. . .
K “Four score years ago on May 8 / 9, the Russians defeated the Germans and won World War II; since that time the United States has lost every single war it has instigated or inflamed. What an enviable record in the history of empires.”
J “Except Grenada. Do not forget Grenada. A few grenades in Grenada is all that one took. Not really a record worth writing home about. It was more of what the sports world calls a ‘friendly’ competition.”
. . .
K “An entire generation was condemned to slow percolating despair and an utterly pointless collective death. I remember fearing that I was given a death sentence with an indeterminate start date. I found my unburned draft card last year that proclaimed me ‘fit to die’ and recall my low two-digit draft number that said ‘ready to die’.”
J “The idea of a lottery may be the only way to distribute scarce resources. The Fates cut strings; the government plucks a ball out of a bin and decrees who has good luck and who does not. The spectacle is so surreal and perverse and macabre.”
. . .
K “From his first appearances on tv, McNamara struck me as a smug officious pompous buffoon even before I knew what the words meant. And then when McNamara II staggers on the American scene in the guise of Donald Rumsfeld who looks and acts and talks like Bob’s little brother, no one sees it. No one gets it. America does not get it. America does it again.”
J “Oleaginous and hubristic. Look at the outcome. America turned tail and fled Saigon in ignominy in April of 1975. Then America turns tail and flees Kabul in ignominy in August of 2021. Same game plan. Different place.”
. . .
K “At the end of World War II, the US should have proclaimed simply that colonialism is verboten on the planet. Ho Chi Minh sought independence and self-determination for Vietnam.”
J “Without leaders, there is no leadership.”
. . .
K “I had one of the highest scores on the Foreign Service Officers Exam. I was more than eminently qualified to address and resolve the issues. In the interview, I noted that diplomacy is always preferable to war. That was anathema to the State Department clan that absolutely would have none of that. I knew the cards were stacked, the fix was in.”
J “The Pentagon may conduct war games and discover that it will continue an almost unbroken streak, except for Grenada, of taking the silver medal in another war. The Brass may opt for a diplomatic solution over another silver medal.”
. . .
K “Three conclusions. America just does not learn. America just does not learn. America just does not learn.”
J “What if America is incapable of learning? The economic and political and social incentives not to learn are just too great. The economic and political and social incentives to learn are non-existent.”
K “And what passes for Academia is part of the problem. And what passes for the Press in the form of the MSM is part of the problem. And what passes for the Parvenu PMC is part of the problem. Problem plus problem plus problem equal problems. We’ve got problems.”
. . .
K “We are also talking about the war on drugs and the war on poverty and the war on terror and the war on peace and the war on war. It does not end. The goal now is for war not to end.”
J “I can’t fail to advance the contention that there are times when thoughtful and purposeful military intervention is necessary.”
K “It don’t disagree, yet America does not think and embarks on so many thoughtless and purposeless crusades on purpose.”
. . .
K “With all the money given by culpable individuals and corporations, I suspected that Ken Burns would never provide a moral and legal and political truth and reconciliation in his series. He failed.”
J “Everyone is owned.”
. . .
K “America does stupid, etc. over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over.”
J “Even when America is given a do over, it does stupid, etc. over and over and over again.”
. . .
[See the e-commentary at American Foreign Policy: 1945 – ____ (July 24, 2023) and Afghanistan: Free Friendlies; Impeach Biden (August 23, 2021) and the many e-commentaries under the Categories on Vietnam and War.]
Bumper sticker of the week:
e-commentary 