Wars that were worth fighting

So Georgie Anne Geyer tries again to second guess all wars since World War II.

So Vietnam was a post-colonial war? Of course we were trying to replace the French. We were just dying to occupy a country most Americans had never heard of. We weren't fighting communism? Even Bob Schieffer wrote that we were in Vietnam to fight communism, even if he doubted early on that we would succeed.

By the way, what form of government does Vietnam currently have? Oh that's right - communism.

Conspicuous by its absence is any commentary by Geyer regarding the Korean War. Remember that one, Georgie? Between your glorious World War II and "hogwash" Vietnam. That's where the North invaded the South and the U.S. and U.N. fought the North and China to a standstill. And Mao Zedong said the Korean War ruined his chances for taking Taiwan. And South Korea (and Taiwan) has prospered ever since.

But, of course, if we fight North Vietnam to prevent them from taking over the South and spreading communism, we just did not "understand them." Whatever the North will say about its motivations, the end result was imposing communism on the South.

And does Georgie think we really understood Hitler and the Japanese? How many famous stories and incidents does she need to convince her that we misjudged them completely? Did we fight them because we understood them? Of course not. Did we fight knowing we would win? Of course not. Sometimes you fight because you think you should, even if the ends are not clear and the enemy's motivations are a mystery. It's nice to know both, but that did not stop us from fighting World War II.

World War II, Korea and Vietnam were not necessary wars. But all were worth fighting.

Steven Wintersteen

Elgin