War and Republicans

Two American Republican presidents are responsible for the senseless loss of American military lives, plus countless civilian deaths due to the wars in Viet Nam and Iraq.

The following is startling Viet Nam War information, recently reported by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), subsequently broadcast by Rachel Maddow on MSNBC and now an article in the March 29, 2013, "The Week":

"Nixonian guile:  Newly declassified tapes of President Lyndon B. Johnson's White House telephone conversations confirm that Richard Nixon sabotaged Vietnam peace talks in October 1968 in order to strengthen his own presidential campaign.  In the recordings, Defense Secretary Clark Clifford tells Johnson that the FBI overheard a Nixon campaign adviser persuading the South Vietnamese government to withdraw from peace talks, promising them a better deal if they wait until Nixon is elected.  Hanoi was offering major concessions at the time, and a settlement would have allowed Johnson to stop bombing North Vietnam.  Knowing that this would derail his campaign, Nixon intervened.  Johnson accused Nixon of 'treason' but said nothing publicly for fear of revealing that the FBI was bugging South Vietnamese government figures. Nixon went on to escalate the war - at the expense of 22,000 more American lives---before signing a peace accord in 1973."  

To date, the names of 58, 272 Americans killed in the Viet Nam war are carved in the black granite of the Viet Nam War Memorial in Washington DC.  This astounding number doesn't include the many thousands of Vietnamese casualties.

Fast forward 30 years to President George Bush II, who created a false premise for the American invasion of Iraq.  Americans were led to believe the shock and awe massive military invasion of Iraq was in response to the war on terrorism, retaliation for the September 11, 2001 attacks on the US and because the dictator Saddam Hussein was harboring "weapons of mass destruction" (WOMD).  None of these premises were true, but we invaded Iraq, anyway.  Ten years post the invasion, Americans have lost at least 4,800 military in the Iraq war, plus tens of thousands of Iraqi civilian lives, as a result of ethnic violence.  

The above information is not opinion, but fact. Two Republican presidents put the hubris of politics ahead of peace and the well being of the American people.  Thousands of Americans are dead today because of Nixon's interference in the Viet Nam peace negotiation and President Bush lying about the WOMD in Iraq.

Of course, President Nixon and President Johnson are both dead.
Although President Bush is still alive, it's unlikely he will be held accountable for starting an illegal war.

Nevertheless, these two horrible war incidents will, justifiably, deter Americans from entering into any more wars without having specific and credible evidence of our national security being at risk.

But there are scary threats.  When it comes to WOMD, I don't know how much more evidence Americans need about North Korea, a nation practicing to attack either Japan or US military bases in Guam.  Likewise, Iran is obviously developing nuclear technology for the purpose of creating a frightening atomic bomb.  Although these threats put our national security at risk, it will be hard to defend against them without specific and highly credible evidence of an imminent attack.

Republican lies and sabotage about Viet Nam and the Iraq wars have created a terrible mistrust among Americans.  The illegal actions by Nixon and Bush II may put us in in even more dangerous situations, if any imminent threat is finally  acted upon by our enemies in Korea or Iran.  

Therefore, President Nixon and President Bush probably created severe American national security problems, by lying.