remembereringgiap:
the death of general ‘bodycount’ westmoreland leaves the mass of the people with one mass murderer less. there is nothing to distinguish this man – neither as a military nor as a strategic thinker. i am not alone in that understanding. even at the colleges of war of the empire his reputation was & remains at a very base level. not only did he lose to an ‘inferior force’ but faced with imminent defeat at each turn, he was like the butcher generals of the first world war & sacrificed the children of the working class & minorites. he did so without blushing. like all butchers of his kind – they care nothing for their soldiery – they are small coins in his pockets or worse as the sicilians say – stones in his shoe
the man i honour & honour still – the great general giap understood what a westmoreland could not. that a peoples war is in the heart of the people. that is also true in iraq no matter how many demonise it – the war that is taking place has begun in the hearts of the iraqi people. their hearts are not represented in the puppet parliaments
what giap understood from the beginning is that people make history & not the other way around & in the real war that was the determining factor because even at a local level the soldiers of the viet cong & the nva always showed great inventiveness, imagination & when necessary a devouring ferocity
they did so because as they understood from uncle ho – that there is nothing more precious than national independence & freedom – they fought agressor after agressor until finally – the heart of the puppet government collapsed in 1975. & it was just wind. soldiers dropped their clothes in the streets & welcomed their liberation. that was a real liberation that a rumsfield can only imagine in his worst nightmares
westmoreland was one of those less than intelligent military leaders – much like the leadership of south africa under apartheid could have drawn the fundamental lessons much much earlier than they did – by prolonging it – they brought only bloodshed – they brought nothing back
& that pumped up kinsman kissinger – who parades pompously as if he was the greatest diplomat, the most esteemed purveyor of the great machiaveli was so stupid he gained nothing – not even in the short term – everything they constructed collapsed & collapsed catastrophically
under westmoreland’s control – the specifically terrorist actions of special forces was to be perfected for the coming period in latin america africa & other parts of asia – there can be no question that this is the point where the american army & the nazi einsatzgruppen became one & i would not be surprised given their relationship with gehlen amongst others that they did study their methods. vietnamisation, the phoenix programme, the illegal entries into cambodia were of a kind any real soldier would be deeply ashamed of – this was not war – it was terrorism
it was under westmorelands leadership that the cia & american air began collecting the funds through the cultivation of heroin for the operations for the wars to come
he was an indecent man a man who not only does not deserve our thoughts or even our concern – we should all watch by his grave to make sure he is dead