General Petraeus and Vietnam's Westmoreland

I was standing at attention as the great General Westmoreland stood in front of me, viewing my ectomorphic physic wrapped in my new jungle fatigues. I held my used M-16 fast-and-steady with both arms taunt, should the great general care to examine its elegance. (It may have been an M-15 at that time; I forget. It was like a "Matell" toy, we used to say.)

Little did the good general know that I had just minutes before suffered gastronomically in an outhouse for officers just yards away. With only two weeks in-country living on C-rations, I was becoming acclimated to the food, land, culture, and war. I would stand at attention no matter how powerful my gas attacks. I would suffer beyond pain while containing flatulence and cramps, "taking the pain" so as not to dishonor myself or those near me. (Yes, this is fact, not fiction.)

Westmoreland, if you were unaware, was God to 18 year-old infantry soldiers. And I, a private who had just violated my combat hardened infantry officers' poddy, would not further degrade myself, my parents, or my country! I stood ready to follow every order from this great man and his subordinates.

It happened that Westmoreland's words to the US Congress at this time (1965) and some years later were like the words of God, too. What Westmoreland said was the nature of the Vietnam war beast as far as the US population was concerned. It turned out that his words had about as much value as the crap I humbly deposited in the command officers' outhouse.

There was very little critical thinking at this time of history, sort of like today in the US Congress and White House, sort of like the sinking of the Maine in the Cuban harbor. As time passed and infantry life in Vietnam pressed my 5'11 1/2 " frame into a 135 pound fighting mass of nervous disorders, I found myself questioning arson in a new light. "Wasn't it wrong to burn someone's home, and isn't even more wrong to burn an entire village?" I asked my less-than-critical, 18 year-old, working-class mind. "Yep," it's wrong, I surmised, and then I vowed to live with this contradiction as if I had no part in its doing, though I would have dutifully destroyed any force interfering with our village-large-arson attacks. Vietnamese peasants were being taught lessons by the great, white general, and I, a private, had no standing to question his greatness, by God!

Now, fast forward to General Petreus yesterday as he basically reiterated the White House line on Iraq, 2007. Note what he did not comment on, too. Note that Petreus failed to comment on Iraqi casualties in any meaningful manner;

Note that Petreus failed to comment on Iraqi hospitals, water supplies, food supplies, and general welfare in any meaningful manner;

Note that Petreus failed to inform the US population that the terms "freedom fighters" were synonymous with last year's "insurgents" in any meaningful manner;

Note that Petreus failed to comment on the US weapons that made their way into the hands of Iraqis following the US invasion of Iraq, and he did not even bother to tell us where half of the weapons went that we gave to the Iraqi Army and police!

What I mean is that life is intolerable in Iraq for the general population and no one wants to bring this fact to light in any meaningful manner. The folks now fighting on the same side as the US were on the other side of the street last year. They fight the fundamentalist fanatics dedicated on returning all of Iraq to the middle ages.

Later, these same "freedom fighters," war lord troops, will again turn their weapons upon their fellow countrymen. I'm sure you will forget these words as my predictions turn out true. Most people forget when it is inconvenient to remember.

General Petraeus, like Westmoreland, is doing PR work for our government's monumental crime against the people of Iraq. Did Petraeus mention reperations for Iraq, by the way? I don't think he did so any more than Westmoreland did for Vietnam.

Last, if you were not aware, and this is important for all to know, Ho Chi Mein was a nationalist leader. I was a so-so soldier. I never met Ho Chi Mein, but I did encounter some of his volunteer supporters. That's the way it is.

Read A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam (Paperback) if you too want to feel "peturbed." Read it to your children 3 times, and out loud!
Eddie Evans
Crime Scene Cleanup