From Vietnam to Iran: Australian Cannon Fodder?
This morning, in Ohio USA, our Prime Minister Scott Morrison attended the opening of the Australian funded Pratt Paper Factory. He gave a scripted little speech. In that speech, dutifully following the script, he thanked American Veterans for their service to the Great Alliance between the USA and Australia. What on earth did that little scripted homily have to do with the opening of a paper factory?
ScoMo’s little speech followed on from the equally hollow little speech by Donald Trump in which he praised up ScoMo and Australia as the best sort of friends the USA could possibly ever have. The false praise sprouted forth tsunami-like and it is a wonder that those in attendance weren’t washed out of the room on that tide of gushing compliments and suck-ups.
Made me wonder what it was all about. Then, of course, it hit me … it’s about Iran stupid!
Iran. Yet another Coalition of the Willing.
And what a load of bollocks all of that Coalition of the Willing language is. Because who in their right mind willingly volunteers to be blown to smithereens or volunteers to blow others into smithereens all in pursuit of somebody else’s unworthy cause.
Within the memory of our generation we had the Vietnam War, then Iraq, then Afghanistan. American wars. Failed wars. Nothing good, though much harm, came out of them. Surely we learnt something from all of that?
Some wars need to be fought, whether we like it or not, and World War II is an example of such a war. We have a very professional, but very small, Australian Defense Force (ADF) that is there to protect us and our interests. It represents precious capital that we cannot afford to fritter away on wars that have nothing to do with us.
There may have been a time, such as during the mentioned WWII, when the commitment of our soldiers’ lives to a cause was fully justifiable, and such a time may one day come again. But that time has not, yet, come again.
As the USA ramps up the rhetoric against Iran it would pay us to remember that America well and truly sold us the dummy with Vietnam, let alone Iraq, let alone Afghanistan.
Vietnam: Ho Chi Minh was a nationalist, educated in France. As the Japanese occupation of Vietnam was coming to an end in the closing stages of WWII Ho approached the Americans for assistance to unify his country, and to forestall the re-imposition of French colonial rule. He repeatedly petitioned President Harry S. Truman for support for Vietnamese independence, citing the Atlantic Charter, but Truman never responded. Essentially, the Americans told him to get stuffed.
Not unnaturally, Ho thought … no, actually, you lot can get stuffed, and he then proceeded to do just that to first the returning French, then to the Americans and their small number of Coalition of the Willing allies. We were one of those allies. Good old Australia … always prepared to suck-up to the Americans and jump, under instruction of course, onto the martial bandwagon of the USA.
The proof of the Vietnam pudding is always in the eating, and despite the dire warnings that we were all fed of Communist Hordes domino-toppling everything in sight we are presented, now, with a modernising and unified Vietnam getting on quite ok with the West … Ho’d be tearing his hair out, because that’s all he wanted for his people in the first place.
One cannot be flippant about such a matter. Good Australian lives, the lives of good Australian military men and women, were lost in the Vietnam War. Many of our military people were maimed and psychologically shattered by their service in Vietnam. It was not the choice of our service personnel to go to Vietnam, they were ordered to go there, by our politicians.
We need to remember that our service personnel were abused when they returned, and some, as Veterans, are still trying to come to grips with the health legacies of their Vietnam service. They deserved to be treated better than that. It was not their fault that our politicians thought that toadying up to the Americans was a good thing to do.
We, Australia, now have a legion of Veterans from the growing list of America’s wars. Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan. With the exception of the Vietnam War, which had the overlay of the National Service Draft Lottery attached to it, most of the military folk that we sent to that steady treadmill of USA war-making, were volunteers.
Volunteers. They volunteered and joined up to protect Australia and Australian interests, and you can only have but the greatest respect for them because of that.
While only our Veterans can speak for themselves, I very much doubt that they joined up to fight for America.
If we dutifully submit to American requests and solidly sign on to the Iran Coalition of the Willing we are yet again selling ourselves short, selling our Service Personnel short, and selling our national independence short.
We should not have been in Vietnam, or Iraq, or Afghanistan. We should decline the invitation (order) to involve ourselves with Iran.
The lives of our service personnel are precious, and those lives should not be wasted in yet another possible war that has nothing to do with us.
It is our children and grandchildren of military age who always pay the price. Politicians like ScoMo or Trump and their historical predecessors, never do.
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21 comments
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Perking Wartneck -
Phil Pryor -
Jack sprat -
Aortic -
whatever -
Roscoe -
Keith Davis -
RomeoCharlie29 -
Zathras -
Stephengb -
David Bruce -
Mr Steve -
caveman -
Ross Mvic -
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wam -
Keith Davis -
Mr Hooper -
Deidre Zanker -
Return to home pageMr Titanium.
Or Mr Tit, for short..
