In October 1965, I was legislative assistant to a powerful congressman, the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. He asked me to find out all I could about the Vietnam War, which was then just heating up. I used all his resources to obtain information, and reported back to him that the war was a tragic mistake. There were five reasons in favor of fighting the war, and 20 reasons to oppose fighting it. The principal reason to fight the war was the Tonkin Gulf Incident, which led to the Congressional Resolution used by Lyndon Johnson to justify the war. This resolution later proved to be a fabrication–the incident never happened.
Unfortunately, the congressman was looking for justification for his support of the war, not reasons to oppose it, so my analysis went unheeded. I always have wished that I could have been more persuasive, and convinced him that the Vietnam War was a tragic mistake, which at that time could still have been scaled down gracefully.
I have the same feelings about Iraq–that it would be a tragic mistake for the U.S. to invade that country, based on its supposed possession of “weapons of mass destruction.” Since it was driven back from Kuwait in 1991, it has not harmed any neighbor, and the “no fly zones” have limited what Saddam has been able to do in his own country in the decade since then.
This past Sunday I joined 40 or 50 of my fellow citizens protesting the impending Iraq War at Webb Way and PCH. With me were our Old English sheepdogs, who bore the signs “Sheepdogs Against War.” They do not have a mean bone in their bodies, and would not understand the nature of human warfare if they could think that deeply. If I could, I would tell them that human warfare is waged like a mindless group of army ants, following their queen ant into battle against another group of army ants. In our case, the queen ant was elected by one vote–that of Clarence Thomas.
More voices need to be heard that this impending war is wrong. Just like the mistake of the Vietnam War tragically altered the country’s destiny in the years following 1965, so this impending Iraq War will alter our future.
Ted Vaill