March 31, 2004

600

In October, 1965, the number of U.S. soldiers in Viet Nam reached the number in Iraq today.

In 1965, the fourth year of the war police action in Viet Nam, 1,926 Americans were killed, which you can add to the 392 killed in the first three years.

With the five who were killed last night, 600 American soldiers have died serving Mr. Bush's interests this first year in Iraq.

Back in '65, I was pretty young, but the war in Viet Nam was a fact of every day life. The war slowly got worse with each passing day that year, just as it is in Iraq today. And back in '65, there was no end in sight, just like today.

And after one year, the war in Iraq is a fact of every day life for our children.

This isn't the way it was supposed to be.

"The whole world's watching ..."

Posted by Bill at March 31, 2004 11:00 AM
Comments

My four year old daughter told me the other day that there is always a war. BOY did she get a lecture!

-d

Posted by: -d at March 31, 2004 11:20 AM

It's interesting you should post this today. I was just looking at the news and watching the reports from Iraq. I suddenly remembered my parents watching the news when I was a kid and it always being about Vietnam. It's the same thing, all over again.

Posted by: TW at March 31, 2004 06:51 PM

...shuddering...

Posted by: Keri at March 31, 2004 11:39 PM

I'm old enough to remember Vietnam. I was convinced at the time that there must be just be mutilated young men in the States.

Posted by: Anji at April 1, 2004 12:21 AM

All the wars is pretty sad. People should read "A Photolog of a visit to Chernobyl" as it will open their eyes as to what devastation can do in a second.
http://www.angelfire.com/extreme4/kiddofspeed/chapter1.html

The photographs are a painful reminder that weapons in the wrong hands can cause such devastation (Hiroshima and Nagasaki is another grim reminder). Why it has to be this way your guess is as good as mine.

Posted by: Michelle at April 1, 2004 03:37 PM

I commented just recently about how each generation seems to have a "war" that defines them. Mine was Viet Nam. That war was such a part of our identity. I still hear choppers in my mind whenever I hear Creedence Clearwater and especially Up Around the Bend:

There's a place up ahead and I'm goin'
Just as fast as my feet can fly
Come away, come away if you're goin',
Leave the sinkin' ship behind.

CHORUS:
Come on the risin' wind,
We're goin' up around the bend.

Posted by: Cowtown Pattie at April 2, 2004 10:58 AM