Author Archives: bfialindathieman

Connie Wilson: The Fog of War, Part 2

Posted on August 23, 2004 by bfialindathieman

The Fog of War, Part 2

By Connie Corcoran Wilson

Picking up from the first installment, last week:

But the President from Texas (LBJ), after John Kennedy’s assassination, said, “You can have more war or more appeasement.  I always thought it was bad to make any statements about withdrawing,” remembering that, when McNamara and Kennedy had discussed such conciliatory actions, in previous cabinet meetings where he had been present, he did not agree, but remained silent. Now, with LBJ in the driver’s seat, the new President pushes through the Tonkien Gulf Resolution, which gives complete authority to one man, the President, to take the nation to war.  

McNamara relates how, on August 2, 1964, the destroyer Maddox was attacked in international waters by North Vietnamese patrol boats. “We didn’t respond,” he says. Two days later, on August 4, 1964, skittish sonar operators reported 9 torpedoes fired at the Maddox at 12:22 p.m. and, again, 97 minutes later, reported additional attacks, as charted by sonar. Years later, says McNamara, it emerged that, “Our judgment that we had been attacked that day (on Aug. 4, 1964) was wrong. We hadn’t been,” quickly adding that it was true on August 2, however. From this poor judgment regarding the August 4th attacks emerged stepped-up bombing raids on North Viet Nam. Says McNamara, “We were wrong, but we had in our mind a mindset that led to that action.  And it led to such heavy costs,” agreeing with the narrator that “we see what we want to believe.” All this ancient history sounds so current, and makes the saying, (roughly paraphrased) “If we do not study history and learn from it, we are condemned to repeat it,” seem very timely, indeed.

McNamara related a heated conversation with the man who had once been President of North Vietnam, which occurred many years after the conflict: “We (the North Vietnamese) were fighting for our independence. You were fighting to enslave us.” That was the viewpoint of the North Vietnamese: that the United States was attempting to follow in France’s footsteps as a colonial power. The North Vietnamese leader insisted to McNamara, “We weren’t the pawns of the Chinese or the Russians,” (a popular opinion of the day, expressed often as “the domino theory” of Communism in that part of the world) saying that his men were fighting to be independent as a nation, and that they “would have fought to the last man”, since they viewed the conflict entirely differently than we (the United States) did. (McNamara’s Point #1).
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Iowa Democrats Gaining Confidence for the Fall Election

Posted on August 22, 2004 by bfialindathieman

Iowa Democrats Gaining Confidence for the Fall Election Missouri Valley Times It's all about defense this fall for Republicans trying to hold their grip on the Iowa Senate. Twenty-five seats are on the ballot in the 50-member Senate. And of … Continue reading →

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Kerry Files Complaint With FEC Against Swift Boat Ads

Posted on August 22, 2004 by bfialindathieman

Kerry Files Complaint With FEC Against Swift Boat Ads CNSNews.com Claiming that TV ads from Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (SBVT) are untrue and illegally coordinated with the Bush-Cheney presidential campaign, the Kerry campaign filed a complaint with the Federal … Continue reading →

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Drake U. Professor Challenges Iowa Nader Petition

Posted on August 22, 2004 by bfialindathieman

Drake U. Professor Challenges Iowa Nader Petition Des Moines Register A Drake University journalism professor Friday filed a challenge to the petition that put Ralph Nader on the [Iowa] ballot for president, saying the petition does not meet the requirements … Continue reading →

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Report Blasts Bush On Ground Zero Clean Up

Posted on August 21, 2004 by bfialindathieman

Report Blasts Bush On Ground Zero Clean Up The Progress Report In a strongly-worded and minutely-detailed report, the Sierra Club charges the Bush administration with “reckless disregard” for public health in the days and months following the collapse of the … Continue reading →

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Call to Action: Insist on Hand Counted Paper Ballots for Federal Offices

Posted on August 21, 2004 by bfialindathieman

Call to Action: Insist on Hand Counted Paper Ballots for Federal Offices A Message from VotersUnite! in partnership with the National Ballot Integrity Project Write to Senators Harkin and Grassley and to your representative in Congress and ask them to … Continue reading →

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Sinclair Broadcasting Foreshadows the Death of Local News

Posted on August 21, 2004 by bfialindathieman

Sinclair Broadcasting Foreshadows the Death of Local News The Business Journal For two weeks now, Blog for Iowa has been running a weekly column by Iowa's Ted Remington called “The Counterpoint.“  Remington started writing “The Counterpoint” in response to the … Continue reading →

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Harkin, AFL-CIO, and Workers to Rally at DOL for Bush Admin to Repeal Overtime Pay Cut

Posted on August 20, 2004 by bfialindathieman

Harkin, AFL-CIO, and Workers to Rally at DOL for Bush Admin to Repeal Overtime Pay Cut Overtime Pay Regulations Take Effect on August 23rd Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), along with AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney and workers who will lose … Continue reading →

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Emergency Measures to Protect the 2004 Vote Count

Posted on August 20, 2004 by bfialindathieman

Emergency Measures to Protect the 2004 Vote Count A Message from VotersUnite! in partnership with the National Ballot Integrity Project Protect the 2004 Vote Count! Transparency means that ALL election processes can be observed by ordinary people – that people … Continue reading →

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The Counterpoint: We’re Just Wondering . . .

Posted on August 20, 2004 by bfialindathieman

The Counterpoint:  We're Just Wondering . . . The rational counter to “The Point,” “The Counterpoint” critiques and corrects the daily editorial by Sinclair Broadcasting's corporate vice president, Mark Hyman, that is broadcast on all Sinclair-owned television stations across the … Continue reading →

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