Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Yes, GIs do die in vain


By PAT MURPHY

Pat Murphy

It's not only a myth born of patriotic exuberance; worse, it's the deceitful dodge of cynical politicians to justify wasting lives of American youth in war.

"They do not die in vain," or a variation, becomes the drumbeat when combat operations go badly and the body count surges. President Bush invoked it obliquely in explaining why 20,000 or more GIs must be thrown into the Iraq cauldron—to guarantee those who've already died "didn't die in vain."

My youthful Korean War experience of 13 months in the First Cavalry Division, hundreds of miles up and down Korea from the Pusan Perimeter to near China's Yalu River in North Korea, and watching the catastrophe of Vietnam more than a decade later from a distance, provides enough evidence that soldiers do die in vain. Most veterans know this all too well.

As for Korea: In June 1950, U.S. troops were rushed to South Korea to push invading North Koreans back across the 38th Parallel. That accomplished, the compulsive and egocentric Gen. Douglas MacAthur ordered a drive to the Yalu River bordering mainland China, while ignoring dire warnings Chinese armies would pour across the Yalu.

Sure enough, proverbial Chinese hordes struck. Overwhelmed United Nations forces freezing in that record November 1950 winter (so cold that automatic weapons mechanisms froze) were routed, stampeding south of the 38th Parallel, fighting and dying courageously even in retreat.

So, GIs killed in MacArthur's foolhardy escapade in North Korea died in vain, since nothing was achieved but U.S. defeat. North Korea today is more menacing than ever.

Then, in the 1960s, the argument for hurling hundreds of thousands of U.S. troops into Vietnam permeated President Johnson's Texas bravado—to prevent communism from spreading.

So, just as "unpatriotic" critics predicted, the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese drove American forces out of Vietnam in sheer humiliation, personified by the chaotic helicopter evacuation from the U.S. Embassy roof in Saigon. South Vietnam collapsed and, sure enough, communism spread.

The deaths of 58,000 U.S. troops, not to mention allies, were in vain. The war's premise was faulty, its conduct hopelessly inept, its outcome disgraceful.

Those now talking fearlessly about stalling terrorism with more GIs in Iraq are echoes of the Vietnam War's cheering section—more troops, more troops for victory.

Soldiers do their duty, even when misbegotten political strategies mean certain defeat and death. Of such incredible devotion, heroes are born.

But, please: Enough of this baloney that GIs don't die in vain when delusional commanders-in-chief and generals obsessed with fantasies of impossible victory aren't stopped from their madness.




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