We of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations who participated in the decisions on Vietnam acted according to what we thought were the principles and traditions of this nation. . . . Yet we were wrong, terribly wrong. We owe it to future generations to explain why.
--Robert McNamara, Secretary of Defense in the 1960s

In the late 1950s and early ’60s, I was the model American boy. I was an Eagle Scout who made good grades. I was captain of my high school football team who played in an all-American game and earned a full athletic scholarship to the University of Tennessee. I was regular participant at Sunday school and Methodist Youth Fellowship.

I believed in mom, apple pie and the flag. I loved guns and spent a lot of time at Boy Scout camp shooting .22 rifles and earning NRA badges. Audie Murphy, the most decorated American combat soldier in World War II, was a childhood hero of mine. Thus it was natural for me to support President Lyndon Johnson when he said we needed more U.S. troops in Vietnam. “The issue is the future of southeast Asia as a whole,” Johnson declared. “A threat to any nation in that region is a threat to all, and a threat to us.”

Despite the culture in which I lived and the values I’d taken on, it quickly became obvious to me that something was amiss. Politicians’ promises of a limited conflict morphed into a huge military build up. While some military leaders claimed we were making Vietnam safe for democracy, a U.S. officer proclaimed that “it became necessary to destroy the town to save it.” We heard reports of atrocities committed against civilians by the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong soldiers, but there were also reports of Lt. Calley’s massacre of unarmed civilians at My Lai. Our nation’s leaders predicted “light at the end of the tunnel,” yet the war drug on. Most disturbing of all, of course, were the inflated enemy body counts that were somehow supposed to offset the horror of the thousands of body bags returning to our shores. And no one, including Congress, seemed to have a solution to end the slaughter of Americans and Vietnamese except to increase the U.S. troop and munitions levels. The phrase “credibility gap” entered the lexicon.

I was dismayed, saddened, ashamed and, finally, angry as hell. All my life I’d thought my country could do no wrong. We were, after all, supposed to be the good guys. My loss of innocence was sudden and intense.

But, along with thousands of others, I channeled my anger into action. I worked to end the conflict, participating in demonstrations and supporting political candidates who challenged our sitting president. And I vowed that I would never go to Vietnam to fight in this unjust war.

It eventually became obvious that the Vietnam War (the Vietnamese call it the American War) would not be won unless we were willing to bomb the little Third World country back to the Stone Age, as some had suggested. But I knew the tide had irreversibly turned against the war on February 27, 1968, when CBS television news anchor Walter Cronkite broadcast his poignant special report: “We have been too often disappointed by the optimism of the American leaders, both in Vietnam and Washington, to have faith any longer in the silver linings they find in the darkest clouds. . . . For it seems now more certain than ever that the bloody experience of Vietnam is to end in a stalemate.” The public had had enough. A March 1968 Gallup poll indicated that only 26 percent of Americans supported Johnson’s handling of the conflict. On March 31, 1968, I watched an anguished Johnson address a national television audience. He saved the best for close to last: “ . . . I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your President.”

After being elected to the presidency on a “peace with honor” campaign pledge in 1968, Nixon continued the war for several years more. But finally we declared victory and turned things over to the South Vietnamese. The final body count: more than 50,000 American and one million Vietnamese soldiers killed. In addition, more than 300,000 American and 1,500,000 Vietnamese troops were wounded. The Vietnamese government asserts that 4,000,000 civilians were killed during the conflict.

Decades later it’s pretty easy to Monday morning quarterback. We underestimated the tenacity and resourcefulness of our foe. We underestimated the resources that it would take to wage such a conflict. We underestimated the amount of time it would take. We underestimated the recalcitrance of soldiers who lacked a clear mission. We underestimated the lives that would be lost on both sides. Johnson’s doubts about his actions were overshadowed by his flawed perception of manhood and his belief that he could not let a “little pissant country” prevail over the most powerful nation in the world.

Johnson died a broken man on his ranch in Johnson City, Texas in 1973.

Fast-forward thirty years.

