yes, I think Kerry SHOULD talk about this history, and he should explain how the hell he could vote for the Iraq war after knowing what he knows about the Gulf of Tonkin, and how right those two lonely senators were back then. And how they did the right thing, even though they surely were treated like dirt afterward.