# Why so Little Hate for the US Soldiers? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 3, 2011, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-little-hate-for-the-us-soldiers/587727 "2011-07-03T16:47:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2011, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-little-hate-for-the-us-soldiers/587727/121 "2011-07-04T23:50:59Z")
> [@Commissar](#): > > I don’t know about you, but I personally do not believe that a society should ever be expected to set policies based on fear of its own armed forces. What about its secret police? You can’t have a communist utopia without secret police, or at least I’ve never heard of one that didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![straight\_man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/straight_man/32/3027_2.png) [@straight\_man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/straight_man)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2011, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-little-hate-for-the-us-soldiers/587727/122 "2011-07-05T00:20:33Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > It is coming. I read that Somalia attacked a town in Egypt. That is opening a door for us. > [http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/02/world/africa/02somalia.html](http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/02/world/africa/02somalia.html) We are using drones in Somalia though. No, you read (on this board, in the Lybia thread) that _Sudan_ attacked a town in _Libya_ —and even that appears to be an unfounded rumour. Somalia has no border with Egypt, and its government can’t control its own territory, much less attack outside its borders. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2011, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-little-hate-for-the-us-soldiers/587727/123 "2011-07-05T00:38:00Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > It is coming. I read that Somalia attacked a town in Egypt. That is opening a door for us. > [http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/02/world/africa/02somalia.html](http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/02/world/africa/02somalia.html) We are using drones in Somalia though. To hunt down terrorists. You do realize this (plus Ethiopian troops) helped prevent at least one Islamist horde in 2006? ---
**Author:** ![Susanann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ab992/32.png) [@Susanann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Susanann)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2011, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-little-hate-for-the-us-soldiers/587727/124 "2011-07-05T02:40:49Z")
> [@Commissar](#): > > Contrast this with the present day. The same military is involved in the same kind of wars, slaughtering people halfway around the world for entirely murky and dubious reasons. And yet, all the hate seems to have disappeared… No more condemnation, no more spitting, and the soldiers proudly march up and down my block in their uniforms like flocks of strutting peacocks. Apart from a small handful of religious nutjobs in Kansas, no one seems to be giving the military the hate that it so richly deserve anymore. That is because today nobody(in college/college age) knows what is going on, nobody understands Iraq, nor Libya, nor Yemen, nor Afghanistan. There are no “teach-ins” on every campus in America like there was during Vietnam. Who cares? Nobody knows about Yemen, and therefore nobody cares about Yemen. Unlike Vietnam, nobody today is getting drafted to go kill Yemen children. Big difference, BIG! difference! ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2011, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-little-hate-for-the-us-soldiers/587727/125 "2011-07-05T03:31:19Z")
> [@Susanann](#): > > That is because today nobody(in college/college age) knows what is going on, nobody understands Iraq, nor Libya, nor Yemen, nor Afghanistan. There are no “teach-ins” on every campus in America like there was during Vietnam. Who cares? > > Nobody knows about Yemen, and therefore nobody cares about Yemen. > > Unlike Vietnam, nobody today is getting drafted to go kill Yemen children. > > Big difference, BIG! difference! Because Afghanistan and Yemen are wars of defence to defeat Al-Qaeda. And teenagers today are fortunately less suspectible to the shitheads who formed hippie/“teach-in” (ie propaganda sessions) movement. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2011, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-little-hate-for-the-us-soldiers/587727/126 "2011-07-05T04:50:27Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > And teenagers today are fortunately less suspectible to the shitheads who formed hippie/“teach-in” (ie propaganda sessions) movement. No, most of them just don’t give a fuck about anything but updating their facebook statuses. I don’t know why you’d call people who campaigned against the Vietnam War shitheads. Wars aren’t all “good” just because your country waged them. Some were bloody, vile follies, others are and were probably necessary. