I was watching a documentary on Kent State and I wondered why we dont have protests like that any more?
What happened? When did we stop caring?
One must remember how long it took for American to finally concede that the president was lying. Gulf of Tonkin was a lie. Our own in-country reporters were desperately trying to report the facts honestly. In some cases (ie Luce of Time Magazine), those reports were outrightly rewritten to change the facts. Basic historical facts - absolutely nothing secret - in the Pentagon Papers were kept from the American people.
Ironic back then how many called the NY Times and Washington Post communist sympathizers only because we now know they told the truth.
Three years ago, I was bluntly against the Iraqi war because little facts - the details - did not conform to what George Jr was saying. This same person who looked at the details during the invasion of Kuwait and could not understand why Americans were not clamoring for war. This same person who posted during the Iraqi invasion that I could not get enough facts when others here were complaining about information overload. I learned from Vietnam and therefore cannot get enough details.
Back during Vietnam, I was one of those who were brainwashed by administration rhetoric - but kept asking questions. For example, I read every issue of Time, Newsweek, and US News and World Report from 1954 to 1969 looking for details on the 1955(?) Geneva Convention. This was the political solution for Vietnam. However, (I suspect) because America subverted the terms of that political solution, then Americans were denied the details. I did not learn about that Geneva Convention, properly, until the Pentagon Papers finally revealed the whole story. Part of the problem with Vietnam - we only took the administraton spin and refused to demand the details. So much in denial that we even tried to prosecute American patriots who finally leaked the Pentagon Papers.
Here is the point. I say the George Jr administration lies because too many details contradict what he says. Already this iraq war is getting worse because those details (and not the administration spin) was correct.
But again, we go back to Vietnam. Those details said in 1967 that the war was wrong. The 1965 book "Making of a Quagmire" made the disaster called Vietnam so painfully obvious. Just another reasons why the Vietnam Memorial in Washington pains me so much.
It took from 1965 to 1972+ for Americans to finally concede the facts. Why? We tend to believe the first thing we are told (the administration spin) rather than put everything into equal perspective. So again, if Vietnam is a lesson, then it will take four more years of George Jr - and things will get much worse - before many Americans conceded to the facts in those details.
Those details say that George Jr is moving and building capital equipment and resources for the invasion of Iran on or after 2006. Unfortunately, that war will probably be nuclear. These details have negative consequences too severe to ignore. Already Iraq is going the same way as late 1960 Vietnam. We may have to burn the villages to save them. And just like in Vietnam, the American public will take about 4+ years to finally concede it was a mistake. The lessons of Vietnam says that college campus unrest will happen in 2008 if George Jr is reelected.
Scary how much in the Pentagon Papers now applies to the invasion of Iraq. Those who fail to learn the lessons of history - at minimum read the Pentagon Papers - are doomed to repeat history. College campuses today are about same as they were about 1966/7.