Situation isn't another Vietnam

[thedrifter]

Situation isn't another Vietnam
02/14/2003
Situation isn't another Vietnam

Thirty-five years ago this week, United States Marines were engaged in a battle of a war they would not be allowed to win.



Five companies of Leathernecks ? drawn from 1st Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment; and 2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment ? recaptured key parts of Hue City, in furious house-to-house fighting. It took more than three weeks of intense combat and the deaths of nearly 1,000 Marines before the imperial city fell.



Now, years later, thousands of Marines, many of whom are stationed at Camp Lejeune and Marine Corps Air Station, New River, sit poised on ships and at strategic land bases, waiting for the word to go to war against an enemy that is perhaps the most insidious and dangerous of any the world has ever known ? Saddam Hussein and the terrorists he backs.



No one who?s kept a careful eye on the Middle East and Saddam?s Iraqi regime really believes the fanatical dictator will be up front with the United Nations. No one with any grounding in reality believes this issue can be brought to a peaceful conclusion without at least the certain promise of armed conflict.



But this is a different time and a far different war than the one that Marines fought in Vietnam.



The war to which this nation advances is all about the proliferation of nuclear weapons and the potential for biological and chemical terrorist attacks. When that inevitable confrontation comes, it will be U.S. Marines in a leading role.



Iraq?s ability to destroy human lives is not something that can be dismissed.



Those who fought for control of Hue 35 years ago know how brutal and ruthless a determined enemy can be.



Hussein?s Iraq will prove to be very difficult this time around.



Camp Lejeune Marines now massing in proximity to Iraq stand ready to protect the claim the world?s children have on tomorrow.



This struggle with Saddam Hussein isn?t another Vietnam. The issues are large enough and dangerous enough that it should engage each and every American. Its outcome will ultimately rest on the shoulders of men and women that our area calls neighbors and friends.



Whether or not one concurs with the decisions soon to be made, it?s hoped that ? unlike the situation involving Vietnam ? this entire country will unite solidly behind the men and women wearing this country?s uniform.



And that this time the people they will be risking their lives to protect will recognize their sacrifice for what it is: A stand in defense of all Americans? right ? indeed, every human being?s right ? to live in freedom.




Sempers,

Roger