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2011, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-little-hate-for-the-us-soldiers/587727/127 "2011-07-05T07:37:27Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > Through waging preventative war and driving back aggression (see for instance Persian Gulf War I) Don’t you realize the Kafkaian absurdity of saying you are waging wars in order to prevent wars from being waged ? Not to mention the hypocrisy of it, of course. America is waging wars when it suits its interests, that’s about it. The first Gulf War was not about defending the innocent people of Kuwait, but keeping an oil producer on the “right” side. The only somewhat defensible US military action that happened during my lifetime was the Kosovo conflict. Preventing a genocide without gaining anything in the process, that you may get off on calling “noble” or whatever. Afghanistan I suppose had a good casus belli, but putting boots on the ground was a really stupid and overly destructive way to go about fighting a criminal organization (not to mention, AQ picked up sticks and moved out of Afghanistan within, what, a year ? Six months ?). > [@](#): > > And in most cases we were driving back attackers and invaders in America. Plus in Libya not a single American life has been lost and in Somalia we do not have any boots on the ground just the occasional bombing mission or pirate-hunt. Oh. Well, if no \*American \*lives are lost, then I suppose everything is hunky dory. Morally sound reasoning, that. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2011, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-little-hate-for-the-us-soldiers/587727/128 "2011-07-05T08:09:37Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > The first Gulf War was not about defending the innocent people of Kuwait, but keeping an oil producer on the “right” side. Couldn’t it have been both? I mean, there’s no question that it served our interests not to have Iraq in control of Kuwaiti oil, but Iraq had just aggressively invaded and annexed Kuwait, and by our invasion, we did set the Kuwaitis free from Iraqi occupation. There’s got to be at least a few karma points in that. ---
**Author:** ![Marquez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce7236/32.png) [@Marquez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marquez)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2011, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-little-hate-for-the-us-soldiers/587727/129 "2011-07-05T08:21:30Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > Through waging preventative war and driving back aggression (see for instance Persian Gulf War I I’ve got George Orwell on the phone - it’s for you. Come on, please. Saddam was already suing for peace before the US even invaded. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2011, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-little-hate-for-the-us-soldiers/587727/130 "2011-07-05T09:12:51Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > Couldn’t it have been both? I mean, there’s no question that it served our interests not to have Iraq in control of Kuwaiti oil, but Iraq had just aggressively invaded and annexed Kuwait, and by our invasion, we did set the Kuwaitis free from Iraqi occupation. There’s got to be at least a few karma points in that. I guess, but one doesn’t get to say an action is noble or honourable when the decent components of that action were completely secondary and negligible in the decision making process that led to it. Much less pretend those secondary and negligible factors are what really matters and what the action should be judged by on an ethical basis. I mean, the Romans might have incidentally given us sanitation, medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system, and public health; but they didn’t conquer the country for that :). ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2011, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-little-hate-for-the-us-soldiers/587727/131 "2011-07-05T09:14:43Z")
> [@xtisme](#): > > That the Russians (where you supposedly come from) similarly have celebrations of their soldiers, especially during the Soviet period, despite the fact that Soviet soldiers did a lot of fairly heinous things? Were you thinking something along those lines and perhaps about dual standards and hypocrisy? > > Which was fairly stupid of the US citizens decrying their military during the Vietnam war, considering that the soldiers were conscripts and had exactly zero choice in where they were deployed to fight. Those citizens who were railing against the military should have perhaps considered that THEY were the ones who voted in the people who sent our military to Vietnam. See, that’s how it works here…the military is under civilian leadership, which is ultimately responsible to the electorate…so, when our military goes to war it’s not the military’s fault, but ultimately it’s OUR fault. Just like Afghanistan and Iraq were ultimately our collective faults. > > I don’t believe the public spitting on our soldiers was what caused the war to end, however. The war in Vietnam ended simply due to how unpopular the war became. What one has to ask is…why did it go on so long? I have nothing but contempt for people who spit on or decried the military during the Vietnam war, since ultimately it was OUR fault those soldiers were there, and the folks to blame were