Author Topic: Those Who Ignore History Are Condemned To Re-Live IT  (Read 2671 times)

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Offline PzLdr

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Those Who Ignore History Are Condemned To Re-Live IT
« on: June 13, 2014, 01:13:59 pm »
I remember the Spring of 1975. I was finishing up Law School, contemplating the Bar Exam, and finding a job. But all I could think about were the visuals on TV coming out of Saigon. The NVA was in its final push, and South Viet Nam was in its death throes. And there were the choppers on the roof of the U.S Embassy, and the endless lines of people trying to get out [Gary Trudeau did a great "Doonesbury" of it.]

I had been in Viet Nam in 1971. I was the S-3/ Training officer on a MACV team charged with training a newly formed ARVN Tank Squadron [the 20th] on M 48 tanks. I had worked closely with an ARVN instructional team from their Armor School at Tu Duc, the personnel of the 20th, and my fellow Team members. And as I looked at those images, all I could think about were those ARVNs. Men we had trained, men we had broken bread with. Men who had trusted us. And men we had abandoned.

I had left Viet Nam at the end of December, 1971. The first thing I noticed when I got home was that nobody wanted to talk about it. Nobody. But, I said "Don't mean nothin'", and got on with my life. Out of the Army in March, 1972 [RIF'ted], into Law School. But then came those visuals. And the U.S.A did NOTHING.

Flash forward to the present. The visuals are now of Iraq. The Al Qaeda that Joffrey, the boy President told us was dead is very much alive has taken Mosul, Tikrit and is driving on Bagdhad. By all appearances the Iraqi army , unlike the ARVNs, is not putting up any fight, as near as I can see, and running like hell. And the U.S is again doing nothing.

That's the wrong thing, but what can you expect from a government led by the likes of Barack Hussein Obama. Either they're ignoring history, or Iraq fits the plan. Because what came out of the fall of Saigon was a seriously dangerous world with a seriously weakened U.S for years.

But what I'm thinking of the most, are all those guys who fought and bled and survived watching all they fought for, and all the people they knew [or didn't -remember those purple fingers that first election day] falling to the darkness. I think I know how those guys are feeling. Takes me back to that helicopter pad...
Hillary's Self-announced Qualifications: She Stood Up To Putin...She Sits to Pee

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Re: Those Who Ignore History Are Condemned To Re-Live IT
« Reply #1 on: June 13, 2014, 01:52:16 pm »
Thanks for starting this thread, PzLdr....

Just yesterday....all damned day, I kept asking myself...and getting angrier about it...why George W. Bush hasn't called a press conference and unload on these sons-a-bitches.

The nation is going down the drain simply because:

1) The MSM is an agent of the Democrat Party and we get no demand of accountability.

2) There is no effective opposition party.  The Republican leadership has been blackmailed and/or a victim of Stockholm Syndrome.

President Bush has remained silent all through his two terms and even now...six years later, still.....CRICKETS!

IMO, given what's at stake, that's obscene.

It's like "I've got mine....I'm outta here!"
"It aint what you don't know that kills you.  It's what you know that aint so!" ...Theodore Sturgeon

"Journalism is about covering the news.  With a pillow.  Until it stops moving."    - David Burge (Iowahawk)

"It was only a sunny smile, and little it cost in the giving, but like morning light it scattered the night and made the day worth living" F. Scott Fitzgerald

Online GourmetDan

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Re: Those Who Ignore History Are Condemned To Re-Live IT
« Reply #2 on: June 13, 2014, 01:58:15 pm »

Just yesterday....all damned day, I kept asking myself...and getting angrier about it...why George W. Bush hasn't called a press conference and unload on these sons-a-bitches.


Because it isn't about 'doing the right thing'.

Never has been, never will be...


"The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left." - Ecclesiastes 10:2

"The sole purpose of the Republican Party is to serve as an ineffective alternative to the Democrat Party." - GourmetDan

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Re: Those Who Ignore History Are Condemned To Re-Live IT
« Reply #3 on: June 13, 2014, 02:08:25 pm »
Because it isn't about 'doing the right thing'.

