I suspect there may be some American veterans experiencing disquieting thoughts from Russia's invasion and massive bombing of a smaller, weaker nation whose political/economic system is displeasing to the more powerful Russian government. Some will recall that we dropped more than twice the tonnage of bombs on Vietnam than we did in both the European and Asian theaters of operation in World War II. Some will remember our "Shock and Awe" boasting that preceded our invasion of Iraq to destroy non-existent "weapons of mass destruction." I find myself remembering that on the very day I left the US to participate in our lethal intervention in Vietnam's civil war, President Lyndon B. Johnson spoke to our Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara and said: “. . . it’s going to be difficult for us to prosecute effectively a war that far away from home with the [political] divisions we have here and particularly the potential divisions. And it’s really had me concerned for a month and I’m very depressed about it because I see no program from either Defense or State that gives me much hope of doing anything except just praying and grasping to hold on during [the] monsoon [season] and hope they’ll quit. And I don’t believe they’re ever goin’ to quit. And I don’t see that we have any plan for victory militarily or diplomatically.” That was on June 21, 1965, and of course Johnson was correct: they were never going to quit, but that didn't keep Johnson and the next American president from continuing the carnage of Vietnamese, Laotian, Cambodian and American lives for years until Marine helicopters were called in to pluck desperate people off the roof of our embassy 10 years later. What the Russians are doing is hideous, evil, and criminal, but it also ought prompt a national examination of conscience here. As Donald Trump infamously told Bill O'Reilly when Reilly pointed out that Vladimir Putin "is a killer": “There are a lot of killers. You think our country’s so innocent?”
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