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General Giap is dead
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Originally posted by desertswo View PostHaving picked up Vietnamese boat people in the South China Sea, I'm not sure this is one for which I can send condolences. Just sayin'.
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Originally posted by Blademaster View PostWell he was the military leader, not the political leader. He was tasked of reuniting Vietnam just like Ulysses Grant was tasked of reuniting United States. I am sure that there were plenty of atrocities that followed.
As a rule, I don't celebrate military leaders of any stripe. If there was one thing I learned over the years, it's that no one's hands are clean. Even mine.
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Originally posted by Officer of Engineers View PostThe Iroquois blamed him for the Oneida slaughter.
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Originally posted by Officer of Engineers View PostThe Iroquois blamed him for the Oneida slaughter."There is never enough time to do or say all the things that we would wish. The thing is to try to do as much as you can in the time that you have. Remember Scrooge, time is short, and suddenly, you're not there any more." -Ghost of Christmas Present, Scrooge
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A true fighter of freedom. Good riddance. Hard to say much more for a man who devoted his life to fighting to oppress millions under a horrible system, and ordering the deliberate murder of unarmed civilians...
No different then if a Sudanese/Rwandan/SS general croaked.Last edited by troung; 05 Oct 13,, 03:16.To sit down with these men and deal with them as the representatives of an enlightened and civilized people is to deride ones own dignity and to invite the disaster of their treachery - General Matthew Ridgway
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Originally posted by Blademaster View PostWell he was the military leader, not the political leader. He was tasked of reuniting Vietnam just like Ulysses Grant was tasked of reuniting United States. I am sure that there were plenty of atrocities that followed.
I wrote this elsewhere:
I struggle to see Giap as a 'soldier doing his job'. He was a dedicated revolutionary & Communist Party functionary who discovered a talent for military command. Charitable souls might compare him to Washington (though he was a military officer before the revolution), a better comparison would be Leon Trotsky - no great compliment I'm afraid.
There is no doubt that his defeat of the French showed touches of genius, especially in the management of logistics and ability to take advantage of French weakness. That said, there were some terrible and arguably unnecessary losses along the way, particularly when he took on the French where they were strongest.
I would find it easier to admire Giap if his talents had been harnessed in the service of a cause less terrible than placing the whole of Vietnam under Communist rule. Unfortunately the media coverage of his death will be a textbook example of the 'Rommel effect'.
A man of undoubted ability, but not one whose passing I can mourn.sigpic
Win nervously lose tragically - Reds C C
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Originally posted by Bigfella View PostI would find it easier to admire Giap if his talents had been harnessed in the service of a cause less terrible than placing the whole of Vietnam under Communist rule. Unfortunately the media coverage of his death will be a textbook example of the 'Rommel effect'.
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Who fought to free Vietnam from the French? Ngo Dinh Diem and Americans?
He fought to oppress millions under a barbaric system, deny them civil and human rights, create man made famines, and kill over a million people in three nations as part of a war of naked aggression.
Replaced the French with a violent regime which exported war to the entire region.
I hope his death was painful.Last edited by troung; 05 Oct 13,, 23:42.To sit down with these men and deal with them as the representatives of an enlightened and civilized people is to deride ones own dignity and to invite the disaster of their treachery - General Matthew Ridgway
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