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Show ANOTHER VIEW Learn the lesson by pau Wgrr Now that the Vietnam conflict finally appears to be drawing to a close, and as the American public sinks back into its general role as an apathetic bystander, perhaps it would be wise for us to recount some of the lessons which this conflict has taught us, in the probably vain hope that such lessons will not be taught to us again. First, maybe America has learned that it is fiot the champion of the world's poor and feeble, freedom-loving freedom-loving souls. We are not, and cannot be, the judges of right and wrong on an international scale. God knows that we have enough wrongs within our own society to worry about, without taking on the troubles of the entire earth. Second, perhaps now we will be more skeptical when our military's upper echelon tells us to open our purses and shut our mouths about such debacles as the F-lll and the C- 5A. We need weapons that are efficient and expensive, not inefficient and expensive; that is, if we need weapons at all. Maybe Americans will analyze more carefully the enemy body count figures which are given to us by the military press aides. For example, it is truly amazing that, according to President Thieu, the South Vietnamese forces consistently con-sistently kill ten times as many of the enemy as are killed within their own ranks. What an effective war machine Mr. Thieu has -unless, of course, his body counts include other My Lai massacres. Fourth and finally, maybe Americans, in future world conflicts, con-flicts, will examine the possible implications of what their active military involvement in another country will have upon that country, as well as upon our own. It appears that Americans are so involved with their Gross National Product (emphasis on gross) that they are oblivious to a war-time economy and a military-industrial ' establishment which controls our government. The world-wide consensus does not lead one to believe that the earth condones America's righteous wars and military might. This refusal of the American ppople to depart from their belief that their wars of vendetta are just and "right" has destroyed many of our meaningful foreign relations with other nations. I also fear that it will destrpy America's now-tentative now-tentative hold on international reality. The United States' involvement in-volvement into world affairs reminds one of a person who paia to watch "The Godfather." In this case, the movie dealt with lots or blood and violence. Is the American public going to pay through the nose again for another bloody ana violent war? |
