"With this veto, the president has doomed us to repeating a terrible history. President Bush's current position is hauntingly reminiscent of March 1968 in Vietnam. At that time both the Secretery of Defense and the President had recognized that the war could not be won militarily - just as our commanders in Iraq have acknowledged. But not wanting to be tainted with losing a war, President Johnson authorized a surge of 25,000 troops. Five years later, when the withdrawal of US troops was complete, we had suffered 34,000 additional combat deaths."
My (Wolfgang P. May) comment: To what extent do our presidents ("the Deciders") consider the precious lives of our fighting men in forming their courses of action? In the few staff meetings I attended in Vietnam, our Lt. Colonels and Generals spoke of "Air", as well as other "Assets". One little skinny one star general of the 25th Infantry Division was upset that I did not use his "air assets" to level a nearby village during my night combat action. Are we, like the civilian villages in our areas of operation, just disposable "war assets" to our leaders? Does this moral disease exist in especially concentrated form at the very highest command level?
Please click on the headline "Our Generals Comment..." at the top of this posting to read the courageous comments of our best and brightest generals on the blog of our Speaker of the House, proof that we still have good men near the top of our command structure. It is our job, if we value the future of this great country, to support them. Write letters to your local newspaper, send me your ideas for any additional actions.
