As a child of the 60s and 70s, and near the end of the Vietnam War, I was subject to the draft and saw high school classmates leave to serve and come home in flag-draped coffins. I remember the initial reasons for entering the Vietnam conflict; most Americans initially supported the effort. With the Cold War as a backdrop, the Domino Theory, The Gulf of Tonkin, and siding with France against Ho Chi Minh played on American fears and appealed to jingoism. I was young and impressionable, so I wanted to be included in the American dream; if called, I was ready to fight. Of course, as the war dragged on and I realized black and brown boys were being used as cannon fodder, my views and mind changed. Most instrumental in that change were the words of humanitarian and former Heavyweight Champion of the world, Muhammad Ali:
Many young people do not know, and those who lived through the period conveniently forget that Ali was not a hero, nor was he the lionized figure we admire today. What he was and is admired for now was his bravery. Amid nationalistic fervor, he said no and turned out to be correct. I see parallels between the initial anger and the gung-ho attitude to defend our Israeli ally. Like in Vietnam, battles were won, but the North Vietnamese fighters always reconstituted and wore down American fire power and resolve. Walter Cronkite and the tide of public opinion changed, and eventually, the political winds blew cold. I can remember the feeling of shame by some that America had lost a war. On the contrary, America rediscovered its morality.
The United States overshot its target; similarly, so is Benjamin Netanyahu. No one objectively blames Israel for striking back after October 7. The support for Israel that was once strong and seemed unshakable, especially in America, is waning. Israel is making the same mistake America made in North Vietnam. The battle to liberate people was marred by revenge. When innocent people are denied food and medicine, it makes it hard to justify one’s continued support.
The famous photo of Kim Phúc,the little Vietnamese girl running naked in the street, skin on fire from napalm, was seared into the minds of the American public. Even the most conservative thinkers had to say to themselves, Oh my God! Images like that consolidate thoughts. Photographs and videos have played pivotal roles throughout the 20th Century. The grainy black and white video of black protesters trampled by charging state troopers and fire-hosed in Alabama are the visual recollections of our mind's eye when anyone mentions the civil rights era. Now we have full-color digital video of bombed-out hospitals, rubble where homes and businesses once stood, and desperate displaced residents scrambling for airdropped packages of food.
Recent stories have emerged that the falling packages crushed some people vying to get there first. The long-dreamed goal of a two-state solution seems to be no longer viable. Netanyahu wants utter annihilation of the proposed Palestinian state. The United States entered fully into the Vietnam War in 1963 after low-level involvement that started in 1959. The war between North and South Vietnam became a proxy war between the then-Soviet Union, China and its allies, and the United States and its anti-communist allies. After 20 years of war, the U.S. pulled out, and the North won. What wars like Vietnam and now Gaza should teach us, as with the incursion of the U.S. into Afghanistan—wars are not won on the ground but in the mind. Netanyahu is losing the minds and hearts of the world by turning right into a vicious, unrelenting, vengeful display of might.
Vote Against Guns