the politicians WE elected who kept the war going. > > Possibly because we aren’t as batshit crazy as the generation that spit on the soldiers during the Vietnam war. Possibly we understand something that the clueless folks who were doing such things during the Vietnam war failed to grasp…which is that the military doesn’t get to decide where they are deployed or where they fight. The politicians decide such things. > > The people who are strongly opposed to war (or were strongly opposed to getting us into the current messes in the first place) are a hell of a lot smarter and better educated than the idiots who were spitting on the military during the Vietnam war, basically. They turned out to be much smarter than the majority of us, in fact, since it WAS a huge mistake for us to get involved in Iraq for sure and probably Afghanistan as well. What the folks who strongly oppose(d) the wars understand that you and those idiots during the Vietnam era didn’t was that the military doesn’t decide what they do, and they have no real choice but to do what the legitimate civilian government who is elected by the people (that’s all of us voting Americans) TELL them to do. > > As for the wars going on, you do realize that Vietnam went on years longer than Iraq did (and we are nearly out of there now, thank the gods) and Afghanistan (where we are drawing down our forces)? So…how did spitting on the military help get folks out of Vietnam faster than, you know, using the fucking system to vote out the idiots who sent the military to fight? Again, I have nothing but contempt for the folks during the Vietnam era who spit on the military and put them down WHILE DOING NOTHING SUBSTANTIAL TO CHANGE TO ATTITUDES OF THE VOTING PUBLIC AND VOTE OUT THE ASSHOLES WHO SENT OUR MILITARY THERE IN THE FIRST FUCKING PLACE AND WHO WERE ULTIMATELY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE WHOLE FUCKING MESS. :mad: > > I think your entire OP is designed to elicit a response from the 'doper community and spark a huge heated debate, and the entire thing is a huge strawman. We haven’t been in Iraq or Afghanistan as long as we were in Vietnam, and we are ALREADY mostly drawn down in Iraq and drawing down in Afghanistan. So, no…spitting on the military when it wasn’t there decision isn’t going to get us out of either place any faster than we are already leaving, and this was done through the actual system instead of meaningless rage against folks who had no say in the decision to deploy them overseas. Hating the troops is stupid. If you are going to hate, feel free to hate the politicians, both US and foreign who created the situations, not the pawns who were just doing their jobs…and save a bit of hate for the voting public in the US who elected the folks who represented us and decided to go to war in those places. > > -XT I think your post is ignoring ideological choice. The true source of the soldier spitting meme was military intel, meant to disrupt the war protestors. Same as the “Support the troops” unquestioning meme that, if I might say has been very successful on a self absorbed American fascist controlled society. The difference is that the draftees then had no choice. Today people decide to join for mercenary reasons… the American dream with great ignorance and ideological forethought. Blindspot. Our military learned from the Nazi SS pioneers as a model. Infuse great political ideaology and patriotism and elitism with enough gratification whether that be dirty money or some psychological reward (false patriotism, righteousness, and moral superiority) and people will kill and destroy at your behest with great fanaticism and lack of judgement. Your whole post rests upon choice and non choice… Draft and mercenary armies are much different. Seems like your army today is an army that denies personal responsibility… something that seems to be a great point of pride among the conservatives on this board. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2011, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-little-hate-for-the-us-soldiers/587727/132 "2011-07-05T10:40:31Z")
The Military today has only the best marketing team. They try and succed at making death appealing. But i guess sociopaths have to eat too. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2011, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-little-hate-for-the-us-soldiers/587727/133 "2011-07-05T11:50:40Z")
Death Mongering is at an all time high. Jus look at the price of gasoline. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2011, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-little-hate-for-the-us-soldiers/587727/134 "2011-07-05T15:39:16Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > No, most of them just don’t give a fuck about anything but updating their facebook statuses. I don’t know why you’d call people who campaigned against the Vietnam War shitheads. Wars aren’t all “good” just because your country waged them. Some were bloody, vile follies, others are and were probably necessary. Its not as if students are not politiically conscious. Indeed they are more socially liberal than any previous generation and strongly went for Obama in '08. Its just that they are more constructive politically and prefer not to riot, and call soldiers “baby