...   
      
    LL> Our presence in Vietnam was never needed, or wanted.  We   
    LL> should have listened to the French and stayed home.  But   
    LL> Truman knew better. And Eisenhower.  And Kennedy.  And   
    LL> Johnson.  And Nixon.  And Ford.   
      
    The French should have stayed home. Eisenhower didn't know   
    better, he got us in. Kennedy didn't know better, he got us in   
    further. Johnson didn't know better, he got us in still further.   
    Nixon should have known better, but he was all about power.   
      
    LL> 58,000+ dead American soldiers.   
    LL> Hundreds of thousands more American soldiers maimed/wounded.   
    LL> Untold numbers of broken families in America.   
      
    Yep.   
      
    ...   
      
    LL> There are still mines that remain active in Vietman,   
    LL> Cambodia, and Laos.  Innocents are still dying, or maimed,   
    LL> even today.   
      
    And volunteers are working to remove those mines, may former US   
    soldiers who fought there, and want to repair some of the   
    damage.   
      
    LL> Toxins were used, including Agent Orange.  How many   
    LL> innocents have suffered as a result?  Not just the   
    LL> soldiers, but the innocents?   
      
    Way too many.   
      
    ...   
      
    LL> Vietnam was a place we never should have been.  It was a war   
    LL> that never should have been fought.  Not by the French.   
    LL> Not by us.  Not by anybody.   
      
    True. Esp since they never tried to turn the North Viets to our   
    side. We did have more to offer.   
      
    ...   
      
    LL> We could have attained the same goals through peace rather   
    LL> than war. So why did we choose war?  What did we gain by   
    LL> going to war?   
      
    Well, the fall of the Soviet Union, but that didn't justify   
    making someone else pay the price.   
      
    ...   
      
    LL> What a tragic waste.  For Americans, Vietnamese, and All.   
      
    Yes, it was.   
      
      
   BOB KLAHN bob.klahn@sev.org   http://home.toltbbs.com/bobklahn   
      
   ... A man's reach should exceed his grasp or what's divorce court for?   
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