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Jeremiah 31:29; American King James Bible: "In those days they shall say no more, the fathers have eaten sour grape, and the children's teeth are set on edge."

From thence: many popular expressions admonish us to learn from history. Those that don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it. History repeats itself: first as tragedy; then as farce. You can't always get what you want.

The history of the U.S. in Vietnam (long ago colonized by the French & long called French Indochina) began in the 1930s. Japan had become an imperial power & was quickly asserting its dominance over just about all of East Asia. In Vietnam, it chased the French out or into hiding. The U.S. government tried to curtail growing Japanese hegemony by funding a popular-front, nationalist army led by a charismatic Vietnamese communist named Ho Chi Minh. His Viet Minh developed what became known as guerilla tactics; basically, not fighting fairly.

After Japan's surrender in 1945, the U.S. had to figure out how to fill the voids left by the departing Japanese. To oversee the project, Army agents that had worked for the U.S. Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in Europe were sent to Asia; among those was Aaron Bank.

In mainland China, we funded a long-time ally, Chang Kai-shek. Bank parachuted into China & made his way into northern Vietnam, to hook up with Ho Chi Minh, examine his style & tactics, & report to his superiors. Bank found Ho a bright guy: very congenial, very popular, & very eager to establish good relations with the U.S. (Yes, 60 years later, this seems unimaginable.) Bank wrote in his book, "From the OSS to the Green Berets" that Ho remarked that the U.S. was the only major power that wasn't imperialist. (U.S. foreign policy of the past 60 years seems a concerted effort to prove him wrong.)

Although Ho even expressed disdain for the Russians (he had studied communism in Moscow), Bank remained suspicious of Ho's communist sympathies; but he also concluded that Ho was tremendously popular & would easily win any election, were one held. Ho asked Bank if Bank could get him copies of the Declaration of Independence & the Constitution.

In the end, President Truman approved the return of the French to administer Vietnam: with the Cold War already underway, it would little behoove the U.S. to show support for a known communist, even if he was anti-Russian. The children's teeth were indeed set on edge.

Although there are few operational similarities to Vietnam,

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