Doug wrote:
>For those who don't trust Chomsky, try >Nayan Chanda's Brother Enemy.
One has to remember that basically our foreign policy elite are an unforgiving lot and never ask for forgiveness themselves, no matter how wrong they are. Even to forgive, they seem to think, would mean to admit fault. Is such absolutism a way of covering up totally abhorrent policies? Does it actually create a moral vacuum that causes more errant policies? I think so.
John Pilger wrote a book on the topic, too. The US actually financially supported the Khmer Rouge, never officially supported the Vietnamese presence in Cambodia, and only belatedly got around to supporting the UN effort to rebuild the country. I would bet there were many in the US defense and foreign policy sectors who cheered the Chinese invasion of Vietnam. I certainly don't remember any condemnations at the time.
As for nation building, Japan , by the way, did send police as part of the UN effort and one lost his life in the line of duty there. He was shot by the Khmer Rouge.
Charles Jannuzi