``I find myself somehow bored with the whole process this time..'' Jon Johanning
``Not me, I'm savoring every moment of this.'' Carl Remick
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I go back and forth between these. Yes the necons are discredited in every way both in their appallingly bad analysis of the world, and in their over stuffed image of themselves and their twisted ideas. That lie is over. But the price has been pretty high, lots of dead people, fucked up lives, and mutilations of whole countries.
And, there is the concrete fact that the war isn't over until it's over. Sure the US lie has been handed back to us in blood, but that didn't stop Vietnam or Central America.
It still depends on Iraqi resistance and how long they can keep this up. It also depends on whether the UN and EU security council members refuse to go along with the current US resolution. I don't see any reason why they should go along, and I don't see any leverage the US has over them, but then who knows. And it does depend on the US electorate with their infinitely slow mollusk brain, to finally realize, that just maybe the Bush administration was not such a great idea.
In other words there are still many defeats to go before we're done here.
Before South Vietnam finally collapsed, it took down two presidents, their administrations, the US military, the economy, the Democratic party and the creditability of most progressive movements and organizations along with it. By the time it was over, nobody walked away. It certainly fucked my life up forever.
There seemed to be a curious thing about Vietnam that if you opposed it from early on, demonstrated, refused induction, resisted the draft, and worked on ways to defeat the war, then you became the war somehow. So that afterward, when everything about the war was tainted, even those who fought against it were tainted. The other side didn't win anything. Iraq won't last long enough for that kind of thing to take hold. But there will be some of that.
Doug notes, ``Dems are always under suspicion that they're pansies and peaceniks...''
The problem is Kerry can't hide behind that as an excuse because he joined, requested Vietnam, was in intense combat patrolling rivers (Apocalypse Now type), wounded and awarded Silver Star, Bronze Star, and three Purple Hearts. He was a straight up war hero who said fuck you. So get off your ass Lieutenant, Sir.
CG