Canada Plans Draft-Dodger Monument

You are correct that the number of US soldiers committed to the Vietnam conflict reduced during Nixon\'s term.  Everyone knows that and everyone knows when we finally evacuated... however, our airwar and bombing campaign against N Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia increased dramatically from 1969 to 1972.  That is what so many in the United States hated about Nixon.  He claimed he had a secret plan to end the war, but then it resulted in much greater bloodletting on the part of the Vietnamese.  If escalation isn\'t the word you like, then Whatever you want to call it... we reduced our troop strength, while increasing the slaughter of civilians using B-52 strikes.  

NONE OF THIS WAS THE POINT.  You endlessly paint everything as as Republican vs. Democrat, and you seem to love defending any republican president, including Nixon, however it\'s all beside the point.  This was not simply a "cold war that went hot."  It didn\'t happen by accident.  We manufactured that war by staging a fake attack on the USS Maddox, propping up a false government in S. Vietnam that the vietnamese hated, and continuing to pour resources and lives into the war beyond the point of sanity.

I find it amazing when someone says "our own policies handcuffed us so victory was not possible."  What should we have done differently?  We should have killed more vietnamese, burned more houses, napalmed more children?  Yeah, they would all be dead, but at least they wouldn\'t be communists!  

I\'m not going to post anymore today because I don\'t have the time.  I actually have a job to do, and I can\'t be spending all my time writing stuff that will fall on deaf ears.

Originally posted by Coredweller
You are correct that the number of US soldiers committed to the Vietnam conflict reduced during Nixon\'s term.  Everyone knows that and everyone knows when we finally evacuated... however, our airwar and bombing campaign against N Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia increased dramatically from 1969 to 1972.  That is what so many in the United States hated about Nixon.  He claimed he had a secret plan to end the war, but then it resulted in much greater bloodletting on the part of the Vietnamese.  If escalation isn\'t the word you like, then Whatever you want to call it... we reduced our troop strength, while increasing the slaughter of civilians using B-52 strikes.

Again... why did we increase our bombing attacks on N. Vietnam?  To get them back to the Peace talks in Paris that they walked out on.  Guess what?  It worked didn\'t it?  

Originally posted by Coredweller
NONE OF THIS WAS THE POINT.  You endlessly paint everything as as Republican vs. Democrat, and you seem to love defending any republican president, including Nixon, however it\'s all beside the point.  This was not simply a "cold war that went hot."  It didn\'t happen by accident.  We manufactured that war by staging a fake attack on the USS Maddox, propping up a false government in S. Vietnam that the vietnamese hated, and continuing to pour resources and lives into the war beyond the point of sanity.

I find it amazing when someone says "our own policies handcuffed us so victory was not possible."  What should we have done differently?  We should have killed more vietnamese, burned more houses, napalmed more children?  Yeah, they would all be dead, but at least they wouldn\'t be communists!  

I\'m not going to post anymore today because I don\'t have the time.  I actually have a job to do, and I can\'t be spending all my time writing stuff that will fall on deaf ears.

I am so tired of giving history lessons - especially to people I know are educated.  In any case, take a good look at the French colonial government that laid the groundwork for this entire fiasco:

May 8, 1954 - The Geneva Conference on Indochina begins, attended by the U.S., Britain, China, the Soviet Union, France, Vietnam (Viet Minh and representatives of Bao Dai), Cambodia and Laos, all meeting to negotiate a solution for Southeast Asia.

July 21, 1954 - The Geneva Accords divide Vietnam in half at the 17th parallel, with Ho Chi Minh\'s Communists ceded the North, while Bao Dai\'s regime is granted the South. The accords also provide for elections to be held in all of Vietnam within two years to reunify the country. The U.S. opposes the unifying elections, fearing a likely victory by Ho Chi Minh.

October 1954 - Following the French departure from Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh returns after spending eight years hiding in the jungle and formally takes control of North Vietnam.

Damn gun ho bastards. I wont get into it really but i can see points from both sides but if anything im with cored on his basic argument. Screw fighting somebodyelse\'s war.

Im not all about cowardice but if its really against what you believe in then i suppose they should have that right. Its not like we won vietnam anyway. We won nothing and people still try to defend the fact that going was just the righ and/or manly thing to do.

W.e. im getting too into it.

You can get the basics on where i stand.

[clips]

Originally posted by fastson
The guy in my avatar gave sanctuary to American GI\'s who deserted from Vietnam.

i thought that guy was felix unger (tony randall),..from the odd couple!

At least we learned from our mistakes :rolleyes:

Originally posted by GigaShadow
We have an all volunteer army now - thus no draft dodgers.  :rolleyes:

There is all this talk in the media about the draft coming back.
I don\'t think it will but you can\'t put nothing pass the U.S. government so you never know.

I am on disibility anyways draft free.

Originally posted by QuDDus
There is all this talk in the media about the draft coming back.
I don\'t think it will but you can\'t put nothing pass the U.S. government so you never know.

I am on disibility anyways draft free.

All the draft talk is coming from the left as a fear tactic. Charlie Rangel is the father of this and for only one reason, to create fear.

Originally posted by Ace
All the draft talk is coming from the left as a fear tactic. Charlie Rangel is the father of this and for only one reason, to create fear.

The left has no shame.  They are talking about this at moveon.org and they even know its a hoax, but they are using it as a fear tactic to get people to vote for Kerry.  

The draft will never come back.

For those who don\'t know, as Ace said - Charlie Rangel has sponsored a bill for the draft and he is a Democrat.

[Titan]

I\'ve heard Kerry wants the draft and that Bush wants the draft. This is rediculous. Probably a fear tactic on both sides.

Both parties as far as im concerned are using fear tactics.

again with the left and right. I think im about done on that.

c\'est la vie (a little french for you right wing bastards:p. j/k)

There is some intelligence north of the border after all!

Canadian City Blocks Memorial to U.S. Draft Dodgers

Wed Sep 29, 7:16 PM ET   World - Canada
 


VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuters) - A Canadian community has blocked plans for a controversial memorial to Americans who fled to Canada to avoid the Vietnam War and U.S. military draft, officials said on Wednesday.

Peace activists wanted to build the memorial as part of a reunion celebration scheduled for 2006 in Nelson, a small city in the mountains of southeastern British Columbia, where many of the Vietnam-era draft dodgers eventually settled.

The proposal was denounced by the U.S. Veterans of Foreign Wars, and came as the issue of service in the military during Vietnam has become an emotional flashpoint in the U.S. presidential campaign.

Nelson\'s council passed a special resolution on Wednesday that would requires any memorial using public funds or being built on public lands to have "widespread community support."

"The Our Way Home monument does not meet this standard," the council said in a press release.

The veterans group and other U.S. critics of the plan had asked the White House to intervene, and threatened to organize an economic boycott of the Nelson area in the Kootenay Region, which has a significant tourism industry.

The Our Way Home group had already told city officials it was willing to locate the bronze sculpture somewhere else, but still planned to hold the peace gathering in July 2006.

The group said it wanted to honor both the U.S. citizens who moved to Canada, rather than serve in a war they politically opposed, and the Canadians who helped them build lives in a new country.

It has been estimated that 125,000 Americans fled to Canada to avoid Vietnam and prosecution under U.S. law, although about half returned home after President Jimmy Carter granted amnesty in 1997.


http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20040929/wl_canada_nm/canada_life_draftdodgers_col_1