TimoTolkki wrote:I would like very much to hear Miditek´s account of America up until this very day after tbc in his post.
Client engagements and related work have kept Miditek extremely busy (and a bit stressed) this week, but let's take a few minutes to examine some of the highlights of post-Vietnam War America.
But first, an epilogue to Part I, and some of the events to consider. America was going through radical social changes at the time at home, with the civil rights movement, as well as protests to the Vietnam War. America rose to President Kennedy's challenge, and NASA eventually put a man (or actually two men) on the moon with Apollo 11, in addition to subsequent missions. Despite nutty innuendos and assertions of critics such as Till Lindemann & Company, NASA actually did deliver the goods as advertised.
America also aided her ally, Israel, during the Six Day War, and even more importantly, during the Yom Kippur War. Even though Israeli intelligence knew in advance of the pending attack, Israeli PM Golda Meir was under enormous pressure from the White House and the State Department not to launch preemptive attacks on her enemies, or risk losing support.
To make a long story short, even during Israel's darkest hour and when defeat seemed imminent (in fact, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Dayan even sent a communique' to Meir that said, '
It is over. The Third Temple is lost. We must invoke the Samson Option now, Madame Prime Minister.'), a steady stream of US F-4 Phantoms were being flown in to Israel as replacements for heavy losses, and immediately were repainted with the Star of David and then sent back into battle. The Pentagon was also on high alert as it appeared that Soviet intervention was quite likely. It is my opinion that God would not soon forget, nor would he not reward America for following His will, as America used it's great strength to help tiny Israel survive, and even thrive in an area surrounded by those that wished to destroy her. I was in complete agreement with this policy at that time, and even moreso now.
Pt II.
As the US began to deescalate the war in Vietnam, and eventually withdrew, it seemed that the fallout of the war, along with the lingering effects of the Arab oil embargo, inflation, and a general sense of malaise seemed to indicate that the Great Republic was becoming somewhat stagnant. All sorts of Women's movements (ERA), environmental movements, and the like began. I remember this time from my childhood, and it did seem that at the time, the US was just not the same as it had been previously. We also had the Watergate scandal, which brought down a presidency. One highlight, I think, of that administration, was the opening and overall normalization of relations with China.
When the Carter administration took power, things seemed to take a turn for the worse. I think that President Carter was certainly well intentioned, but completely inept at dealing with the country's growing internal problems. Interest rates and crime continued to soar, and there was a general sense of anxiety in the country. One highlight that I can think of from the Carter administration were the Camp David Accords, which led to a peace treaty being signed between Egypt and the State of Israel. This is something that Egyptian President Anwar Sadat later paid for with his very life.
I was in school at the time of that news, and remember feeling very upset with that particular event. I considered Sadat to be a very brave man, and still regret that his life was cut short. He was very popular here in America, as I recall, as was Israeli PM Menachem Begin. I also remember the Iranian Hostage Crisis, in addition to the failed rescue attempt, Operation: Eagle Claw, which ended in disaster, and virtually ensured that Carter would not return to the White House. One silver lining to that little black cloud was the decision to create and implement SOCOM (Special Operations Command later on, and also helped to lay the groundwork for what would be known as "the Reagan Revolution).
After the Carter economic and foreign policy debacles, Reagan then took the White House by a landslide, and went on to a second term. Reagan sought to restore America's confidence, and I must say that both his humor, as well as his enthusiasm, were quite contagious! Although there was a recession early in his first term, eventually, the US economy started roaring at an unprecedented pace. The US Embassy hostages were released just moments before Reagan was sworn in, and I definitely remember the morale of our country began to soar! Reagan's tax cuts also contributed to economic growth, and I also recall that the President was a staunch ally of Israel. He also had found a kindred spirit in conservative British PM Margaret Thatcher. At last, America was back! Many of our enemies feared President Reagan, which also helped US morale very much. America had had about enough of being the world's punching bag, so to speak, and I recall a time of great enthusiasm that it seemed that, once again, our opportunities seemed limitless.
This was the beginning of the Conservative Revolution, as well as an escalation of the Cold War. President Reagan resoundingly condemned the downing of KAL flight 007 (which killed U.S. Representative Larry McDonald, D-GA) by the Soviet Union, and denounced the Soviet Union as "The Evil Empire". I also recall Reagan's speech in Berlin where he challenged Gorbachev to "tear down this wall", which I am sure that resounded quite positively throughout both West Germany, as well as their cousins in East Germany. (How quickly they forget!) Reagan was not content to allow the status quo to continue, and actively worked to undermine Communism wherever he could. The US began placing more tactical and short range nuclear weapons in Europe, much to the chagrin of the Greens Party, which somehow conveniently forgot the fact that the Soviets had over 50,000 T-72 and T-80 tanks that, if unchecked, could have easily overwhelmed Western Europe. With these policies, I was in complete agreement.
For anyone that wishes to denigrate America's post-war policies in Europe, it is important to consider what would have happened had we not kept a sizeable military presence there for decades after the war. It is easy to condemn our country for the Cold War policies, but it is essential to realize that the Soviet Union certainly would have had no problem adding Western European states to its sphere of influence (case in point, the Russians did invade Vienna, and radio transmission interceptions of the Red Army also showed that Stalin had designs on Denmark, that is until Eisenhower diverted US infantry divisions there). The Cold War policies kept the Soviet Union from occupying the rest of Europe (and whom but America could have done this?), in addition to reassuring Soviet concerns that Germany would be back again, in a very short time, and more powerful than ever, was simply not going to happen. Not on our watch. And why should America have been responsible for this? To my mind, this proves once again that Europe lacked the political skill and not to mention military means to provide security for the Western part of the Continent. Again, this responsibility fell primarily on America, and secondarily to Britian, under the auspices of NATO.
In fact, I've often wondered why America even bothered to help out both during and after WWII in Europe. Why not let the Facists and the Communists simply destroy each other on that failed, blood-soaked continent- I've often wondered, but that is merely a random thought. I believe that the US did indeed take the moral high ground, and did what was necessary to defend the Western democracies, all the way up until we saw the fall of the Berlin Wall, as well as the fall of the Soviet Union. I did not agree with the US policy of having essentially unarmed peacekeepers in Lebanon, and then set themselves up for the disaster when a Hezbollah suicide bomber killed 241 U.S. Marines in Beirut. Reagan then pulled out all the peacekeepers, which led to even further problems. This was a political debacle of the highest order, despite the fact that the WWII era battleship USS New Jersey unleashed punishing volleys of fire against Syrian positions, even killing one of their generals. There was very little "worldwide condemnation" of Syrian occupation and interference of the "Soverign State" of Lebanon, but when Israel went in to punish thugs such as the PLO and Hezbollah, the complaints went nearly unabated.
There were other foreign policy debacles then, such as the Iran-Contra affair, which I agree, were not exactly shining moments in American foreign policy.
It now appears that I am out of time, due to current work schedules, and hope to post a Part III, which will deal with my take on the Bush I, Clinton, and Bush II administrations, as time permits, but for now, I must get back to the tasks at hand.
Aren't there plenty of fish in the seas around Finland?
<--- miditek
But, I think we all will live to see something overwhelmingly devestating occurring over there, in addition to the Iraqi War happening now. It won't be so damn funny then! But, of course, the 'ol USA(and Israel) will be the handy scapegoat as usual, no matter what. And, btw, getting rid of Bush isn't going to be the pat answer some of the world is looking for, either. Its nowhere near that simple.