Thursday, October 14, 2010

Delusion and Reality

Comparing delusions about Vietnam with Israel. [Link]
Delusion: The war in South Vietnam was a popular uprising against an unpopular minority government
Reality: The outcome of the Tet offensive proved this idea conclusively wrong.
Delusion: Ho Chi Min was really just a non-ideological Vietnamese nationalist who was driven to seek support from the communist superpowers by the ignorance and racism of America and France.
Delusion:The Tet Offensive proved the US military had lied about the strength and scale of support in South Vietnam for the Viet Cong.
Reality: The Tet Offensive achieved surprise for the same reason Hitler’s offensive in the Battle of Bulge achieved surprise: The plan was based on a delusional narrative and had no chance of success.
Delusion: There were no North Vietnamese army units operating in either South Vietnam or Cambodia.
Delusion: The US “expanded” the war into Cambodia in 1970 and did so “illegally”.
Delusion: The war was fought on the Vietnamese side by militarily outmatched but plucky and determined peasant soldiers who fought with no significant support or direction from the communist superpowers.
Delusion: American soldiers were routinely committing wide-scale atrocities in the conduct of the war.
Delusion: The deafening silence on the nature of communist regimes on the other side of the conflict.
Delusion:The “peace” movement brought about peace.
Reality: This is the most tragic delusion of all. It is the reason I have been putting “peace” in quotation marks.
There are many other less-well-known delusional assertions made by the “peace” movement about the war, but these will suffice to prove my point.

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