Doug Henwood wrote:
>>
>> But that's not terribly controversial. What is controversial is
>> Leigh's demented assertion that the US wants civil war in Iraq, and
>> that this strategy was decided upon by the Council on Foreign
>> Relations. The whole point of the Biddle article in Foreign Affairs
>> <http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20060301faessay85201-p0/stephen-biddle/seeing-baghdad-thinking-saigon.html>
>> is avoiding civil war, not promoting it.
>>
Vietnam DID have elements of civil war in it, water rights and 'tribal' issues that had been going on for years, with water rights on the Mekong delta and it's tributaries the predominant factor.
I knew that when I was 16 years old... It was common knowledge and reported on in the mainstream media when they weren't busy reporting how well we were doing, or tying up column-inches with body counts.
Mr. Biddle is lying (on this point), or historically ignorant. The former is more likely. (...but I'd never rule out the latter.)
Leigh