Vietnam Deja-Vu

To the Editor:

Never having sent a letter of this kind before, I now take pen in hand.

I have a young family member in the service of our country. I am wholeheartedly in favor of our men and women in uniform. I am also wholeheartedly in favor of bringing the troops in Iraq home. During a recent TV retrospective on the ‘60’s, a young student in favor of the war was commenting, “We can’t leave — the people want us there.”

Back then, having a fiance serving in Bien Hua, I believed the same way. The government had also convinced me of the threat of the “Domino Effect.” If we lose Vietnam to the Reds next it will be Laos, Cambodia, etc, perhaps New Jersey after that — the implication and the fear. We have to stay for the protection of the liberty of generations to come.

Well we left. Forty years have passed. The world hasn’t gone to hell in a “Commie Hand Basket.” In fact, the Vietnamese town aforementioned is now an American tourist destination.

After 9/11 I was in favor of the administration’s foreign policy. But, I know I can’t be the only one who deduces the same conclusions now. Stop the war, stop the dying. Use the billions of defense dollars for developing better security technology ( i.e. November 2006 technology implemented in San Francisco to detect toxic materials/bombs shipped by terrorists to the United States.) Imagine how many anti-terrorist resources we could develop using the billions we spend to keep our kids dying in this Vietnam deja-vu.

With hope for a peaceful New Year. “God bless us everyone!”

Colleen McCormack-Clifford

12 Beckett Village, Sandy Hook                                                                     January 10, 2007