Originally Posted by nepenthe

Just stand back and think a little about what you are saying.

You honestly think that in 1956 this was not what the Vietnamese were desperately trying to acheive after kicking out the French?

You think the best option they had to acheive this was via an increasingly militaristic invasion of the south of Vietnam by U.S. troops who then managed to kill 1,200,000 citizens?

Again the U.S. acheived its goals in Vietnam - it completely removed for the forseeable future any possibility that Vietnam would follow its own model of development independantly of Soviet or U.S. pressure.

A resource rich country such as Vietnam developing on independant lines and using its own resources for the benefit of its own people is a dangerous thing for U.S. business interests particularly when other countries in the region are likely to follow suit.

Why do you think the U.S. currently hates Venezueala so much? My God the people their have the nerve to control their own resources, resist U.S pressure and then spend the monies on social programs for the poor. They are not supposed to do that - they are supposed to sell you guys their resources cheaply and use the profits to maintain an elite of docile American lovers to run the country.

I can see the psychological benefits to yourself of believing a world model where the U.S. strives bravely out into a troubled world and innocently tries to help other countries to the path of freedom and democracy.

Unfortunately it bears absolutely no relationship to reality.