A film recommendation, extremely relevant today, in case anyone hasn't seen it.
"The Fog of War" (the complete film is here) is the biography of Former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, from a series of interviews conducted a few years before he died.
You could call it his "deathbed confession" -- if he felt remorse. He does not.
He speaks very candidly about US military actions during his term (during the Vietnam War, under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson), and historically. He admits to many things that had, until then, been officially denied by the US Government and Military. (Frankly, I am amazed the film got released.)
YOU'LL NEVER BELIEVE WHAT HAPPENED NEXT!
The one big takeaway: The reasons the US takes military action or goes to war are NEVER the ones the media is given and that the public is told. Never. Ever. Ever.
Boots on the ground don't know, either.
There is always a labyrinthine story, the actual truth, exceedingly complex, where often the bad guys are good guys and vice-versa. And yes, the US has created false narratives in order to go to war.
A PRETEND BATTLE IN THE GULF OF TONKIN
Despite years of the Military's claims otherwise, McNamara validates that the first of the two Gulf of Tonkin incidents WAS fabricated -- to give the US reason to increase engagement in the Vietnam War.
The fabrication was quite detailed: On August 2, 1964, the USS Maddox was pursued by 3 North Vietnamese Navy boats. Maddox fired 3 warning shots, and the Vietnamese responded with torpedoes and machine gun fire.
A sea battle followed, with the Maddox expending 280 3- and 5-inch shells. A US aircraft and 3 Vietnamese Navy boats were damaged. Four North Vietnamese sailors were killed, and 6 wounded.
All fake.
THE WAR WAS OVER BEFORE WE DROPPED THE BIG ONE
McNamara also admits that yes, the Japanese had committed to surrendering BEFORE the Enola Gay dropped the "Little Boy" atomic bomb on Hiroshima, and and begun their surrender (because of the Soviet Union, not the US) BEFORE "Fat Man" was dropped on Nagasaki.
Today, most historians understand this to be the case. But American citizens still believe the decision to drop these bombs was an extremely difficult one, reluctantly made to made to "end the war and save countless lives."
The ugly fact is that the US dropped the nukes -- killing 226,000 people immediately, and sentencing untold others to the horrors of radiation -- for show.
"The Fog of War" was released in 2003, and I have eyed every US military action with suspicion since. To repeat, this is NOT about our brave men and women in uniform. They aren't privy to war games.
IS TRUMP A GOOD WITCH OR A BAD WITCH? WHICH?
Regarding yesterday's firing on Syria, I don't know enough yet -- WE don't know enough yet -- to judge the action right or wrong:
▶ Perhaps had Congress not refused President Obama the authorization to take action after the first gassing event, we would not be dealing with this one. That does not make it a sure thing that it's the proper action now.
▶Even if Trump took the right action, he violated the Constitution by not taking it to Congress first. (But why? Anyone who has watched a war movie knows this is how it's done. It begs the question: Was there something he knew wasn't quite right?).
IT'S GREAT TO BE FINE
The thing is, events that could possibly go nuclear are not something you deal with alone. Even U.S. President Merkin Muffley knew that in "Dr. Strangelove" (1964).
In fact, the President had the VERY AWKWARD task of contacting the Soviet Premier Dimitri -- at the height of the Cold War! -- to inform him that an insane Brigadier had just sent atomic missles hurling toward the Soviet Union. And that he did it because he believed the USSR had put fluoride in our drinking water to poison us and harvest "our precious bodily fluids."
Imagine! Yet he made that call:
PRESIDENT MUFFLEY: Hello? Hello, Dimitri? Listen, I can't hear too well, do you suppose you could turn the music down just a little?
Oh, that's much better. Yes. Fine, I can hear you now, Dimitri. Clear and plain and coming through fine.
I'm coming through fine too, eh? Good, then. Well then as you say we're both coming through fine.
Good. Well, it's good that you're fine and... and I'm fine... I agree with you, it's great to be fine.
Now then Dimitri. You know how we've always talked about the possibility of something going wrong with the bomb.
The bomb, Dimitri.
The hydrogen bomb.
Well now what happened is, one of our base commanders, he had a sort of, well he went a little funny in the head. You know. Just a little... funny.
And uh, he went and did a silly thing.
Well, I'll tell you what he did, he ordered his planes... to attack your country.
▶ Trump does have a bit of a tendency to make bad decisions.
▶ "No child of God should suffer such horror." ~ Donald Trump, in his speech about his choice to punish Bashar Hafez al-Assad for gassing his own people
Seriously, Mr. Trump?
◾These are the very same children and families you will not shelter in the US -- knowing that by rejecting them, you are consigning
them to hell.
◾ I believe 72 people were killed in the gassing. There should have been zero. Yet your heart is not moved by the fact that millions of Americans would die based on any of the GOP health care plans -- and a great number of them would be children of God, too.
THE RUSSIANS! WILL YOU STOP WITH THE RUSSIANS ALREADY!
▶ Most disturbing, the scenario fits a theory I've been hearing for a few months. It goes something like this:
🔷 It's pretty obvious that Putin (while evil) is intelligent, and Trump is ... not. The Bromance seems to be unequally yoked.
In fact, watching Trump's excitement that Putin likes him has been uncomfortable -- like watching the joy of a schoolgirl who had her first date, and doesn't realize the boy is sleeping with every other girl in the school.
🔷 If Putin did manipulate the election, was it because he wanted the World's Superpower to have a knowledgeable, highly functioning leader? Not bloody likely. In fact, just the opposite.
🔷 Putin is a Dictator. For real. He is itchy to expand his footprint. He
likely has strategic designs on parts of the Middle East. An attack could ignite WWIII.
🔷The military strength of the US would be helpful, even if we aren't friends. But he could draw us in by causing a crisis in Syria (like, say, the gassing of civilians) that would invite military action from the US.
🔷 Well, what do you know? The leader of the free world has a crush on him! 💜 Quite convenient.
BUT ENEMIES! BUT ALLIES!
Sure, Putin yelled at Trump. What would he say publicly? "Good job, my friend"?
Sure, Russia & Syria are allies. But remember -- Saddam Hussein was OUR ally. Until we invaded Iraq.
Just something to think about.
~Teresa Bryan Peneguy