Rus: I wouldn’t categorize it as spurious, but that is probably splitting hairs. His commentary included castigating “atrocities”, both within his unit and with other military units throughout Vietnam. It was part of a well-thought out statement about the Vietnam War at large, so I wouldn’t say his comments were spur of the moment or off the cuff.
Rus, I don’t disagree with you regarding war and militarism in general. I have lost quite a few of my friends, and have other friends in Iraq and Afghanistan right now. That being said, offering a sweeping indictment of militarism doesn’t offer much in the way of solutions in terms of confronting the challenges of Iran or North Korea or China or Russia. I am not advocating a military solution to any or all of these, but would ask how do you handle a bellicose regime like Iran’s that is simply not interested in diplomacy or negotiations?
