I think the gist of my comments were clear to most, but if I have to ammend the statement for clarification to those who didn't follow the point of the thread and comments, I would offer up this: "That peopel want to believe that the Clinton adminstration contained the largest group of liars in the history of the US Presidency, what can I say?"
Nope, I resisted because I was "too old for that shit" by then, and I had lost 2 high school friends who died for nothing. And another who lost a foot. I didn't see much appeal in going. My "Thunderbird lament" was in jest. Your response goes to support Optional777's "conservatives are devoid of humor" theory. Peace, rs7
ADVISING THE REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM Military Assistance and Advisory Group (MAAG) Americans who served in Indochina and Vietnam first were political, economic, and military advisers to the French, who returned to Indochina at the end of World War II. Our involvement was largely economic in nature and we moved gradually, during the Truman and Eisenhower administrations, toward deeper commitments. American military aid reached, between 1950 and 1954, more than $2.6 billion. The chief means of our involvement, during the First Indochina War, was through the advisory apparatus known as Military Assistance and Advisory Group (MAAG), first known as MAAG Indochina, and through the military's volunteer forces known as Special Forces. All involved were "advisers" rather than combat troops. Along with political, diplomatic, and economic advisers, these advised the French in their war against the Vietnamese, known as the First Indochina War. A political basis for early U.S. commitments was Public Law 597 (June 30, 1952). This law, known as the "Lodge Bill," provided the military with authority to enlist volunteers known as Special Forces. The army had actually already begun this process under its own regulations, and there was an historic background to our use of unconventional warfare operations and forces. After World War II, however, our return to such practices developed gradually as the Cold War became "hotter." The Korean War (1950-1953) offered new opportunities for emphasis upon national security, intelligence operations, and even covert operations in various parts of the world. First under President Harry Truman and Secretary of State Dean Acheson and then Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, CIA Director Allen Dulles (his brother), and President Dwight Eisenhower, the U.S. again emphasized unconventional warfare. This partly explains the creation of volunteer U.S. Special Forces. The earliest unit received training at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. They had to acknowledge willingness to engage in more flying than usual, to make parachute jumps, and to participate in special training for sabotage and gathering of intelligence. Their training was highly secret. Contrary to popular belief and the record itself, the Eisenhower administration got us started in what later was better known as counterinsurgency training. Students should be aware of the nature of U.S. commitments in Vietnam prior to the French defeat at Dien Bien Phu, May 7, 1954. Duiker's discussion of the U.S. relationships to the French -- before that great victory for Ho Chi Minh, General Giap, and their Viet Minh forces, adds more to that story. Students should think about how close the U.S. came to bailing out the French. What was the nature of our "limited response" or "intervention" in 1954? Would infusion of American forces, advisory or otherwise, have made a difference in 1954? The diplomats who produced the Geneva Accords in 1954, among other things, divided Vietnam. The French delayed for a time their final withdrawal, but certainly the 1954 developments, ending the First Indochina War, prompted a deeper U.S. commitment. After the French left, our advisory role was chiefly aimed at the southern Vietnamese, the Republic of Vietnam, as they emerged under President Ngo Dinh Diem. Our goals in Vietnam included nation-building. The Eisenhower years saw the development of a large and multi-faceted advisory role. Several U.S. government agencies became involved, including defense and state departments, and private international agencies engaged in humanitarian assistance. In the U.S. the chief lobbying efforts, on behalf of the Republic of Vietnam and President Diem, were those of the American Friends of Vietnam (AFV), an organization created in 1955. It is interesting to note that among its leadership was Senator John F. Kennedy, soon to become president. While AFV promoted more assistance to Diem, other Americans carried out advisory roles in Vietnam. They advised economic, political, and military counterparts there. Examples include the training of police and security forces of the Republic of Vietnam, which involved advisers from Michigan State University, foreign aid programs in support of agriculture, and advising on a new constitution. No example of our advisory role before 1961, however, is better than the military training of South Vietnam's own Special Forces. The mission of the first American Special Forces in Vietnam was to train fewer than one hundred Vietnamese soldiers. The first training center was in Nha Trang. The Americans arrived from Okinawa in the summer of 1957, and by 1960 they were training more than fifty Ranger units of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN). Although this aspect of the advisory experience began in the Eisenhower presidency, it was greatly expanded under the keen interest and direction of President Kennedy