August 3rd
1965
1st battalion 9th Marines decimated the small village of Camnee. What was different about this raid was not the result as the soldiers had been under clear instructions to destroy the place just like many other villages before it. That the place was apparently occupied by only the very old and the innocently young cast aspersions upon the operation and the veracity of the military spin. There was interest in the Vietnam War; there was very little interest in Vietnam and certainly no interest in the Vietnamese who were as mysterious as ghosts. American wars have been interesting in as much as the American soldier has always fought on the right side of justice and upheld and protected everything that is good in the world. But there has been a few times when that righteous image has been called into question and found to be not quite as wholesome as the average Joe would have liked,
Morley Safer, CBS news reporter was on the ground with the marines at Camnee when it was burnt to the ground. He filed the following report, interspersed with images of old women and young children crying as marines turned flame-throwers onto their straw abode. That single report was a turning point in the Vietnam War for it was the first time that Americans did not look like heroes- in fact they looked like bullies without any sense of morality.
“Today’s operation is the frustration of Vietnam in miniature-“ stated Safer, “There is little doubt that American firepower can win a military victory here. But to a Vietnamese peasant whose home means a lifetime of back breaking labor it will take more than presidential promises to convince him that we are on his side.”
After seeing the report, along with millions of other Americans, President Johnson phoned Fred Friendly, head of CBS with anything but a friendly phone call, “YOUR BOYS JUST SHAT ON THE AMERICAN FLAG!!!!”
What was different about that report was that Morley Safer took a personal position on the war- on camera. It was an editorial comment.
In 1966, President Johnson stated emphatically at a press conference, “Make no mistake about it- I don’t want a man in here to go back home thinking otherwise- We are going to win!”
Horace wrote in 30 BC that “Brute force without wisdom falls by its own weight.”
1985
Before a packed crowd at the Los Angeles Coliseum, Bruce Springteen spoke about growing up in the sixties with war on the TV every night. In this 1985 concert, “The next time there is a war, the government will come looking for you- so ask questions because, blind faith in your leaders will get you killed.” He then launched his E Street Band into a blistering version of Edwin Starr’s classic “War” with its repeated line, “War, what is it good for? Absolutely nothing!” Twenty years later, children too young to have been born in 1985, have been killed or wounded, carted back in pieces from Iraq for what could be a spurious cause. Indeed, blind faith in the leadership may have got them killed.
More and more Iraq is looking like Vietnam. More and more, people who originally supported this action are questioning its validity and its cost in both human and dollar terms. It is fast getting to a point where it is no longer unpatriotic to ask these questions and no longer considered liberal. When moderate conservatives are asking the same questions now that the unpatriotic, ratbag group of jobless liberals and bleeding hearts were asking two years ago, you know the tide is changing. More and more people are beginning to realize it is not a matter of patriotism nor it a matter of being disloyal to those who are ordered to fight, and more to those who have perished or been wounded. That is not why you stay in a war. The reasons for attacking Iraq have crumbled under close scrutiny. That he was a ruthless dictator and the US wished to bring democracy to Iraq cannot hold as the ace in your pack if it is costing trillions of dollars and thousands of American soldier’s lives and health and tens of thousands of Iraqi lives. From WMD’s to links to Al Qaeda, Osama Bin Laden, to 9/11, to a constant state of fear, to the assault of the US constitution and Bill of Rights with Draconian anti-terrorist legislation and finally to driving a wedge down the middle of America and indeed the middle of the UN.
For what?
