Reply #19: March 31, 1968 ... lessons for Iraq [View All]

[welshTerrier2]

I remember watching LBJ on TV telling a stunned nation that he would not seek re-election ... i hated Johnson ... outside of Nixon's resignation and bush's trial for conspiracy (be patient, it's coming ...), this speech was about as good as it gets ...

here's a link to LBJ's speech where he told the nation he would not seek re-election: http://millercenter.virginia.edu/scripps/diglibrary/prezspeeches/johnson/lbj_1968_0331.html

the speech holds some eerie lessons for the maniacal, neo-con policy in Iraq ... can you say "condemned to repeat it??" ...

if you read the speech, notice the time and effort LBJ put into discussing the importance of turning over military operations to the South Vietnamese so they could "control their own destiny" ... sound familiar ?? ... we all know how that worked out ...

Lyndon B. Johnson Speeches
Remarks on Decision no to Seek Re-Election (March 31, 1968)

Tonight, we and the other allied nations are contributing 600,000 fighting men to assist 700,000 South Vietnamese troops in defending their little country.

Our presence there has always rested on this basic belief: The main burden of preserving their freedom must be carried out by them--by the South Vietnamese themselves.

We and our allies can only help to provide a shield behind which the people of South Vietnam can survive and can grow and develop. On their efforts--on their determination and resourcefulness--the outcome will ultimately depend.

That small, beleaguered nation has suffered terrible punishment for more than 20 years.

I pay tribute once again tonight to the great courage and endurance of its people. South Vietnam supports armed forces tonight of almost 700,000 men--and I call your attention to the fact that this is the equivalent of more than 10 million in our own population. Its people maintain their firm determination to be free of domination by the North.

There has been substantial progress, I think, in building a durable government during these last 3 years. The South Vietnam of 1965 could not have survived the enemy's Tet offensive of 1968. The elected government of South Vietnam survived that attack--and is rapidly repairing the devastation that it wrought.

The South Vietnamese know that further efforts are going to be required:

--to expand their own armed forces,
--to move back into the countryside as quickly as possible,
--to increase their taxes,
--to select the very best men that they have for civil and military responsibility,
--to achieve a new unity within their constitutional government, and
--to include in the national effort all those groups who wish to preserve South