History revised and then corrected

Lex recently took on a lib revisionist in the Ft. Wayne Daily Punctilio (aka Journal Gazette). Here are the respective letters:

History repeating with deceptions

If it weren’t so frightening, it would be amusing to watch again as the Republicans utterly disregard history as they continue to promote Bush’s pointless war in Iraq. The latest case in point is their hyperbolic eruption over MoveOn.org’s ad that portrays the war’s supreme cheerleader, Gen. David Petraeus, as being possibly challenged when it comes to telling the full truth.

Far from being unpatriotic and showing a lack of support for the troops, the ad simply points to another historical truth.

As a Vietnam-era veteran, I remember all too well our commanding general, Gen. William Westmoreland, who constantly assured the president, Congress and the public that there was “light at the end of the tunnel.”

Think how many American and Vietnamese lives could have been saved if his wildly off-base assertions had been challenged at the time.

How ironic that three decades after we “abandoned” Vietnam to its own devices, the country has a booming economy, in large part due to American tourists.

WORTH WELLER North Manchester

Real history ignored

I concur with Mr. Worth Weller’s assertion that there should be a healthy skepticism of anyone in the room at a congressional hearing. That skepticism should begin with the preening gasbags asking the questions.

I further agree that America was ill served during the Vietnam War by a military so willing to accomplish its mission that it never honestly assessed the effect political restrictions placed on the operations to win the war.

There is a rather stark difference that escapes Mr. Weller between condemning Gen Westmoreland with more than 30 years of hindsight and calling Gen Petraeus a traitor in a full page New York Times ad BEFORE he’d even taken his seat at the hearings. If he can’t figure that out on his own, even a 1,000 words here won’t help.

It’s rather telling that Mr. Weller doesn’t focus his point on how the Vietnam War might have been won, but rather on how we might have quit sooner.

Neither does Mr. Weller seem to care one wit about the fall of Laos to communists; two million dead Cambodians; hundreds of thousands of dead and tortured Vietnamese, or the millions of displaced Vietnamese that occurred as a result of our withdrawal from that war.

But hey, as long as they have a “booming economy” now, that probably makes up for everything. Right Worth?