The Decline of the American Empire 2

Vietnam was a cold war game played for keeps. On one hand it “culled” the population. Those who were bright enough to get into college could gain an exemption which they could spin until they were beyond the draftable age. As they were intelligent enough to get into college, bright enough to stay in college, they were worth preserving.

Those who weren’t bright but had connections could, with some political help, get into the “Reserves” so they could play soldier on weekends and avoid being lumped in with those who “dodged” the draft.

During the years of Vietnam those most likely to join gangs or become involved in crime were shipped off to die in a forsaken place. This raised the standard of living for those who remained in America.

When the draftees returned, some were able to get into University or a good job, (often the Police Force) while others were abandoned to the street.

With the Draft abolished, only those who wished to join the military did so. Hence the function of War as a “culling” process was removed.

However, the significance of Vietnam goes beyond American shores. It was the first war America lost. (Korea was not so much a war as a stop gap to prevent a mini-depression when all the WWII veterans returned home en masse).  Vietnam was the first war in which the propaganda machine failed.

Those who protested the War in Vietnam gained much of their information from ‘unofficial sources’, sources which twenty years later were accepted as truthful contra the American Government.

It was nearly thirty years after the War in Vietnam that the Government again tried to foist an unjust war on the American People. Using lies, inferring greater danger than existed, twisting information, America was able to push into Iraq. This action has caused America to lose as much as, if not more than, the credibility it sacrificed in Vietnam. With an all volunteer military, America avoids major protest, after all, everyone who is sent to Iraq wanted to go. (This of course belies the reason why many people joined the military).

That there will never be a “winning” in Iraq just as there could never be a victory in Vietnam seems lost on the majority of Americans. The rest of the world, primarily the Islamic world, sets its face against America, pushing just so far, then a bit more, a bit more, knowing that America can not respond. Twenty years ago, the idea Iran was using nuclear power would have had the bombers in the air. Today, due to the fear of response by the Islamic world, America plays with sanctions and hard language.

America can not speak in a loud voice to Saudi Arabia, regardless of what it does because it so needs the trickle of oil. Having invented Arab nations, America is stuck with them, and stuck begging oil. Had America never involved itself in Iraq the oil crisis might not have happened, subsequent terror attacks might not have been attempted, and the economy might be at the level it was when the millennium began.

There is no way to reanimate those who died in Iraq. No way to regain the prestige and power America held. All that can be done is to try to stop the slide.