2005
It is no longer important to simply win the war, you need to win the story of the war as well. This administration is not just struggling with control in this war on the ground but also in the minds those they purport to help. Apart from the Kurds who are enjoying de facto nationhood and relative, if not ephemeral, autonomy nothing in Iraq is really secure. Certainly not beyond Baghdad. The fact is that despite trillions of dollars being poured into Iraq, it is not secure and serious doubts are being raised if it will ever be secure. Because while Americans are questioning the justification and cost of this conflict with over 2000 coalition soldiers dead and over 15 000 injured, Iraqis are questioning having 100000 of their citizens killed, over 700000 injured and millions made homeless. What is being stated on Arab web sites is not issues of long-term benefit but “what is the lesser of two evils?” – Saddam or the US. And when Americans are even considered in that question, the cause is already lost. There is a balance between what is liberty and what is anarchy. Ask the folk of New Orleans what is was like without any amenities and being stuck in a lawless anarchy knowing you could get killed or raped at any moment. Now place yourself in Iraq where you have just that lawlessness, combined with bombing raids and you are the poor prick trying to simply protect your family from one side or the other. The New Orleans people were stuck in blistering heat for five or six days. It is only now beginning to drop below 100 degrees in Iraq after being around that for the past two months. The people of New Orleans did not have to cope with suicide bombers. Most of Iraq is under 15 years old. How would you like to live in a society where you have teenage boys, pissed off, armed and roaming around the place fueled with hatred and religious and political dogma. But that is exactly what the troops are wedged between where the ones you are defending are almost as equally dangerous as the ones who are attacking. Neither side really wants you there except if it is to their own advantage. The lofty ideals espoused by the president and his administration fall along way short of the grubby struggle that persists after the power vacuum was created with the removal of Saddam Hussein. It will become increasingly difficult for Bush to maintain the American public’s enthusiasm for a cause that continues to be seen as wasteful, hopeless and worst still, contrived. Most people in Western societies have very short concentration spans on any one subject and the battle in Iraq lost its luster a year ago and quite frankly people are bored shitless by it. It is a sad reason as to why something should be resolved but if it gets the troops home, hey, be bored.
Hurricane Katrina was probably not what the President wanted. A terrorist attack in New Orleans where the levies were blown to smithereens and the place was flooded would have got the publics attention back on track and given some validity to this administration’s persisting with such a spurious conflict against terrorism. But a natural disaster of this magnitude must have had a born again Christian such as Bush thinking his God was a right royal prick. For it exposed many serious faults in the fabric of American society and the huge resources required keeping what little control America has in Iraq going. Katrina managed to flood TV’s all over the world with image after image of third world distress. Having these heartbreaking images of black, poverty stricken, abandoned, what looked like, refugees almost dying in front of the cameras of heat exhaustion and thirst, immediately drew attention to how thinly stretched the national resources were. And if it wasn’t enough to be shit out of luck with nature, the hurricane managed to pick a state where the guards were on active duty in Iraq and couldn’t be deployed. Then you combine FEMA running around like a headless hen, half of the New Orleans’ police force going ‘bugger this for a bunch of bananas’ and deserting, the nearby military unable to step in, you had image of Bush flying over a few times in a plane, staring vacantly out of the window, looking, to quote Rip Torn in “Dodgeball” as ‘useful as a cock flavored lollipop’ in a crisis. All the time, in the back of everyone’s mind was the simple question- if we cannot save ourselves what the hell are we doing saving the Iraqi’s. The history of race relations in America has never really been a shining example of white tolerance. In a litany of injustices from slavery, to KKK, to segration, to lynching, to poll taxes, to having to march up and down America to be granted rights that were ‘self evident’ – Katrina managed to make many black people, especially those caught in the crisis feel ‘black’ and every negative historical connotation of what that really meant. America is not so much a democracy as a plutocracy and this government is one of the best friends the wealthy and influential has ever had in the White House. And over the years, the rich have had some very good friends in the Presidency. But what Katrina did very effectively is show the unfair contrast in those classes and just how incredibly black the underclass appeared for all to see. Nobody, for all the rhetoric and all the excuses could ever imagine white people stranded on their roofs for a week, dying of thirst and exposure while the government fucked about in a bureaucratic dither. That is not to say it wouldn’t have happened; it possibly could have, just that in this case, most of those who did not get out of New Orleans were black. Most who died appeared to be black. Most of the corpses left to openly rot in the blistering heat were black. Most who had to then endure the hell of the Dome and Civic Center appeared black. Nearly every image that came out from this disaster appeared decidedly black. As much as the issues of racial divide have been purportedly healed in America, Katrina managed to rip open a very old national wound to expose just how much racial and class resentment is still there and how much inequality.
