Dear Editor, This Kerry war thing needs some perspective. As a
non-combat veteran of the two previous conflicts, I too was
“gung-ho” initially about the Vietnam (Nam) war.
Dear Editor,
This Kerry war thing needs some perspective. As a non-combat veteran of the two previous conflicts, I too was “gung-ho” initially about the Vietnam (Nam) war. However, feedback from returning contemporaries and relatives; actions/inactions of President Johnson’s main “stooge” in Nam; Defense Secretary McNamara’s “more bang for the buck,” “whiz kids” and the president himself involved in details of conducting the war, eventually changed my support. Nam was terribly mismanaged.
John Kerry saw this fiasco in person, was changed and had the strength of conviction to relate to Congress. Give me a guy who once ascertaining new facts and who is willing to change course. Someone who doesn’t make mistakes frightens me.
“Going after” administration critics is becoming a fine art. They “got” quadriplegic veteran U.S. Senator Max Clellan for criticizing the administration’s handling of the war in Iraq; labeling him unpatriotic.
Senior officers who gave a realistic assessment of the number of troops required for the Iraq war (later concluded to be accurate) found disfavor by this administration. We now know the real cost of a “cheap war.”
The administration’s definition of patriotic seems to me to be blind faith and acceptance of these decisions.
In the 1930s, critics of the German government administration became fewer and fewer until … there … were … none.
Capt. Bob Wylde, USMCR retired,
registered Republican for 55 years,
Morgan Hill
