TO THE WALL
I am writing to this wall, because, if it’s possible, I’d like to comfort the souls of all the soldiers who died in vain in the miserable twenty year war in Vietnam that it took us way too long to stop. Finally, we didn’t stop it at all – our country just gave up, in the face of the communist guerrillas and north Vietnamese troops who were fighting for self-determination for their country… but not until 58,000 American soldiers had died. This letter is for you.
What a stupid and costly war. We littered the Vietnam countryside with napalm and Agent Orange, and now three generations of Vietnamese children have suffered terrible birth defects, and will continue to. We killed more than two million people, and more in Laos and Cambodia, where we set off the terrible and terrifying Khmer Rouge regime who killed millions more.
Worst of all, we have learned nothing from this disastrous war in Vietnam. We are doing it again in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya, and now we are sending Tomahawks missile into Syria. No more than we could in Vietnam, we cannot win these wars – whether we call them part of “The War on Terror” or any other cover-up name. We only destroy cities, towns and villages, not to mention peoples’ lives. We turn them into refugees who must flee their flattened country and soon enough, some of them will take up arms against us. Only the fat corporate masters of the military-industrial complex love these wars… no one else does… certainly not the hundreds of thousands of young men and women who would to want to serve their country and never get a chance to do so in any righteous way.
How horrible to contemplate the misuse of your lives.We need to consider our failure at understanding anything about that war, and other wars in other countries and the current ones as well. Now the U.S. is spending millions over ten years to celebrate your soldiers’ contributions to the War in Vietnam, under the banner of 50th Anniversary of the Vietnam War Commemoration. I, and my friends at Veterans for Peace are appalled at the lies that are being promulgated in your namesand in your honor.
Please forgive us and be patient with us, as we work to stop all wars of aggression.
With tremendous respect, and great sadness, I remain,
Jill Godmilow, Associate, VFP
Please read letter here by: Elizabeth Grant