Never has been, never will be...

Bullcrap.   I will always love President Bush.

There's GOT to be a pragmatic reason why he's not given any interviews, but with what's happening in Iraq at this moment, it's painful to think about all our the precious lives lost.   

For what? 

Ten years of relative peace and freedom among the Iraqis only to see those that overturned Hussein now be victims of genocide themselves?

I think of that little Iraqi girl holding up the miniature American flag....purple fingers after voting...Iraqi children running and laughing surrounding American soldiers....and it brings tears to my eyes.

I'm sure it brings them to President Bush too.   Literally.
"It aint what you don't know that kills you.  It's what you know that aint so!" ...Theodore Sturgeon

"Journalism is about covering the news.  With a pillow.  Until it stops moving."    - David Burge (Iowahawk)

"It was only a sunny smile, and little it cost in the giving, but like morning light it scattered the night and made the day worth living" F. Scott Fitzgerald

Online GourmetDan

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Re: Those Who Ignore History Are Condemned To Re-Live IT
« Reply #4 on: June 13, 2014, 02:15:27 pm »

There's GOT to be a pragmatic reason why he's not given any interviews...


Yeah and there HAD to be a pragmatic reason he didn't defend himself against media attacks for 8 years, which served to get the media perception of 'demon Republicans' firmly implanted in the public mindset setting the stage for Bambi's election.

Just like there HAD to be a pragmatic reason for GHWB's 'No new taxes' epic fail, which served to get the media perception of 'demon Republicans' firmly implanted in the public mindset setting the stage for Clintoon's election.

There's certainly a 'pragmatic reason' for all of it.

But it ain't about 'doing the right thing'...


"The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left." - Ecclesiastes 10:2

"The sole purpose of the Republican Party is to serve as an ineffective alternative to the Democrat Party." - GourmetDan

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Re: Those Who Ignore History Are Condemned To Re-Live IT
« Reply #5 on: June 13, 2014, 02:23:37 pm »
Yeah and there HAD to be a pragmatic reason he didn't defend himself against media attacks for 8 years, which served to get the media perception of 'demon Republicans' firmly implanted in the public mindset setting the stage for Bambi's election.

Just like there HAD to be a pragmatic reason for GHWB's 'No new taxes' epic fail, which served to get the media perception of 'demon Republicans' firmly implanted in the public mindset setting the stage for Clintoon's election.

There's certainly a 'pragmatic reason' for all of it.

But it ain't about 'doing the right thing'...

As PzLdr has pointed out here.....there are parallels between the evacuation of Saigan...helicopters landing on the embassy roofs, helicopters being purposely shoved overboard after landing and emptying the passengers on aircraft carriers.

Here we are again, and once again, we all predicted this, when Obama nixed/sabotaged the negotiations for a residual force to remain in Iraq.
"It aint what you don't know that kills you.  It's what you know that aint so!" ...Theodore Sturgeon

"Journalism is about covering the news.  With a pillow.  Until it stops moving."    - David Burge (Iowahawk)

"It was only a sunny smile, and little it cost in the giving, but like morning light it scattered the night and made the day worth living" F. Scott Fitzgerald

Online GourmetDan

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Re: Those Who Ignore History Are Condemned To Re-Live IT
« Reply #6 on: June 13, 2014, 02:27:41 pm »
As PzLdr has pointed out here.....there are parallels between the evacuation of Saigan...helicopters landing on the embassy roofs, helicopters being purposely shoved overboard after landing and emptying the passengers on aircraft carriers.

Here we are again, and once again, we all predicted this, when Obama nixed/sabotaged the negotiations for a residual force to remain in Iraq.

Yep, it is not a new thing and it goes back even further than that.

That's why I said...


Never has been, never will be...


                       ... about 'doing the right thing'.



"The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left." - Ecclesiastes 10:2

"The sole purpose of the Republican Party is to serve as an ineffective alternative to the Democrat Party." - GourmetDan