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The United States has actually won the war in Vietnam. The stated reason for fighting in Vietnam was to stop the advance of communism in Southeast Asia. According to the domino theory, if we didn't fight the good fight then and there, all of the region would fall to the communist ideology. If that were truly the reason we were fighting then yes, by all means we lost. 58000 of our bravest and best lost their lives and we retreated, tails tucked, from the communist foe.

Today, however, Vietnam is a major trading partner of the US. Of the 75 countries and territories doing business in Vietnam, the US ranks 9th. US companies are slated to invest some 8 billion dollars in Vietnam during 2007. Google "travel to Vietnam" and you will find thousands of resources for travel, lodging and dining geared to the American taste. You can hop on one of many convenient flights any day of the week and be whisked to Ho Chi Minh City.

My point is that the real objective of our conflict in Vietnam has played out favorably. We were not fighting in Vietnam to stop the spread of communism just as we are not fighting in the Middle East to spread democracy or stop Islamo-Fascism. The government of the US and the corporate interests it serves care not a whit about such goals. The true agenda, then as now, is to create stable and reliable trading partners. The list of those with whom we do business contains many countries where democracy is unknown and many where the citizens lack the elements of what we would regard as basic human rights. We do business with them while waging war against other countries where the governmental abuses and civil rights issues are no more egregious. Our approach is solely governed by the ease, or lack thereof, of conducting business.

This said, I am not making a moral judgment. My purpose is to point out the vast gulf between where we are told we are going as a nation and the direction in which we are actually being led. Perhaps the political-industrial-military axis has to operate in this fashion in order to be effective. Perhaps there is no other way for the US to hold onto its position as leader of the free world. I leave that conclusion for you to make. My quarrel is with the deliberate obfuscation. With the attitude of our elected leaders that they can tell any lie and bend any rule of law to achieve their goals and that we the people are supposed to pretend to believe them.

It's one thing for the schoolyard bully to take my lunch money. It's something else again for him to try and convince me that he's only doing it to help me form good dietary habits.

Learn more about this author, Rick Fontes.
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