My Aisling

The Battle has been Joined

I will thank Kerry for one thing - perhaps now we can finally address and bury the decades of mixed feelings we have about Viet Nam.

Viet Nam was lost by the politicians who either were conceptually off-base or didn't have the courage to understand that war is best fought as Ghengis Khan fought it - not just to defeat, but to remove the enemy. But the unrest thirty years later only partially rests upon that footing.

Our generation was divided as all generations asked to go to war are divided - between those that shut up and serve, and that don't shut up. Serving is not just in theatre - it is wherever and however according to your capabilities or lot in life. Likewise, not shutting up can be in any locale.

President Bush served in the National Guard. He was not in the Delta, he was not listening to air break around him as either an enemy bullet passed by or someone was sitting on the latreen. But he shut up and did his stint. He also learned to fly - that pushed the envelope of his service. He's lucky he wasn't called in.

Kerry went in theatre. Then he bugged out as soon as possible, whining about little red lines that shopped droplets of blood the whole time. Then he came back and talked. And lied.

Kerry is the poster boy for why Viet Nam has become such a albatross around our generation's neck. He lied and impuned us all. He lied. He lied. He lied.

Now, those that had shut up before are silent no longer.

Time to cleanse our history.