Wool Over The Old Eyes

President Bush will make an important policy speech tomorrow. In this speech, Bush will extol the need for America to keep fighting the war in Iraq as a larger part of the war against that slippery trick of Terrorism. Now, as you have had of realized by now even if you are a new reader, I think that the war on terrorism is as pointless as the war on drugs. But, I am not posting about this. I am posting a public service announcement about this speech.

According to the AFP, Bush is going to make a dubious connection:

"Many argued that if we pulled out, there would be no consequences for the Vietnamese people," he was to say. "The world would learn just how costly these misimpressions would be."

"In Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge began a murderous rule in which hundreds of thousands of Cambodians died by starvation, torture, or execution. In Vietnam, former American allies, government workers, intellectuals, and businessmen were sent off to prison camps, where tens of thousands perished," he was to say.

This is a factually incorrect argument for the following reason. The departure of the American troops did not lead to the rise of the Khmer Rouge. The aimless bombing of Cambodia along with putting troops in the country led to the rise of the Khmer Rouge. Who did that bombing? The American government. In particular, the Nixon administration. I'd like to note that this is the same man who took us OUT of Vietnam. Additionally, Bush will mention that South Vietnam fell because America pulled out. This is also untrue because South Vietnam was a weak puppet state, one lacking the strength and organization of the North. Many South Vietnamese were fighting with the North anyway. Does the term Viet Cong ring a bell? Yea, thought so. South Vietnam was already going to fail. The troop pullout did not exacerbate this process in any way.

I post this because I don't want you to get the wrong information from the man who should be giving you the truth. A public service announcement from a comically named blog about media, politics, and esoterica.