Katrina exposed who we are as human beings. In such a crisis, unfortunately what makes us civilized melts away as a very thin veneer. Unenforceable laws quick dissolves into anarchy that translates into survival of the nastiest. But then again what constitutes a looter blurs when you are desperate for food or water that will save you or your family. To a lawman under orders to shoot to kill, it seems all black people look the same with a load of bottled water in their hands. The stories of mass rapes and terror should shame any country, the assaults and gangs taking pot shots at the military. It is a case when such people sometimes worse than the crisis. But what does it really do? It creates solid arguments for a) gun laws restricting the use of weapons arming the public so they cam protect themselves in such a crisis c) strip civil liberties off people and evoking marshal laws to control a situation. The result of disgraceful behaviors after Katrina, the Patriot Act, fear of terrorism, out of control gun laws and all in all a society hardly envisioned by the founding fathers of the constitution sees America and its laws slipping into a police state. You are under greater scrutiny and have had either stripped or handed back many hard fought liberties in the name of safety and fear. It is very dangerous to relinquish liberties to any government under any circumstances. Many people fought hard and in many cases died obtaining freedoms many of us take for granted. Democracy is a relative new thing, women getting a vote is even newer. Privacy Acts, freedom of speech etc were not given, they were fought for. These national crises, real or imagined, restrict, rewrite and redefine many of those liberties. Katrina and Terrorism will have a long lasting effect on liberties. Coupled with hand picked conservative Supreme court judges, many issues that were overruled with the previous line up of judges will be back on the table again to restrict even more those liberties now that the balance has altered.
Since 9/11, American society has changed dramatically and not really for the better. Unless the focus changes back soon to really say, to hell with Iraq, get out now. To hell with terrorism because despite turning your society into police state it is almost impossible to prevent a suicide bomber. And finally to hell with everybody having guns. Guns mean death, assault weapons mean many deaths. Let some crazed fucker stab you to death with a stick, you will have much more chance than should he shoot you. To hell with the UN not working- make it work and begin funding it properly and given mandates based on humanitarian concerns rather than military or corporate objects. To hell with promises of AID- if you can afford to waste trillions of dollars on a futile war, spend it on actual improvements in education, health and infrastructures that not only benefit poorer paid Americans but poverty around the globe. To hell with the speeches and benefits and bullshit- just get a plan that will really assist people, rather than dictators and cronies and start doing it so that people live and thrive.
There is an inequality in all societies. What happened after Katrina was shameful. What is continuing to happen in Iraq is a scandalous disgrace that will be taking many more people to their grave and breaking the hearts of those left behind. I have no doubt that human beings are better than this.
By David Peter Robertson
What did you think? Please comment!
Comments
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When we find ourselvess lost or taken away by something that does not fit in with the other puzzle pieces, we believe it is not right or at least not right for you so we question the things why go to church when I belive in God already. But the truth is the Lord never asked us to attend church he asked us to do good and spread the word. The good thing about church is that they are like family and they help when the tough is to hard to deal with. But sometimes that is not enough but God will always be there for on eof his children no matterif they attend church or not. Now that is family!!! God curse all sinners.
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You've done it again...
You have left me speechless. Great write on what ills the world today that is right in a readers face with graphic reason. May the light be visible within this darkness very soon!
)O(
db
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Very interesting
I was there. I smelled the air, felt the sting, heard the horror and knew the ring of gunfire. My introduction to Vietnam was looking out the passenger jets window to see the flash in the night of rockets exploding among the buildings at the airport. Thus began my two SEA consecutive tours.
To describe Southeast Asia, is to learn of jungles with vegitation so thick your worst enemy could sleep within mere inches of you without your knowing. Mountains so steep and covered with wet masses of plants that your footing was one up four back. Yet, in all that there are places of extreme beauty marred only by the touch of war.
When I returned I was confronted within just two days by children who had listened only to the news, peers, and protestors seeking fame. Confronted, threatened, and defamed by these "hippies"? WTF is that? When I left there was Doby Gillus (with Maynord G Krebbs), and I returned to the age of aquareus (sp). If one could say that something has been misunderstood, then certainly Vietnam is an example. People learned through the media only one side of the story, never the reason for what they were seeing, only the visual impact of a few minutes of under-reporting.
