<p>[New</a> controversy surrounds Vietnam memorial - Navy News, opinions, editorials, news from Iraq, photos, reports - Navy Times](<a href=“http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/11/gns_vietnammemorial_071113/]New”>http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/11/gns_vietnammemorial_071113/)</p>
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<p>I hope the point will be made that we won every battle in Vietnam (but only “lost” the war of public opinion here at home). Often our victories are overshadowed by the protests. I like the idea that there won’t be any displays about the protests - even tho’ the protests are what have made the Vietnam effort controversial, in observation of the “whole picture”, protests were a pretty small aspect. How the “controversy” became the main characterization of the conflict is frustrating. All wars are controversial - we should not let that overshadow the valor & sacrifice of the PEOPLE involved.</p>
<p>Saying we won every battle but lost the war is like the football team that says we outgained the opponent in yardage but still came up short on the score. The protests were part of the Vietnam War.
I agree it isn’t something that should be part of the memorial to our war dead, but it is still an integral part of the American experience. The failure of the civilian and military leadership to end it quickly and decisively in our favor did more damage than any protest did. The protests were the natural result of that failure. Americans were used to winning. 50,000+ Americans didn’t die because of protests at home. Protests didn’t make the war controversial, the policy of not ending the war with a decisive victory did. The protests were symptomatic, as was the large number of young Americans that did what they could to avoid service to the nation in Vietnam–A number of our current leaders included.</p>
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<p>Except we didn’t come up short on the score. We simply walked off the field and forfeited the game. There’s a difference.</p>
<p>It’s a shame that 30 years later, so many still haven’t figured out the difference and in fact want us to repeat the error. :(</p>
<p>(Last comment not directed at you, Shogun.)</p>
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<p>Amen. Let’s continue to give them the honor they deserve, but got way, way too late.</p>
<p>I agree Zaph, keep it out of the memorial–it is as much for those veterans who survived the war as it is for those who didn’t. While I don’t agree it was as simple as “walking off the field” I do think it was the culmination of one heck of a lot of mistakes, mis-calculations, and fear of what the Soviets might do if we crossed the DMZ. It really was an impossible situation at the time and we didn’t realize it until it was too late to either win or lose.</p>
<p>Only in the netherworld of right-wing mythology can history be diluted in such a manner. Their mythology tells us we had an army that was fighting because it wanted to fight and that an entirely different group that had nothing to do with the army created protests that somehow ended the war.</p>
<p>In actuality, the protests came from WITHIN the army. Thousands of army vets created the most famous anti-war group of the time “VIETNAM VETERANS AGAINST THE WAR”. The Vietnam War had hundreds of stories of drafted men IN Vietnam who refused to fight and who would resist the orders. However, this integral part of the Vietnam story is erased in the new mythology because it doesn’t serve their purpose.</p>
<p>Ignore it and it will go away.</p>
<p>[* ad hominem * comments removed]</p>
<p>Hey mom, did you get your magnet back yet? ;)</p>
<p>Nope, I’ll just have to go to R-Day. That is, if my son gets a nomination and appointment. Yup, I’m in this again. Funny, I’m a lot calmer this time around. I just really want that car magnet, though.</p>
<p>MOT–If he’s anything even close to your D’s I’m sure you’ll be pulling out the kleenex on the night of the next R Day!!!</p>
<p>shogun,</p>
<p>You were the first to respond to my very first question a few years ago. Thanks again. KateLewis, aspen and juniormom were so incredibly helpful, too. I wish they were still around. I was so happy to find cc and just wished that our daughter could have had access to this while she was “in the process”. </p>
<p>So, do you think all the ribbon car magnets are really stolen from other cars? (I’m very miffed about my stolen magnet in case you didn’t notice.)</p>
<p>Sure I am sure you can find SOME people that will do ANYTHING, no matter how horrible.
But you should be weary of attributing it to a certain political stripe. Keep in mind that the people that go around soldier’s funerals and say “THANK GOD FOR IED"s” are Conservative Christians. Also remember it was the late Jerry Fallwell and fellow Christian conservative Pat Buchanan who said that secular Americans who created 9-11. Both stand by their statements to this day.</p>
<p>MOT–My car riobbons are still in place–but who knows why people do things…</p>
<p>Speaking of car ribbons, it’s kind of sad that the format and design has been hijacked for things that have nothing to do with service men and women. I saw one the other day that I had to look twice at before I believed what I was reading; about a breed of dog no less.</p>
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<p>So I take it you guys are still on speaking terms?</p>
<p>Well to his dying breath, he never retracted it. I am not sure if on the way to Hell he changed his mind.</p>
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<p>so should we assume you were bedside at the moment of his passing? </p>
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<p>I am always amazed at the perception that some seem to possess, especially coming from one who makes the kind of comments you have about people of faith, that you could possibly understand anything about the…how should we put it…benchmarks… necessary for one to go up or down at their passing. I for one believe that those who claim to know the most are in fact likely to know the least as they posses something less than an open mind. </p>
<p>Assessing the career and contributions of a public figure is something we may indulge in so long as it is constrained to their actions while they were on this earth, what happens after is not something I would ever waste time speculating on.</p>