Re: "Bringing down the final empire"

[Jim Farmelant <farmelantj@xxxxxxxx>]

I am glad to hear that the Australians are coming down with a
good case of post-Vietnam syndrome.  Here, in the US
post-Vietnam syndrome was not just about public opinion
turning against the Vietnam War, and later military interventions
but also about the fact, that as the Vietnam War drew to a close,
US forces over there were in a state of almost continual
mutiny or near-mutiny, in which soldiers often refused to
engage the "enemy," in which soldiers were almost
rountinely killing their own officers, and which saw
clashes between African-American soldiers and white
soldiers.  In other words, US forces were very much in
a state of disarray if not rebellion.  That undoubtedly
must have scared the hell out of the US ruling class
which after relies upon the armed forces as their last
resort for enforcing order.

General Powell, of course was a mid-ranking officer
at the time of these events, and they obviously left a
deep mark on his own thinking concerning military
doctrine.  Hence, his concern with ensuring that
in any proposed intervention, that high technology
be used to keep casualties on the US to a very low
number, and to ensure that victory be achieved very
quickly.  And most importantly to ensure that public
opnion not be allowed to turn strongly against an
intervention, which might in turn "infect" the troops
with a spirit of rebellion against their "betters."

Jim F.

On Mon, 21 Oct 2002 09:27:30 +1000 Gary MacLennan
<g.maclennan@xxxxxxxxxx> writes:
> At 02:11  20/10/02 -0400, Lou wrote:
> >Since the end of the Vietnam war, the USA has been forced to limit
> its
> >interventions to proxy low-intensity affairs or to go up against
> much
> >weaker opponents in circumstances that favor its own advanced
> military
> >technology, like the first Gulf War.
>
> This is known as the Powell doctrine is it not? He has built his
> career on
> the "lessons" of the Vietnam War.
>
> Here in Australia the post-Vietnam syndrome, though weakened by the
> left's
> support for the Australian army's East Timor intervention, is
> beginning to
> revive once more.
>
> In the First Gulf War Australia's contribution was limited to a
> number of
> ships.   Howard the current PM had hoped to make a much larger
> contribution
> this time, following the acceptance of the use of SAS troops in
> Afghanistan.
>
> But the Bali bomb has weakened the war mongers and the Cunningham by
>
> election result with its victory for an anti-war candidate, makes
> the
> chances of stopping a war even better.
>
> regards
>
> Gary
>

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