Tom Hartmann Show the place for informed, reasonable debate on war

Today, I listened to a podcast of Thom Hartmann's show from yesterday, and during it, a Vietnam Veteran called in, and what he said struck me in a very profound way. He said that many Vietnam Veterans are alive today because Congress pulled the plug on that war. He also mentioned another thing I hadn't thought about - that generals are in the business of getting promoted (Read: Getting another star). When that happens, they are replaced with another general, who comes in and has to clean up the mess (or continue on with a war strategy that isn't working).

Pretty well stated, from a man who lived through the disaster of Vietnam.

When I heard the vet call in, it also reminded me of the new Nixon book that I blogged about last night: Nixon and Kissinger: Partners in Power, by Robert Dallek. The book was recently profiled and excerpted in Vanity Fair, and in that excerpt is the following passage from the book:

Using language that has a painfully contemporary echo, Kissinger and Nixon very quickly came to private conclusions about Vietnam that they never revealed publicly and denied entertaining. "In Saigon the tendency is to fight the war to victory," Nixon told Kissinger, according to the transcript of a 1969 phone conversation. "But you and I know it won't happen - it is impossible." Even so, according to [White House Chief of Staff Bob] Haldeman's unpublished diaries, Nixon later urged that Democratic critics making this same point should be labeled "the party of surrender." When someone told Kissinger that Nixon could not be re-elected, because of Vietnam, he disputed it and added, according to a memo of a conversation, that "anytime we want to get out of Vietnam we can," and that "we will get out of Vietnam before the [1972] election." Nixon wanted to plan the removal of all U.S. troops by the end of 1971, but Kissinger cautioned that, if North Vietnam then de-stabilized Saigon during the following year, events could have an adverse effect on the president's campaign. According to Haldeman's diaries, Kissinger advocated a pullout in the fall of 1972, "so that if any bad results follow they will be too late to affect the election." He apparently had nothing to say about the American lives that would be lost by deliberately prolonging the war. Just before a peace treaty was signed, Kissinger in a phone conversation advised Nixon against stating that this was a "lasting peace or guaranteed peace because this thing is almost certain to blow up sooner or later."

[Emphasis Mine]

When I heard the Vietnam Vet on Hartmann's show today, all I could think about are that the parallels between Vietnam and the War in Iraq grow more and more apropos by the day.

So, to quickly put the Vietnam War in perspective - 20,604 Americans gave their lives AFTER Nixon took office in January 1969 in a war that, according to Dallek, Kissinger said, "anytime we want to get out of Vietnam we can"? Just another revelation from a war that continues to be a national disgrace. When I read items like that, it's absolutely no stretch to say that President Nixon and Henry Kissinger are war criminals.

Put another way, it is not out of the question for Bush to pursue a similar strategy? Who among us, other than the blowhards at Fox News and the radical religious right, would be surprised if our troops were withdrawn from Iraq in July or August of next year, amidst a backdrop of Repubes claiming victory?

Whenever we bring all of our troops home out of Iraq, one thing is for certain - Democrats won't get an ounce of credit, at least among Republicans and most of the mainstream media.

Another caller on Hartmann's show, an MP from Arizona who served in Iraq, called in, and was livid at what this administration is doing to our military, and our soldiers. He briefly discussed the very active campaign to recall John McCain in Arizona. Whether the drive will ultimately be successful is anyone's guess, but it is a signal that his support is collapsing in his home state. This caller also discussed President Nixon's idea to use tactical nuclear weapons in Vietnam to achieve victory. I've read about this before, and I don't know the veracity of those stories, but considering everything else Nixon did, it wouldn't really come as a shock. According to this caller, Nixon looked out onto the National Mall in Washington, D.C., and saw one million protesters sharply opposed to his war policies, and he changed his mind. His point in bringing up that story (true or not) is the power of the protest, and he makes an excellent point - our voices can and must make the difference in this war.

It's become a running theme with just about every election - that it's the "most important election in our lifetime." It does become trite, but I shudder to think what would have happened had the Democrats not regained control of Congress some 20 weeks ago.

One thing's for certain - there would be very few, if any, substantive discussions about bringing our troops home, and the Democrats would have been a marginalized minority, just like they were during the first six years of this administration.

A must-read book on Nixon and Kissinger

Today I ran across an article in Vanity Fair - an excerpt from a new book by Robert Dallek, Nixon and Kissinger: Partners in Power.

Judging from the VF excerpt, this book looks like an absolute stunner. First - the author. Dallek is an award-winning historian and an excellent story teller. I've read two of his other books: Flawed Giant: Lyndon Johnson and His Times, 1961-1973; and An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917-1963. I love his work, and I anticipate this latest book to be just like his other works I've read - well researched, written in an easy-to-read manner, and highly informative.

Naturally, when I saw a new book by Dallek previewed in Vanity Fair, and the subject matter, Nixon, it immediately got my attention.

In short, I was ready to go buy the book after just reading the excerpt.

The scariest part of this book is that it really is directly applicable to our current president. As Dallek correctly writes, Nixon's presidency was by far the most secretive in modern American history, until President Bush was appointed president.

What's even more shocking is just how much Nixon was out of the decision-making process late in his presidency as Watergate reached a crescendo.

During the Yom Kippur War in 1973, Kissinger, then secretary of state, along with Alexander Haig, the White House chief of staff, made many decisions for the U.S. Goverment in Nixon's stead. Dallek writes the reasons as Nixon's depression and alcohol abuse.

I can't help but think of the War in Iraq when I read about the Vietnam War - a much more unpopular war (and deadly) when compared to Iraq, but the longer we are in Iraq, the more the parallels will come into play. One passage from the excerpt I found particularly disturbing:

When someone told Kissinger that Nixon could not be re-elected, because of Vietnam, he disputed it and added, according to a memo of a conversation, that "anytime we want to get out of Vietnam we can," and that "we will get out of Vietnam before the [1972] election."

Hmm - just like we can get out of Iraq anytime we want to - I pray we soon will.

The pettiness between Nixon and Kissinger is well documented, and Dallek seems to delve into this aspect a bit further in this book. For instance, in private, Kissinger refers to Nixon as "that madman," "our drunken friend," and "the meatball mind."

As Watergate wore on and Nixon defiantly fought to stay in office, Kissinger held America's foreign policy together. Few dispute this, most notably Kissinger himself:

After returning from the Middle East in June of 1974, Kissinger spoke by phone with Jacob Javits and told the New York senator, "You know, what really worries me, Jack, [is that,] with the President facing impeachment, what's been holding things together is my moral authority abroad and to some extent at home. If that's lost we may be really in trouble."

As arrogant, thin-skinned, egocentric and stubborn as Kissinger was (and still is), the U.S. would have been in big trouble without him keeping up appearances around the world while Nixon wallowed in an alcohol- and drug-induced self pity.

In my view, history judges Nixon and Kissinger with mixed emotions - both had their good points, and both fatally flawed, but on the latter, Nixon much moreso than Kissinger.

Anyway, I can never read enough good Nixon books, and this one looks like another excellent work by Dallek.

Nixon and Kissinger: Partners in Power goes on sale April 24.