We were SENT there. Our Democratic President, our Democratic controlled congress, our government sent us there. Then, instead of letting us win, we were hampered by the "politics" of change. Democrats wanting to reclaim the power, judged the war as an excause to do so. Of course so did Republicans. Thus the war became a matter of political gain, a toy to play with. While our friends died. It became fashionable to decry the war and those in it, by those who had never been there. Fashionable, fun, and safe.
Why were villages burned? Because it was the policy put forth by the White House that any enemy village be burned to prevent them from returning to it and using it again as a base to attack from. Like all wars, villages, towns, cities are bases from which to gather and support the ongoing war effort of both sides. Like all wars, the civilians suffer.
War is a hateful thing. A horrible thing. A lasting memory. We never lost a battle. We never retreated from the threat. Instead we lost the war of nerves and left behind our family.
Could we have won. Hell, I don't know. Does anyone? If we had approached it the same as we did WWII, we would have won outright. North Vietnam could not withstand that kind of incursion. But, there was China to consider. So, politicans said...don't go to near, don't enter the north. And thus began the 14 years of "dont's". Don't attack a target without White House approval. Don't cross into the jungle hideouts of Cambodia (NV). Don't attack the harbor in Hanoi. etc etc. etc.
Instead of winning, we became the pawns of the establishment, both establishments, and lost our lives for ground we gave up as soon as the night darkened the ground. It was a good thing to get out of Vietnam, because if your not going to let us win, then your just letting us die.
Iraq, is NOT Vietnam. We have won. Now the politics begin again. Don't plug the borders, Iran may not like it. Don't put in more troops, the politics are not for it. Don't, Don't, Don't...again it starts. People! Let us do our JOBS! It is our JOB to WIN! You hired us to do that. Stop turning the job into your political gain. Please. Play politics with someone elses life not those of our children.
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Excuse me; I didn't study poetry or anything, so I don't know but in your first paragraph:But there has been a few times when that righteous image has been called into question and found to be not quite as wholesome as the ...
shouldn't the word has been have? I always get confused.. but your writing is brilliant and I wouldn't like to see it left there if it is a mistake. -
Dear David,
To one whose knowledge of the conduct of wars and the collective reaction to natural disasters is almost entirely fed by reading, viewing and listening to media reports, your evident wealth of knowledge and your presentation of your views is little short of staggering.
I happen, however, to have another friend (living in East Mediterranea) who presents me periodically with views from a
rather different perspective and, as I trust both his and your own sincerity, I must use my own judgement in trying to get the differing reports to converge. The fact is, that although,
from different perspectives, the views might differ, there is and must be a commonality somewhere which illustrates that there is truth in both.
If you are interested in reading reports (which almost match your own in length) which he has sent me I would be happy 6to forward them to you.
I applaud your views, your industry and care in presenting them and your courage in doing so, although I fear that they will not attract mass reading on this site.
Regards and best wishes. -
Ah....you have no doubt that human beings are better than this ...when I must say I have no such doubts....
As for your opening occurence at Camneee --- I found it a bit surprising...given that any rational person should realize war is complete chaos.....and any side in any given war commits atrocities -- only the victor writes the history. War should be something completely without rules or honor...and perhaps we'd learn to fear it (as we should) instead of treating it like some well planned game (it is neither well planned nor a game).
You make some valid points and this is an interesting essay...but you're largely preaching to the congregation, eh? I'm not sure where all the Bush supporters are, but I certainly don't know any personally. Makes one wonder if democracy truly works.... -
You have a few typo glitches… or debatable lingual lapses (what isn’t (lol)) Like: dispertions = aspersions.
‘~ Just like (with) many other villages before it.’ Not wrong but smoother without the preposition I think…
‘~ convince him we are (¿on?) his side’ since you are quoting I’m unsure if this is a lapse or an idiosyncratic emphasis…
‘ “~ I don’t (¿want?) a man in here to go ~” ’ dittioish…
I think apart from these minor glitches though, you have presented a brilliantly argued case – highlighting several crucial points – How much more persuasive American globalisation and domination would be if they attempted it by example – “Look what we have to offer – a non-polarized, equitable, safe society!” I might even consider listening… although I doubt it¡! Well done David – lots of lovely facts, viscously stuck up blind noses – sorry I’ll go now but I did think it was a very good, succinct essay.
