I'm so disappointed, I'll start one (war thread, where have they gone?)

It was the first time Stalin really tried to project power internationally in a place where he didn't really have any. If the US had failed to step in to defend South Korea, it would have sent a clear message to Stalin and countries that would potentially turn to the US that America was not willing to go to war to stop the spread of communism.

 

Just saw Charlie Wilson's War. Charlie was a Democrat. He started it. And ended it.

 

So how is Korea any different than Vietnam? Had we not gone to Vietnam, then that would have been the first time that America was not willing to go to war to stop the spread of communism. As far as I can tell, the only difference between Korea and Vietnam is the US lost its stomach for war in Vietnam. And that movement has grown to the point where now a very large portion of the country will not support any military action at all.

 

Well in those terms, sure. Under the ideas of containment and the domino theory, Vietnam was absolutely necessary. I should have clarified my post: as the costs mounted, it was no longer worth it.

Korea was especially important because Stalin was pulling the strings behind the curtain. Soviet advisers helped make the invasion plan, and Stalin himself planned an invasion date that was convenient for the Soviet Union. While the USSR did provide some support to the Vietnamese, they didn't play nearly as big of a role.

 

Come on, Tony. A super majority of American supported the war in Afghanistan. It's just that they now see through Bush's bullshit in Iraq.

http://www.pollingreport.com/afghan.htm
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/01/25/opinion/main325710.shtml
http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/view/14497

 

That's fine, but Germany did not attack us.

Korea, Vietnam.....

 

Kennedy and Johnson, both Democrats, started and screwed up the Vietnam War, or Iraq II's older brother, as it could be called and compared to by the likes of B'rick Obummer and other pacifists. And yes,before we get another "Who is Obummer" let's just refer to the presidential candidate's initials, BO for a hint. If you still struggle to figure it out, drill a hole in your head and pour peroxide in it.

 

Just based on U.S. foreign defense policy, the Iraq War was the latest in a string of epic disasters for foreign policy since the Truman Doctrine. The Truman Doctrine started all this shit: Korea, Vietnam, Cuba, Nicaragua, Iran, Iraq1, Serbia, Iraq2,.

Bush royally fucked this war up, and especially fucked up the whole "recovery" process. .

 

I'm a Quaker (pacisfism is a central tenent) and I supported going into Afghanistan, as did most of us. Tony's full of it, as usual.

 

They declared war on us the day after we declared war on Japan. And their u-boats had been sinking our merchant shipping in the North Atlantic for nearly two years by then.

- Korea, the boundaries and division of which were determined coming out of WW II, we defended as part of the UN response to limit Stalin and Mao, and to protect a weakened Japan. The safety of Japan, by treaty, was our responsibility.

- Our involvement in Vietnam begins with Truman. The boundaries and political divisions in Vietnam were also determined coming out of WW II. We commit to cleaning up after the French - and propping up a corrupt puppet government in the South by thwarting elections - under Eisenhower (R). Kennedy escalates, as does Johnson. Nixon (R) presides over the war, and over our eventual withdrawal, longer than any Democrat.

- Oh, and let's not forget that during all this postwar Iron Curtain/Domino Theory/SEATO sturm und drang, say 1946 to 1952, you've got Red-baiting right-wing Republican congressional thugs like Nixon and McCarthy demanding that we go to war with Stalin wherever he treads. Including the US State Department.


- And to paraphrase your email:

Afghanistan never attacked us.

Iraq never attacked us.

I assumed a sunshine patriot/broadband field marshal like Yawn would know the 8th-grade minimum of American history. I was incorrect.

 

Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?

 

Not exactly. From a chain letter email I just received, I've learned this: The Second World War came to an official end when the Mermans surrendered to the Godfather of Seoul, James Brown. This happened in MacArthur Park, and led to the creation of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and Sciences. That same year, Joseph McCarthy was the nominee coming out of the convention, but lost to Maureen McGovern during the talent portion of the pageant.