The first steps in repairing a problem is seeing the problem, understanding the problem; acknowledging lack of action will be hazardous to your well being or the well being of your children
The real reason Afghanistan was invaded: Vast mineral wealth Oct 17, 2011
Trump Finds Reason for the U.S. to Remain in Afghanistan: Minerals / July 25, 2017
Millions in Off-the-books cash was given to President Karzai of Afghanistan, why, was some pay-off for the vast mineral wealth in the previous articles?
One has to wonder, was it incompetence or malfeasance; $28 Million Wasted on Afghan Uniforms only part of U.S. problem
It is amazing what can be overlooked when it come to the Love of Money
Made In China, with American Technology - China Removed Secret Equipment From US Spy Plane (2001)
IBM sells PC group (ThinkPad) to Lenovo (China) (2004)
Microsoft develops Windows 10 version for China’s government (2017)
In General Electric (G.E.) give-aways to China; Greed pays off big for the CEO (2011)
Chinese supremacy - Meet Your New Boss: Buying Large Employers Will Enable China To Dominate 1000s Of U.S. Communities (2013)
Even the Mouse Capitulated: How China Won the Keys to Disney’s Magic Kingdom (2016)
The Chinese Party Bosses do not care about you, “Tycoon behind Syngenta bid China's most aggressive dealmaker" (2016)
Iran and the arrogance of the CIA drone wars; how can this possibly end well
WOW Guess what; not ending well. Drone captured, drone reverse engineered Iran’s Growing Drone Threat Definitely SNAFU & FUBAR!
Newly assertive CIA intensifies covert operations in Afghanistan
Never read any article concerning the CIA that did not qualify as a SNAFU or FUBAR
“The American people don’t mind if there are C.I.A. teams waging a covert war there.” Actually Some Of Us Do Mind
A little background on North Korea: The wiseguy regime, The North Korean Connection, Thousands of N Korean tunnels, Rev. Moon, North Korea & the Bushes
Russia Uses American Technology to Help Hide Submarines 1987
Russia creating new nuclear missile system (2004)
Moscow to Dallas in 32 minutes & we can't stop it 2013
Putin says U.S. is "parasite" on global economy (2011) - I concur; to often Wall Street and Big Business epitomize parasitic tendencies’ example: Bolivia-Bechtel and The Water Wars
US financial showdown with Russia is more dangerous than it looks 2014
Does Russia really own around 20% of American Uranium Deposits 2015
Haunted by the unanswerable questions of my service in Vietnam
Seattle times; Opinion, Nov. 10, 2022
By Denny Wagenman
Special to The Times
As I watch the news on the war in Ukraine, it sends me back many years to how I entered the service in the mid-’60s. Although I wasn’t physically dragged to the bus that I caught in a small Eastern Washington town, it was painful in other ways. I recall my mom crying for hours and unwilling to accompany me to the bus to Spokane. Oh yes, I had choices: Go to Canada or go to jail.
I went from Spokane to California and then back to Fort Lewis for combat training for Vietnam. We were all draftees, and I was assigned the position of squad leader. To this day I don’t know why. Not only was I responsible for my life but for the lives of my squad. Off we went to war in September 1966.
After a week in combat, I asked myself why we were in another people’s land, killing mothers, fathers, grandparents and, worst of all, children. I have never been able to justify that. To this day that haunts me. So, my focus of the war changed from “killing the enemy” to getting my squad and myself home in one piece. Unfortunately, that never happened.
When my year was up, I flew to California, was issued brand-new uniforms and put on a plane to Seattle. Upon arrival, my parents, two sisters and their husbands greeted me at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Hugs and tears flowed. We drove to my sister’s home in Renton for the night before returning home to my small Eastern Washington town. My nephew, in his teens, greeted me and asked, “How many did you kill?” I had to walk outside to regain my composure. I never answered his question.
Here we are 55 years later. A lot has happened over the years. I never see the casualty numbers in the media. I guess the 58,000 American soldiers killed in the war plus some 1,626 still missing don’t mean much today. Nor do the estimated 2 million Vietnamese civilians, or the 275,000 to 310,000 Cambodians or 20,000 to 62,000 Laotians. Always wondered how they celebrate veterans day in those countries.