killers” and all that. > [@Kobal2](#): > > Don’t you realize the Kafkaian absurdity of saying you are waging wars in order to prevent wars from being waged ? What I mean are bigger wars from being waged. And it has happened before. > [@](#): > > Not to mention the hypocrisy of it, of course. America is waging wars when it suits its interests, that’s about it. And its interests are reasonable. > [@](#): > > The first Gulf War was not about defending the innocent people of Kuwait, but keeping an oil producer on the “right” side. The only somewhat defensible US military action that happened during my lifetime was the Kosovo conflict. Preventing a genocide without gaining anything in the process, that you may get off on calling “noble” or whatever. Afghanistan I suppose had a good casus belli, but putting boots on the ground was a really stupid and overly destructive way to go about fighting a criminal organization (not to mention, AQ picked up sticks and moved out of Afghanistan within, what, a year ? Six months ?). Al-Qaeda can’t be fought with just the FBI and CIA. Indeed when we killed Bin Laden we sent in SEAL Team not anything else. And as pointed out in PGW I we helped the people of Kuwait while working in our interest, > [@](#): > > Oh. Well, if no \*American \*lives are lost, then I suppose everything is hunky dory. Morally sound reasoning, that. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2011, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-little-hate-for-the-us-soldiers/587727/135 "2011-07-05T15:53:04Z")
[QUOTE=devilsknew] Death Mongering is at an all time high. Jus look at the price of gasoline. [/QUOTE] Sex slavery is at historical highs…have you seen the price of creamed corn lately?? :eek: > [@](#): > > The Military today has only the best marketing team. They try and succed at making death appealing. But i guess sociopaths have to eat too. Politicians and the government have the best marketing teams. They try and succeed at making the economy appealing. But, I guess anorexics have to eat too, ehe? I’m sure you meant the above to sound profound or some sort of clear eyed assessment (of something) that takes no prisoners and tells it like it is, but sadly it comes off as random words jumbled together by a not particularly good Swahili to English translator using a dialect of ancient Romulan as a key. -XT ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2011, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-little-hate-for-the-us-soldiers/587727/136 "2011-07-05T16:08:17Z")
[QUOTE=devilsknew] I think your post is ignoring ideological choice. The true source of the soldier spitting meme was military intel, meant to disrupt the war protestors. [/QUOTE] So, attempting to translate this into English, what you are saying here is that in fact the US troops in the late Vietnam period didn’t come under public criticism or wrath from the anti-war protesters? That, in fact they were well respected and honored for their service while the true wrath of the protesters was directed where it should have been, i.e. at the politicians who involved us in that war? Rather than ask for a cite I’ll just direct you to explain your opinion here to the OP, since it’s the core basis for his theory that US troops were hated during Vietnam and puzzlement as to why they aren’t hated today. Feel free to go into as much detail as you like…should be interesting. > [@](#): > > Same as the “Support the troops” unquestioning meme that, if I might say has been very successful on a self absorbed American fascist controlled society. Well, that seems like a strawman (i.e. the ‘unquestioning meme’ part seems over the top), but, again I’ll direct you to the OP who is the one who set up this scenario of hate vs love. > [@](#): > > The difference is that the draftees then had no choice. Today people decide to join for mercenary reasons… the American dream with great ignorance and ideological forethought. Blindspot. The draftee had no choice, and yet people blamed them for being in Vietnam when they had no choice. The volunteer is certainly a volunteer, however once they have volunteered they to have no choice. The military gets it’s marching orders from duly appointed civilian authority. And it’s horseshit that the people who join do so ‘with great ignorance and ideological forethought’ whatever that is supposed to mean (it’s probably again a translation error coming from Swahili into English via Romulan…those pesky translators can be a real pain in the ass). If you had ever been in the military you’d know that people join for a variety of reasons, very few for ‘ideological’ reasons. > [@](#): > > Our military learned from the Nazi SS pioneers as a model. :rolleyes: > [@](#): > > Infuse great political ideaology and patriotism and elitism with enough gratification whether that be dirty money or some psychological reward (false patriotism, righteousness, and moral superiority) and people will kill and destroy at your behest with great fanaticism and lack of judgement. I assume you actually believe this bullshit, which is really sad. > [@](#): > > Your whole post rests upon choice and non choice… Draft and mercenary armies are much different. Seems like your army today is an army that denies personal responsibility… something that seems to be a great