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Hey David,
Just to let you know I'm not squandering your points, I'm printing this out to read over lunch and will be back to comment on it later.
Mark
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You brought many valid points to the table. The Vietnam war was a joke...our men came home broken, perceived as bullies instead of heroes, fighting ghosts most of us cannot imagine. Somehow, I feel that this is what our war in Iraq is ending up to be. I wear a button on the apron of my uniform that says 'Til they all come home', but more and more it's looking like they won't come home. In some ways I feel responsible because I never exercised my right to vote. Guilty for reasons of inaction. Thank you so much for making me stop to think. Much love to you and yours,
Nicole
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Bet you were on the debate team in High School...lol. I remember so much of the same events that kids today cannot imaginine. I remember watching on the news a kid that could have been my brother or cousin step on a landmine...then rain down bits and pieces of his flesh, blood et al. Memories are not always good and you bring out to one and all with this that we just eternally seem to repeat history and fate. So sad. Humanity seems more an ideal than reality, do you not find it so, too? You would make a terrific journalist as you point out both views. Have you ever considered that? We truly need real journalists. Morey in his way was such a one. Tis true, tho...he took a side. The side of life. rose
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I cannot even find words enough to describe how this makes me feel. So many are quick to jump on the government for their "lack of action". Has anyone considered the tradition of self-reliance upon which this country was founded? People choose to remain ill prepared for things, then rant at the government to bail them out. There are somethings that overwhelm all of us, but we as a people expect far more from our government than is prudent. Katrina and Rita are disasters on the grandest scale. But, those people had almost a week's warning to prepare. I know, I lived in Florida long enough to know what to stock up and how long we had to evacuate, if necessary. As they say, ignorance is no excuse. Buses left New Orleans empty because people refused to leave. And, we are hearing that the reports of "mass rapes" are greatly exagerated. So, who do we blame for the shape of New Orleans? How about the local government that knew 10 years ago that the flood walls would not contain seas of that magnitude. What about the state goverment that did not ask for aid until three days after the fact, and the federal goverment could not step in until they did ask for it? How about the federal government, but not for the aftermath. They are the ones who enable the poor to continue in thier lifestyle by not insisting that they join the rest of us in leading productive lives. My taxes go to ensure that some "poor" have huge tvs while I have to pay for mine. They get to have steak paid for with their food stamps, while my family makes do with hamburger and chicken. And I know this first hand, I worked in a grocery store for a while. I know what a lot of those people bought.
And I am not even going to touch on the war.
There was a few problems with your presentation. "That the place was apparently occupied by only the very old and the innocently young cast dispersions..." the word is aspersion. There are a few less glaring things. I feel you undermine your views with some of your word choices. It is hard to take a piece as serious opinion when you use words like "bunny".
All-in-all, I commend your opinions. Each of us have them, some more vocal than others. It takes guts to stand up for what you believe in, and I am glad that I live in a country that gives us the right to declare our beliefs and opinions.
Thank you for sharing. -
hi there DP! very interesting writing, bringing us from the killing fields of Vietnam to our present-day killing fields. I hope you don't mind I refer this post to another AP-friend here whom I know will appreciate this read.
My impression of this "story" is that it takes on a journalistic tone, so I'm assuming you may write a newspaper column or work in an editorial department of a publication...But that is my impression. Overall, your "story" is well-written and very very persuasive. Glad I had the chance to read this.
Jo -
Your points are well taken by this jobless liberal..lol. I agree with almost everything you said about the conflict in Iraq but as for the Katrina disaster I do believe the government did everything in its power to lessen the severity of the suffering. In that case the scale of the destruction was on such a large scale that this government or any government couldn't cope with it. Now as far as your black/white point... Yes....I agree despair and depravation will bring out the worse in human behavior but it will also bring out the very best in some. In those where race and class don't matter. It's just a matter of helping a fellow countryman, a fellow human being. And finally, yes we have our faults but I challenge you to name any nation that has given more to relieve more suffering in this world.
Sincerely,
Leo Long -
Unique
Quite a rant, but at least it ends on a positive note. I certainly don't agree with every thing, but a lot of what you say is true. I just don't think this website is a place for a political debate.
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