later. After the French left, and prior to Kennedy's inauguration, the U.S. role expanded due to several considerations. Defending the Republic of Vietnam became a direct burden of the U.S. It became a battle within the Cold War. Eisenhower, a great believer in the domino theory, led the nation into new commitments -- training of counterinsurgency Vietnamese troops, nation-building efforts on a broad scale, and the placement of our nation's largest diplomatic corps in Saigon. We assisted the southern Vietnamese in a battle for the "hearts and minds" of the people by means of a Strategic Hamlet Program. In addition, we pumped more and more foreign and military aid into South Vietnam. However, under Eisenhower, we avoided a wider war in 1953-54, and our deepening commitments remained limited in contrast to later escalations under both presidents Kennedy and Johnson. We may have had more than 1,500 Americans in South Vietnam by 1961, and our Saigon mission was the largest in the world. MAAG's strength, however, had increased to only 692 persons. Nevertheless, this was a violation of the Geneva Accord limitation to 342 advisers. http://pathfinder.com/photo/essay/mylai/mylai08.htm
Speaking of humor.... A tourist walks into a curio shop in San Francisco. Looking around at the exotica, he notices a very lifelike life-sized bronze statue of a rat. It has no price tag, but is so striking he decides he must have it. He takes it to the owner: "How much for the bronze rat?" "$12 for the rat, $100 for the story," says the owner. The tourist gives the man $12. "I'll just take the rat, you can keep the story." As he walks down the street carrying his bronze rat, he notices that a few real rats have crawled out of the alleys and sewers and begun following him down the street. This is disconcerting, and he begins walking faster. But within a couple of blocks, the herd of rats behind him has grown to hundreds, and they begin squealing. He begins to trot toward the Bay, looking around to see that the rats now number in the MILLIONS, and are squealing and coming toward him faster and faster. Concerned, even scared, he runs to the edge of the Bay, and throws the bronze rat as far out into the water as he can. Amazingly, the millions of rats all jump into the Bay after it, and are all drowned. The man walks back to the curio shop. "Ah ha," says the owner, "you have come back for the story?" "No," says the man, "I came back to see if you have a bronze Republican." and for equal time: The old man was critically ill. Feeling that death was near, he called his lawyer. "I want to become a Democrat. Get me a change of registration form." "You can do it", the lawyer said, "But why? You'll be dead soon, why do you want to become a Democrat?" "That's my business! Get me the form!" Four days later, the old man got his registration changed. His lawyer was at his bedside making sure his bill would be paid. Suddenly the old man was racked with fits of coughing, and it was clear that this would be the end. Still curious, the lawyer leaned over and said, "Please, before it's too late, tell me why you wanted to become a Democrat so badly before you died?" In a faint whisper, as he breathed his last, the old man said: "One less Democrat".
Your "T-Bird" comment was more of a personal statement concerning my previous derogatory comments about you ("more evil than I am"), was it not? Devoid of humor? Jeez, give me something that is humorous, RS7.
Copy and waste, copy and waste, copy and waste......ad infinitum. Amazing what you can find with google, take a look:
ok... Led Zeplin songs and Dan Quayle quotes have that timeless quality we can't deny! Dan Quayle Quotes: "We are ready for an unforeseen event that may or may not occur." -Former U.S. Vice-President Dan Quayle "It is wonderful to be here in the great state of Chicago" -Former U.S. Vice-President Dan Quayle "I was recently on a tour of Latin America, and the only regret I have was that I didn't study Latin harder in school so I could converse with those people" -Former U.S. Vice-President Dan Quayle "The loss of life will be irreplaceable." -Former U.S. Vice-President Dan Quayle on the San Francisco earthquake "When I have been asked during these last weeks who caused the riots and the killing in L.A., my answer has been direct and simple: Who is to blame for the riots? The rioters are to blame. Who is to blame for the killings? The killers are to blame." -Former U.S. Vice-President Dan Quayle on the complex social issues behind the Los Angeles Riots "Republicans understand the importance of bondage between a mother and child. " -Former U.S. Vice-President Dan Quayle on Republican family values "It isn't pollution that's harming the environment. It's the impurities in our air and water that are doing it." -Former U.S. Vice-President Dan Quayle "What a waste it is to lose one's mind. Or not to have a mind is being very wasteful. How true that is." -Former U.S. Vice-President Dan Quayle at a fundraising event for the United Negro College Fund. He was attempting to quote the line "a mind is a terrible thing to waste" "I love California. I practically grew up in Phoenix." -Former U.S. Vice-President Dan Quayle "POTATOE" -Former U.S. Vice-President Dan Quayle, attempting to spell potato. "I stand by all the misstatements that I've made." -Former U.S. Vice-President Dan Quayle
Awww... c'mon, the little bleeding heart liberal just posted the fact that it was a Democrat war. (Thanks, wild.)
No question, Quayle was a riot as well as an embarrassment. At least he didn't claim to invent the internet. BTW, how do you spell the plural of "potato?"