point of pride among the conservatives on this board. Luckily, the ‘liberals’ on this board are mainly sane and rational, so the converse strawman doesn’t really hold true. Thanks for your input…it was, as always, entertaining. Like I said, feel free to direct your key points about the various ‘memes’ to the OP…it should be a hell of a lot of fun to watch. -XT ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2011, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-little-hate-for-the-us-soldiers/587727/137 "2011-07-05T16:44:46Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > What I was going to say. That the “peace and love” generation considered those of their age who fought in Vietnam to be traitors to the movement, and collaborators with the militarists.. What right wing source educated you on the era? Do you know how many Vietnam vets came home against the War? Some, but not all, actively protested it. I knew guys who gladly joined and others who kept their deferments in line–because they didn’t want to die in a war that was very different from Our Fathers’ War. I remember _one_ arty chick who criticized her boyfriend because he got drafted & didn’t fight it; she was a trust fundie & he wasn’t. But I don’t remember _anybody_ spitting on soldiers or yelling about “baby killers.” I was there. You weren’t. (Am I the only one who thinks **Commisar** is just being cute? Is he a citizen? Does he vote? Does he have a Pit thread yet?) ETA: [Yes!](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=598262) ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2011, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-little-hate-for-the-us-soldiers/587727/138 "2011-07-05T18:11:44Z")
> [@Recovering\_Republican](#): > > We didn’t “lose”. The Hanoi government signed a treaty that gave us everything we wanted. Only in the sense that Chamberlain got everything he wanted by forcing Hitler to the table at Munich. You would do well to look up the phrase “decent interval” as it relates to US goals at the Paris Peace Accords. > [@](#): > > Except they had no intention of honoring it Of course they didn’t, neither did the South. The cease fire was promptly and repeatedly broken by both sides. The main points of the accord were a cease fire in place, the withdrawal of US troops, and talks between the North and South on a reunification to be carried out by peaceful means. Things to note here: the cease fire in place left tens and tens of thousands of NLF troops in South Vietnam. The vague language on future talks for an eventual peaceful reunification of Vietnam something that had been fought over ever since the division. And in another nod to Munich where Britain, Germany and France decided the fate of Czechoslovakia without any representation of Czechoslovakia even present, the negotiations were carried out between North Vietnam and the US, not only without any representation of the South Vietnamese being present, **but in fact carried out behind the South Vietnamese’s back**. As the Czechs were told by Britain and France to accept Munich or face war with Germany alone, Thieu was told he’d have to accept it despite his protestations. Nixon wrote him a rubber check that he knew would bounce by promising that the US would intervene with airpower in the event of a major NLF offensive as they had just done during the '72 Easter Offensive. As to your notion that the South fell because the Democratic Congress wouldn’t provide the arms the ARVN needed, don’t be absurd. The South fell because the ARVN was a thoroughly unmotivated and ineffective force outside of a few select formations. The NLF collected a huge amount of US weaponry as war booty from the ARVN when the South fell. There was actually a glut of M-16s on the black/grey world arms market as a result of the resale of the nearly one million captured by the communists. ---
**Author:** ![Dick\_Dastardly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c4cdca/32.png) [@Dick\_Dastardly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dick_Dastardly)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2011, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-little-hate-for-the-us-soldiers/587727/139 "2011-07-05T18:15:59Z")
> [@Recovering\_Republican](#): > > We didn’t “lose”. [![](https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v701/Attaturk/last_helicopter_out_of_saigon.jpg) ](https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v701/Attaturk/last_helicopter_out_of_saigon.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2011, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-little-hate-for-the-us-soldiers/587727/140 "2011-07-05T19:56:37Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > What I mean are bigger wars from being waged. And it has happened before. What bigger war was prevented by Viet-Nam ? Returning to Iraq ? Afghanistan ? Lybia ? And on the shadier side of things, helping Pinochet ? Arming the mujahideen ? > [@](#): > > And its interests are reasonable. From an American point of view, of course. From the point of view of everyone else, not so much, no. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-little-hate-for-the-us-soldiers/587727.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-little-hate-for-the-us-soldiers/587727.md?page=8)