As Perking W says titanium is perhaps Tit for short. Perhaps it might be Tit and I Am, very suitable for Moronison the scum but even more so for B Joyce, the rorting, rooting, raving ratbag from New England. Stuart Robber, the leaving rats, J Bishop and C Pyne, sluts for money and notice are typical of the filth, mediocrity, corruption, rentarse members, past and present of this corporate fellatio friendly government, which lets the nation down in stinking egotistical profiteering careerist crap. Our world position is compromised, with USA and U K and others seeing us as a little floating slime patch off Asia, fit to be exploited by a supine ruling group who touch toes naked for international corporation criminality. How can we get sense back, planning for our nation and people back?
In the nineteenth century the British empire went to war with china so that it could continue it’s trade of drugs for Chinese goods . These wars where strongly supported by the british people as at the time they had become addicted to Chinese commodities especially their tea and any threat to that supply was a justification of war . These wars were later called the opium wars by historicans . I wonder what future historians will call the wars in which we are now engaged in , perhaps may I suggest the oil wars.
Correct Jack, I remember one of the good LNP ers Dr. Brendan Nelson say the Middle East conflicts we were subserviently caught up in was ” all about the oil.” He was roundly castigated by his ” colleagues” and eventually led to his eventual political demise. The sorrow of all conflicts to me is that the ordinary families just want to live their lives, going about their daily business, but are subjected to nut job adherents to some ancient creed or diety convinced that the destruction of their perceived enemies will produce some sort of nirvana for all. As far as I am concerned they can continue to shoot the shit out of each other by the million, just do it without involving poor innocents who eventually become refugees and potential problems for countries with no involvement in the imbroglio.
The Saudi refinery attack came from Yemen, but everyone seems to want to pin it on Iran. This is the second time in recent months they have re-enacted the sham “Gulf of Tonkin” casus belli.
Yemen is a poor nation but the arms-traders are selling the very latest military stuff there. The never-ending war that began with the U.S. invasion of Iraq has created a huge amount of “Army Surplus” gear that tends to fall off the back of a truck and get into the hands of local contraband gangs.
you missed out adding the Korean war to the list, was that war any different to Vietnam? What did it have to do with Australia? and also the Malaysian Emergency for that matter as well
Hi Roscoe … you are dead right of course about Korea and Malaysia … in the article I only mentioned the wars that happened when I was a teenager & onwards. Thanks for reminding us all.
Naturally I’m going to respect the privacy of the person who posted the following comment on a shared version of the above article. It says it all in my opinion …
“Great article full of truth l say this as the widow of a vietnam vet , now departed far too early only 51 yrs old mental problems ptsd which they called personality disorder ok but it was myself and our 4 children that bore the brunt of his health problems , from me being jumped all over in the middle of the night and being mistaken for viet cong etc to our kids not being able to have friends around because dad was anti social , not to mention health problems two of my children were born with that specialist attributed to their fathers war service , ! No we should not be sending the flower of our youth off to fight another yank war they the yanks pic the fights and expect other countries to come in boots and all , this lunatic president is itching to fight Iran and he may well bite off more than he can chew”
Australia has no skin in the Iran war plans of a benighted US. We had no skin in any of America’s previous adventures, or interferences, in the affairs of sovereign countries. The malign influences of US foreign affairs are well known but I wonder why we would contemplate following them into Iran knowing about their grubby fingerprints on the demise of Whitlam’s government, not to mention their role in support of Indonesian tyranny in East Timor. By siding with the US we potentially offend many of our near neighbours and trading partners. We should be gently weaning ourself off this relationship, not cuddling closer.
All the preliminary hype and the orchestrated softening up of public opinion is just the usual window dressing.
In the end it’s all about sending your sons to die in some God-forsaken quarry on the other side of the world for the sake of making the bottom line of corporations like Blackwater look better and transferring yet more public dollars into private hands in an economy that is both reliant upon and addicted to warfare.
Our last “adventure” was the price paid for a Free Trade Deal with the USA and we’re still paying for it, whether through ceaseless participation in an endless war or coping with the the multitude of refugees it has created.
I’d only support it if Morrison would personally lead the charge during the first wave.
Iran is indeed a bit better militarily than your actual Iraq, and probably equal to the Afganista Taliban.
I have no delight in Iran, Iraq or Afganistan, but they have the right to live exactly how they please.
Meanwhile – the oil in the Middle East has always been the object of war, or should I say, rape and pillage.
I think that Iran may just result in the biggest mistake of the 21st Century, as was Blitzkrieg for the 20th Century.
The middle East is nothing like the threat of Nazi Germany, Iran has not shown the slightest threat to anyone, they have merely supported a country who practice a similar religious sect to that of the Saudi’s. But all the aggression has been Saudi, and America.
Iran’s biggest threat is to the world’s banking system and the oil cartel, because they are not part of it. Every war you mentioned and actions in Korea and Malaysia were all banker’s and/or oil cartel wars or skirmishes.
Trumpet and other heads of government are just puppets in the pantomime. Now Trumpet and ScuMo want to resurrect the secret space program and the Orion Project to colonise Mars. Maybe we can trade some Titanium and Rare Earths to start another mining boom?