Yes, I am a bitter old man, one who has never shared my experiences in Vietnam with anyone, including my family. No one wins wars. Times were different in Iraq and Afghanistan, as the U.S. soldiers were volunteers. But the results were the same. No one won. Were those wars worth it?
So come Nov. 11, I may be thanked for my service. To this day I don’t know how to respond. Probably nod my head and walk away.
Denny Wagenman
Military service: The ghosts of Vietnam
Nov. 18, 2022
The Seattle Times
By John Humnicky, Woodinville
I read the guest essay by Denny Wagenman about his reluctance to be “proud” of his tour in Vietnam in 1966. I share the same feelings about this war as Wagenman. Although my “conscripted” tour in Vietnam wasn’t until 1971, I asked the same questions that Wagenman outlined in his essay. Why were we in another people’s country killing fathers, mothers, grandparents and children? Apparently, nothing much changed between 1966 and 1971. There were no heroics, no charges of the light brigade and no obvious displays of valor or sacrifice. All there seemed to be was an attitude of making it out alive and in one piece.
Now, 52 years later, I still dwell upon these questions. I do not feel “proud” of what we accomplished in Vietnam. When I came home through Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, I was jeered at, yelled at and spat at for being a “baby killer.” When people thank me today for my service, I’m like Wagenman: I nod and walk away.
John Humnicky, Woodinville
41 Senate Republicans Voted Against Veterans' Healthcare
July 2022
A bill aimed at protecting veterans exposed to toxic materials during their service was shut down yesterday in the Senate, in a 55 to 42 vote that failed to meet the 60-vote threshold necessary to advance the legislation.
The new legislation would expand care to 3.5 million veterans who were exposed to burn pits, adding 23 toxic and burn pit exposure-related illnesses to the VA database.
The bill would also expand support for Vietnam-era veterans who were exposed to Agent Orange in places like American Samoa, Cambodia, Guam, Johnston Atoll, Laos and Thailand.
What's killing Staff Sergeant Wesley Black?
The VA doesn't want to talk about it
The unseen toll of traumatic brain injuries
Vietnamese children and the effects of Agent Orange
Wasn't just the Veterans that had a knife shoved in their backs and twisted around.
Yep, still wondering why I bother to go church; I truly want to understand how any mainline churches can support these grubbers, they are nothing to be proud of or write home about.
These are the 41 Republican Senators who voted against the bill:
Mitch McConnell & Rand Paul, Kentucky ; Jim Inhofe & James Lankford, Oklahoma; John A. Barrasso & Cynthia Lummis, Wyoming; Marsha Blackburn & Bill Hagerty, Tennessee; Roy Blunt & Josh Hawley, Missouri; Mike Crapo & Jim Risch, Idaho; Mike Braun & Todd Young, Indiana; Richard Burr & Thom Tillis, North Carolina; Bill Cassidy & John Neely Kennedy, Louisiana; Deb Fischer & Ben Sasse, Nebraska; John Cornyn & Ted Cruz, Texas; Cindy Hyde-Smith & Roger Wicker, Mississippi; Mike Rounds & John Thune, South Dakota; Richard Shelby & Tommy Tuberville, Alabama; Mike Lee & Mitt Romney, Utah; Tom Cotton, Arkansas; Kevin Cramer, North Dakota; Steve Daines, Montana; Joni Ernst, Iowa; Ron Johnson, Wisconsin; Roger Marshall, Kansas; Rob Portman, Ohio; Rick Scott, Florida; Tim Scott, South Carolina; Dan Sullivan, Alaska; Patrick Toomey, Pennsylvania
Jon Stewart, the former talk show host who's become a high-profile veterans advocate, lambasted the Republican senators in a furious, expletive-laden speech.
Stewart noted at one point that the lawmakers being addressed were likely indoors enjoying air conditioning, ignoring the veterans — at least one of whom was wearing an oxygen tube — braving the scorching heat for over an hour to try to make their point.
"You don't support the troops," he said. "You support the war machine."
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