While on vacation in Crawford, Texas, Commander-in-Chief George W. Bush must have been drinking from the same well as Lyndon B. Johnson when LBJ got American boots stuck in Southeast Asia’s unforgiving swamps. . . . LBJ consequently lost his job and caused millions of American and Vietnamese casualties. Let’s hope that GWB isn't leading us down another rocky road.
--Col. David Hackworth, U.S. Army Retired

The tragedy of 9/11 presented us with an immense opportunity. A few days after that horrendous event I wrote that one thing had been accomplished by the appalling actions of the terrorists: We had come together as a nation in support of those in need. And not only that, but the peoples of the world joined in mourning our loss. Many nations pledged their support in confronting the challenge of terrorism, and we had considerable solidarity in this effort . . . for a while.

When, however, we tried to drum up support for an assault on Iraq, the majority of the people of the world, including millions in this nation, rose up in powerful protest. For the first time massive peace rallies took place prior to the first shot being fired. And members of the UN refused to condone what many regarded as an illegal, if not immoral, action.

The cycle of change continues to accelerate. While it took years to grasp the contradictions in the arguments for the war in Vietnam, in Iraq it has only taken months. President Bush, Secretary Rumsfeld and Vice President Cheney told us that we’d be welcomed with open arms. We were not. We were told that weapons of mass destruction would be discovered. They were not. We were told that the conflict would be over quickly. It is not. We were told that we’d be pulling most of our troops out in a matter of months. We have not. We were told that selling Iraqi oil would pay for rebuilding that nation. It will not. According to Congressional Budget Office estimates, we’ve already spent $74 billion on the war and Bush has asked our enabling Congress for an additional $87 billion. Is this another example of a huge credibility gap or are these guys utterly incompetent?

In a September 6 Zogby poll, Bush’s overall approval rating had dropped to 45 percent. A few emboldened politicians have challenged the administration’s handling of the Iraq war. But I knew the tide had turned when I recently heard an NPR reporter referring to Bush’s claim that Iraq was trying to buy uranium from Nigeria as “bogus.” Faux (Fox) News may still have their blinders on, but much of the mainstream media has cast off the pseudo-patriotism that consisted primarily of going along with almost everything that the current administration said and did that was in any way related to the war. And for Bush and company, there’s no turning back the clock. Wagging the dog will not help. Raising the terror alert level to orange or red won’t do it. Playing on our fears has run its course. You can only yell “wolf” so many times and get away with it. Of course, danger does exist in the world, but we must avoid being manipulated by our fear of these dangers.

Let’s do a little quarterbacking, and this time let’s do it before decades pass. Again the president and his advisors appear to have underestimated the tenacity and resourcefulness of our foe. Again our political leaders have underestimated the resources that it would take to wage the war in Iraq. Again our military experts have underestimated the amount of time it would take to complete our mission. Again the president has underestimated the importance of a clear mission for our soldiers and for the nation (WMD? Democratic Iraq? Objective du jour?). Again the presiding administration has underestimated the casualties that would result on both sides (so far 292 Americans dead and 1,478 wounded, 52 coalition troops dead, more than 6,000 Iraqi civilians dead and an estimated 10,000 Iraqi troops dead).

As with President Johnson, we have begun to see what happens to those who believe that they are all-powerful. Inevitably life intercedes. The pretenders are brought down to earth. We are witnessing another presidency being undone by its unwillingness to acknowledge reality and change course accordingly. We are witnessing what happens when someone believes that machismo is a proper way of expressing one’s masculinity. We are witnessing the steady decline of a president who thinks he can validate his manhood by risking the lives of others.

As those of you who read this column regularly know, I have opposed this war from the beginning. I do not believe that Iraq posed a threat to us. I do not believe that Iraq was involved in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. I do not believe that Iraq was in league with Al Quaeda (though we may now have helped create such an alliance). I do not think war is a just and moral means for settling political differences. Our armed forces are now in an untenable situation in Iraq. As in Vietnam the only solution to the conflict being discussed in Washington is to throw more troops (ours or someone else’s) into the fray and more money at the infrastructure problems. As in Vietnam, there are those who say we can’t cut and run or we’ll lose face. Well, guess what, folks: We’ve already lost face . . . with the millions of people around the world who thought this irresponsible adventure was deadly folly in the first place.

Get the UN in and the U.S. out . . . now. Then turn Iraq over to Iraqis as soon as possible, and let them decide what form they want their government to take. We are not the rulers of the world. In fact, if there’s one lesson that we can learn from this misadventure, it’s that empire building is not as easy as the armchair warriors have made it out to be.

How about we get together and send another demagogic president back to his ranch in Texas?

All contents copyrighted Bruce R. Mulkey, Asheville, North Carolina.

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