For the record, in 2014, there were ten (10) operational Classified Advanced Antigravity Aerospace Craft Utilizing Back-Engineered Space Technology. Each of these types were (are) capable of weather modification. These craft do not include the B2 Bomber or the B21 Raider. Some of these have the capability to explore beyond our planet and Moon.
https://etheric.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Classified-Advanced-Antigravity-Aerospace-Craft-Utilizing-Back-Engineered-Space-Technology.pdf
As for the softening up of the masses for war against Iran, I can’t help but equate it to the similar actions by the media and funded scientists all promoting the coming climate catastrophe!
I would love to know what WE can do in the next 12 months, to stop and reverse our changing climate, and to prevent a catastrophic collapse of our Ponzi financial system.
I respect the contents of the article, and also value war only when unavoidable, I would fight for this here dirt. The thing is, pointing out the folly of history doesn’t go far enough, you need to embedded an alternative idea in Australian minds. Why does Mr Titanium get away with this? Why do Australians accept it? What is the alternative which nullifies the basis of his little ploy? Give Australians the alternative thinking. Make them feel safety in a new ideal.
David Bruce, to stop and reverse our changing climate means bullying emerging economies back into the caves from whence they come, then create wars to kill them off thus reducing human footprint. Wars should come every say 10 years to restart the ponzi scheme, and simultaneously reverse climate change by purging lotsa ugly poor people.
Watch this first people…..join the dots!
Once Iran is taken out it reduces China’s mobility to move its military….it gets around 60% of its oil from Iran. Its not about oil per say, the oil is a factor, but China is the end game people!
And both The US and Russia are in bed together on this. You may think this sounds ridiculous, we will see!!!! ITS ABOUT BALANCE AND CONTROL. We can’t have 3 superpowers….it doesn’t work.
The democratically elected government of Iran was overthrown by the CIA when it threatened to nationalise it’s oil industry, leading to the installation of the Shah. The Shah literally killed off all his moderate opposition and when he was eventually overthrown the only real option was Ayotollah Khomieni, resulting in a lasting and deep distrust of the West plus the rise of militant Islam.
Until then, Iran was also an ally of Israel because it was the only non-Arab state in the region and they even developed missile systems together.
Every time the West meddles in middle eastern affairs it makes things increasingly worse, both there and internationally.
The current international refugee situation is not a separate problem but is a symptom of what’s been done so far.
Also, what’s Morrison doing praising the international outsourcing of one of our industries for the benefit of the USA? What about the potential Australian jobs Pratt (who pays virtually no tax in Australia and was recently involved in illegal cartel operations) has shipped overseas, let alone building a new factory there? Please explain.
Hi Mr. Steve … I get your point that talking about history can only go so far. I am sure that there may well be other solutions to the dilemma of what to do about the matters discussed above … but the link below is one line of thinking that I’ve come up with.
I was brought up to go with the underdog.
The society hated the japs. So I read up and,except for the chapter on china, I found the japanese story fascinating especially the connection between the english and the ‘little, blind, slant-eyed darkies’.
I remember the of the maumau words ‘there is nothing in killing enemies but killing friends’?
Ho chi minh and diem bien phu was great with the french gone but the yanks filled the void and vietnamese died in their millions over anpther 20 years before freedom..
But I never felt the fear of nuclear war till recently when the Ayotollah khomeni’s rants were reporte and he arrived in Iram.d,
This man transformed iran and gave me the fear that here is a country that would not hesitate to use nuclear weapons.
Now with trump giving the impression of a lump of phosphorus with the water rapidly evaporating and a religious australian nitter with the same god will look after him, israel with the same god looking after them and iran with the same $^^$$ god.
looking after them.
What a crazy world???
ps
this time there really might be WoMD
Hi Wam … let’s hope none of it happens. As you point out, the world is crazy enough already.
ps: here’s the Space article.
At the end of the day, it comes down to two things – either you’re with us or you’re not. Simple as that. No fence sitting, no umming and ahhhring. Either you shoot them or I shoot you. It’s a team we belong in whether we like it or not. Labor or Coalition, we are on the same team, regardless of our coach and management game plan. How do you change teams? You cannot. No transfers allowed. You’re stuck just like you cannot change your family. We are it. Us and them. So what do we do? Billion dollar question (bitcoin pls). Well, first of all, let us stop arguing about the game plan but follow it. If we lose, so be it. We lose. But if we go into the game with the losing attitude, we will lose for sure. Who benefits from that? Not us. They do. So who is they? They are whoever-soever is not in our team. That’s who. We keep harping on about democracy…well, it also means that if our preferred coach and manager lose a leadership selection, it means we go with majority consensus. Simple. Stop whingeing, stop crying, put that dummy back in your mouth and let’s play. Remember: Us against them. Iran bad, Saudi Arabia good. Syria bad, Jihadists good. Maduro bad, Guaido good. Russia bad, Ukraine good. (Authorised by Playshool and Sesame St)
David Bruce,
The web site won’t load, it comes up as Classified.
Is there any way we can see it?
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