>Slavoj Zizek:
>
> Thus the Orwellian motto 'War is Peace' finally becomes reality,
> and military action against the Taliban can be presented as
> a way to guarantee the safe delivery of humanitarian aid. We
> no longer have an opposition between war and humanitarian aid:
> the same intervention can function at both levels simultaneously.
> http://www.lrb.co.uk/v24/n10/zize2410.htm
>
>Not "finally" in the sense of "just now". LBJ made a similar
>claim during the War in Vietnam....
Let's go back a little further in time:
***** Letter from President Eisenhower to Ngo Dinh Diem, President of the Council of Ministers of Vietnam, October 23, 1954
DEAR MR. PRESIDENT:
...Your recent requests for aid to assist in the formidable project of the movement of several hundred thousand loyal Vietnamese citizens away from areas which are passing under a de facto rule and political ideology which they abhor, are being fulfilled. I am glad that the United States is able to assist in this humanitarian effort....
<http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1954-eisenhower-vietnam1.html> *****
Now, fast forward to Disney's _Operation Dumbo Drop_:
***** ...The movie, which claims to be ``inspired by a true story,'' tells of Capt. Sam Cahill (Danny Glover), who's about to head home after his tour of duty, and Capt. T.C. Doyle (Ray Liotta), who is to replace Cahill as liaison to a Vietnamese village near the Ho Chi Minh trail. When the North Vietnamese enter the village, they detect the Americans' presence and, as punishment, kill the village's elephant -- which is not only a sturdy pack animal but a sacred symbol of prosperity.
Cahill, over Doyle's objections, convinces the brass that the Army should find a new elephant for the village. The captains assemble a motley crew -- a larcenous supply officer (comic Denis Leary), a superstitious artillery soldier (Doug E. Doug, from Cool Runnings) and a klutzy hick (Corin Nemec, formerly of "Parker Lewis Can't Lose'') -- to buy and transport a pachyderm. And since this is a Disney movie, there's a kid -- the elephant's orphaned trainer, Linh (Dinh Thien Le) -- whom the soldiers can rescue and hug....
<http://www.film.com/film-review/1995/9209/27/default-review.html> ***** -- Yoshie
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