Dad, I attended an extremely liberal private high school. We studied the Vietnam war for months. We watched recordings of Vice Pres Johnson annouce one thing to the press, and then show what was really happening. Kennedy was sending COMBAT troops into Vietnam unknown to the American public and lying to them. The fact that you can't google anything on that only shows the continued bias all these years later.

This is a long read, but if you read it, you can't make the argument that Bush was more corrupt than Kennedy. Why is it that ther were no "Michael Moore" movies about all this?

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/10494

You can say whatever you want about the internet...but it being Biased one way or another i don't see.....you can Find ANYTHING out there to back up ANY claim (no matter how outrageous) you are trying to make.

And I'm not saying your claim is outrageous...i'm just making a blanket statement.

I wouldn't doubt we were sending forces over there either during Kennedy's watch....we started sending troops over there in 1956 to train their forces and we were still sending them later, and probably more, as tensions got high.(and I'm sure they got involved)

But it was under Eisenhowers watch that we entered Vietnam and it was under Johnson's watch that Vietnam Escalated the way it did, and under his and Nixon's watch where the majority of those 60,000 casualties took place.

read the article

One way to understand the President's motives is to recall the decisions he made and try to discover what light they shed on decisions that he did not make. We do know, for example, that Kennedy sent troops to Vietnam, referring to them as support troops, though their combat role was extensive. Therefore, we can conclude that Kennedy saw the need to disguise their combat function. We also know that the number sent during his administration ultimately doubled the initial figure of 8,000 recommended by Taylor and Rostow. Therefore, Kennedy saw the need to introduce them into Vietnam gradually instead of at one stroke. Finally, we know that Kennedy began a campaign of covert activities against North Vietnam—a campaign that marked the switch to direct offensive actions but was disguised so that Washington could publicly disavow its own role.


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Kennedy's policy toward Vietnam, then, was to accelerate the war while denying that he was doing it. His policy was to prosecute a private war. He was willing to go it alone in Asia, but not to admit it. He disregarded the counsel of his advisers only to the extent that they preferred a public war.

I'm Reading it......My last post I posted before i saw your post. ...give me time, its a friggin novel

"Why is it that there were no "Michael Moore" movies about all this?"

Jim - I find myself "somewhat" agreeing with you on this one but I also think that it was a VERY different country back then. I believe it was the governments deceipt during the Vietnam war that gave rise to todays willingness to challenge some of what we are fed by the government and take a more active role in "our" government.

PS - Sitting here watching Obama take the oath of office right now...it is a moving experience to see the support of the American people for "our" new president. Time for us all to get on board to work for our great country to get back on track.

Why is it time now? I have been on board for as long as I can remember. Welcome aboard, we can use the help.

EXACTLY, I have been on board and got bitch slapped every day for supporting Bush. :deadhorse:

but this will be the new mantra, if you dont support Obama, you're not onboard with change......

Impossible. That means they'd have to destroy all those "Dissent Is Patriotic" bumper stickers they had printed up and have been putting on their hybrids and on their bicycle helmets over the last few years.

Well Buck - Since a majority of Americans feel that we have been on the wrong track under the Bush administration and the election of Obama is a direct result of dissatisfaction with his admin's policies, I would say the time is now. Most of us have been "on board" for as long as we can remember too; maybe it's about time we all tried to steer the ship in the right direction "together". Colin Powell made some interesting comments today about how partisian politics are necessary for a proper national dialogue. Argue your points and come to a consensus that suits all interests. Might be worth a try.

I agree the majority of Americans think Obama will bring change, I'm not sure they know what that change will be.
What's the right direction? I have not heard more partisian BS then I hear coming from the Dems. It's as pathetic and nasty as the BS the Republicans pulled on Clinton.
Once again, I'm amazed how with a political speach, everyones jumping aboard to save the country.

http://letmegooglethatforyou.com/?q=...troops+vietnam

Anal Cranial Insertion Disease is real.

Well, you asked so here's the argument the way I see it.

During the reign of Bill Clinton, Islamic terrorists bombed the World Trade Center in 1993, and we responded by launching about 250 cruise missles against tents in the desert. As it turns out, tents are fairly easy to replace and little was done to disrupt the terrorist information and financial networks that were later used to execute attacks against the US in Africa, against the Cole, and of course on 9/11/01. It has been said that the major reason we weren't able to capture Bin Laden immediately after 9/11 was that Clinton had reduced the number of agents in the field, and we had no "eyes on target".

George Bush took the terrorist attack on 9/11 personally. Those tears in the interview later that day were not of sadness as much as they were of shame. America had been attacked on his watch. In an interview the following day, Bush outlined his action plan and plainly stated that long after everyone else forgot (he actually said that), he would continue to battle the terrorists. His approval rating at the time was somewhere around 70%. Since then, the primary focus of the Bush administration was to keep America safe. It has been reported, if you're willing to look toward the back of the paper, that the Patriot Act has helped to stop numerous attacks on the US, including plans to cut the cables on the Brooklyn Bridge. Part of Bush's doctrine was to shift the defense strategy of the US from being counterpunch experts, as had worked during the cold war, to a policy of attack first. The reson for this is simple. Fear of retribution works against established governments but not against terrorists who don't care if they die.

Good men and women have died in Iraq, Afganistan, and God knows where else in the war on terror. It has been reported that fewer soldiers have died during Bush than during Clinton. One argument for soldiers being in Iraq after WMD was that it is better for terrorists around the world to travel to Iraq to fight the Marines than for them to travel to New York to attach civillians. The good new is it seems that the surge in Iraq has worked, and people are returning to somewhat normal lives. Again, you'd need to be willing to flip a few pages in the newspaper to find this information, but it exists.

So, is Bush culpable for continuing the policies of Clinton that encouraged banks to write riskier loans in order to encourage more home ownership? Yes, you can blame him for that if you want. He could have fired Greenspan and restructured the US economy away from consumer spending that was being fuled by the housing bubble. But I don't think anyone in congress would have supported it. Certainly not as many as voted for the war in Iraq or the Patriot Act.

So, it's fair to criticize Bush for the economy, and for pissing off other nations, and for keeping Islamic terrorists in Cuba, but you also have to acknowledge that in what democrats called and increasingly dangerous world, his policies prevented any further attacks on the US.

As a final note. I firmly believe that future generations are going to view the disrepect that was shown to President George Bush in the same way that we now view that disrespect that was shown to returning Vietnam veterans. Even if it takes 20 years.

You may be right, because Bush was probably just following orders just like those vets did for 8 years.. :rollem: