We were discussing that any american combatant is Vietnam was a war criminal, even if they were only engaging enemy combatants, due to the fact they shouldn't have been there in the first place. Even if Forrest Gump was exploited by American imperialism, would he still be a war criminal.
This is sincerely not a bait post, I just wanted to hear some input on the nuance of the situation.
level headed take i think. it's easy to sit at the computer and bemoan conscripts from the previous century when none of us have any idea what we would have done under those conditions.
people on here love to post about how every member of the us military gets the wall or whatever, and i really do get the impulse, but you are straying from materialism at that point. it would be a completely untenable position in a revolutionary situation. to continue the counterfactual, good luck doing a new american revolution with zero troops on board.
Some Vietnam vets I’ve spoken to who regret their actions really seemed to feel they were basically brainwashed at the time, (our govt lied to us etc) in terms of what they were told communism was and what America was doing in Vn. Obviously I can’t say how true that is but it’s what they seemed to believe
What the fuck?
We were discussing that any american combatant is Vietnam was a war criminal, even if they were only engaging enemy combatants, due to the fact they shouldn't have been there in the first place. Even if Forrest Gump was exploited by American imperialism, would he still be a war criminal.
This is sincerely not a bait post, I just wanted to hear some input on the nuance of the situation.
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level headed take i think. it's easy to sit at the computer and bemoan conscripts from the previous century when none of us have any idea what we would have done under those conditions.
people on here love to post about how every member of the us military gets the wall or whatever, and i really do get the impulse, but you are straying from materialism at that point. it would be a completely untenable position in a revolutionary situation. to continue the counterfactual, good luck doing a new american revolution with zero troops on board.
Some Vietnam vets I’ve spoken to who regret their actions really seemed to feel they were basically brainwashed at the time, (our govt lied to us etc) in terms of what they were told communism was and what America was doing in Vn. Obviously I can’t say how true that is but it’s what they seemed to believe
Exactly my thoughts.