Comments on: A Sad Commentary on These Times

By: kritt11

kritt11 — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 23:30:02 +0000

DLS- Bush is not totally responsible for Bhutto's death, but the US did engineer her return- mostly I blame Musharaf for failing to protect her, and the extremists. The US should have pushed Musharaf harder to ensure that she would be protected in the same way that he is. Bhutto requested more security and wanted tinted windows for her car, but never got it.

By: shaun

shaun — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 21:40:05 +0000

It is important from a contextual standpoint to remember at this point in an about to be declared war the U.S. had been running secret missions into North Vietnam and that is what provoked the North Vietnams on August 2.

LBJ was flying without congressional approval (sound familiar?) and needed a pretext to get that approval.

By: DLS

DLS — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 21:18:41 +0000

No, what's sad is exemplified not only by this, but by blaming Bush for Bhutto's death, too, for example. That's what should correctly be (self-)addressed.

By: GeorgeSorwell

GeorgeSorwell — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 20:58:49 +0000

Oh my.

I'm not sure it's fair to call anyone a "nutter" for questioning the legitimacy of the Gulf of Tonkin incident.

As I recall from reading history books, LBJ threatened the commies with retribution if a second incident occurred. The report of a second incident is what made the Congress grant LBJ all the authority he wanted. So the non-occurrence of a second incident is crucial.

The US Navy's own history page on Tonkin concedes there was no second incident.

I hope that HTML works.

By: clt510

clt510 — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 20:03:18 +0000

Actually, the Gulf of Tonkin incident definitely occurred (the first incident). Even the Vietnamese confirm that.

You guys are a bunch of nutters.

By: G_Hendricks

G_Hendricks — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 19:51:26 +0000

That's exactly what I was thinking. When I first heard that, the little voice inside my head started telling me, “Remember, the Gulf of Tonkin didn't happen.”

By: rugger09

rugger09 — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 19:38:24 +0000

and the USS Cole had eneough firepower to sink more than a thousand of the boats that blasted a giant hole in its side. 200 meters is insanely close, and a gap that can be crossed in no time. Had those speedboats been armed with explosives and closed on the US warships, what would your reaction have been? That the US attacked its own ships and killed its own sailors in order to stick it to Iran?

Also if we wanted an excuse for war, we had one in March when Iranian surrounded one of our border patrols and US and Iraqi forces had to shoot their way out to avoid capture. Instead the DOD and Bush Admin. made sure this wasnt widely talked about, because they dont want a war.

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1...