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Edited on Fri Aug-20-04 12:58 PM by The Magistrate
As is always the case, that will prove a very counterproductive exercise.
Sen. Kerry's testimony is not only true, but has really become the guiding image of the popular view of the war in Viet Nam. Almost everyone except the most rabid of reactionaries is quite aware there were war crimes and atrocities routinely carried out as part of the U.S. effort in that war, just as they know war crimes and atrocities were routinely carried out as part of the North Vietnamese effort in that war. This small clique of deluded men may quarrel with this, being incapable of honest self-examination, but it is a fact, and a widely known and understood fact.
Lt. Kerry, in his testimony, is clearly a young man of extraordinary courage and honesty who does not spare himself from his criticisms in this matter. This is an admirable trait, and most people caused to look on its display will admire him for it, and be very favorably impressed by the character he displays. Knowing youth to be the school of the old, they will be inclined to see these same admirable traits in him today.
The popular mood concerning the war in Iraq is turning today. Most people view it as a mistake; most people wonder how long it will continue, and see no real prospect of success, beyond planting "our own Saddam" over that unhappy land, and continuing to hear of killings and turmoil there with little direct U.S. involvement. Little will be gained for the enemy, to put it mildly, by reminding the people of a mass movement against a war that achieved some success in altering government policy.
The problem the enemy has run up against in promoting this line of attack is a sort of mirror of something often seen in this forum. Persons who are deeply committed to a political belief tend over time to come to believe the number of people who agree with them is much greater than it actually is. They therefore fall easily into misjudgements concerning what measures will actually move a great mass of people. The reactionary right is particularly prone to this, because it spends so much time assuring itself that it is the real "heart and soul" of the country. The fact is that most people are repelled by any ideological belief, and ideologues can only gain mass following by concealing the true content of their ideologies, and the depth of their attachment to them. It does not do to let the cat out of the bag, and this line of attack does that in spades....
"Stupid men do stupid things, and desperate men do desperate things. We are in for a desperately stupid summer."
"LET'S GO GET THOSE BUSH BASTARDS!"
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