See, for example, http://www.integerspin.co.uk/polygon.htm.

Also see http://mathworld.wolfram.com/ReuleauxTriangle.html.

From The Press Briefing February 1, 2005

Q Scott, last night, in an amicus brief filed before the U.S. Supreme Court, the Justice Department came down in favor of displaying the Ten Commandments in courthouses and statehouses around the country. The question is, does the President believe in commandment number six, “Thou shalt not kill,” as it applies to the U.S. invasion in Iraq?

MR. McCLELLAN: Go ahead. Next question. Ken, go ahead.

And lets face it, Saddam wasn’t that smart. After all he got caught one way or another, didnt he?

But one thing though, you told me not to compare this conflict with Vietnam because there are no similarities. Yet you did just that. i don’t want to take away from what you said, because those are very real, important points. Just thought i would point that out.

As a teacher, I strenuously object to the No Child Left Behind garbage. It is a dismal failure – beautiful , politically catchy phrase, but not realistic, even damaging to the educational process. I teach more or less within the system, but I stay in trouble with administrators (who “like me”, and my teaching style, but not my rebelliousness) because I question and complain.

I was given my three Article 15s for much the same reasons, and was also within my rights at that time. It cost me because those rights were civil, not military, if that makes sense. I did my job, but asked too many questions and gave too many opinions to the wrong (or right?) people.

I have detailed the flaws, inconsistencies, and damage being incurred in regular communication with “this administration” (another slogan). I don’t use exaggeration in those communications – I don’t have to – the facts bear me out. It will probably change nothing, but, consistent with your own efforts, my little voice will keep trying.

Anti-war activists of the 60s, through the People’s Committee for Peace and Justice and the National Peace Action Committee, worked hand-in-hand with the North Vietnamese. The U.S. “imperialists and their puppets” were labeled as “cruel, cowardly, vicious, immoral, and corrupt,” while the North Vietnamese were “kindly, strong, heroic, moral, and honest.”

I used quotation marks, because those words evolved into activists’ slogans and themes. America was called a “police state” at home, and in foreign policy we were “policemen of the world.” Even before My Lai, we were committing “atrocities” in Vietnam and acting like “fascists” both at home and abroad. We were a “violent” society, with an administration that “lied” and “deceived,” while the New Left stood only for truth and justice.

Ho Chi Minh was painted as a “man of the people,” “humane, peace-loving”, and a pretty decent fellow in all rights. All he wanted was to “liberate” the South, freeing it from the “neoimperialists.” He had no interest in Cambodia or Laos, so why was the “imperialist” U.S. beating up on a “little old man in sandals.” Those activist themes and slogans proved untrue; see the killing fields.

The Vietnam War was labeled an “immoral” war. It was an extension of the Wilsonian philosophy, then same idea that led us to war in 1917 and again in the 1940s to “make the world safe for democracy,” and the anticommunism of the 1950s. It can be called naive, but not immoral.

By simply changing the proper names, all of the above could have been written about activists’ activities in today’s situation. Same slogans, same charges, and same motivations. Almost all of those were proven false within one year after we abruptly abandoned the South Vietnamese and our own troops, the losers. The difference, today? We don’t yet have history to verify or deny positive results of the Iraq War – only subjectivity and prognostication.

Today’s war – illegal? I see the term freely (recklessly?) used often. We are in a War on Terror. Saddam was a terrorist, as defined by the 9/11 Commission, providing safe harbor and funding terrorists. The indictment was based on his history, with all the world (including those who would not join the intervention) in agreement on the primary issues. I believe in the American system that sent us into war to depose Saddam, and the action was legal by the American laws I believe in. Maybe I’m just naive. I’m also tired and sleepy.

Sorry for the length – I’m not trying to dominate, just a boring, long-winded old school teacher. Gotta get some rest, going back into the real home front trenches with teenagers tomorrow morning. They can’t find enough “subs” who want to fight that war, either.

Apologies in advance for the poor segue, but please bear with me as I attempt to draw some analogies between Abu Ghraib and My Lai:
1) Both were illegal, morally and militarily.
2) People died unjustly at the hands of our soldiers in both cases.
3) Both were aberrations, not the norm.
4) Both were discovered/uncovered (and rightly so), as a result of photographs having been taken.
5) Lt. Calley & the commander at Abu Ghraib did not deserve to be in the military, let alone command men. Calley had flunked out of a junior college, had a poor academic record, and graduated from OCS without learning to properly read a map. Politically, I was not a Nixon supporter, but it was not Nixon’s fault that Calley was placed in a leadership role.
6) Both incidents were used by activists in like manner, efforting to portray American troops and their leaders as war criminals.
7) Both were portrayed as “the norm.”
8) Both were attributed to administration policies.
9) I don’t know any Vietnam veteran who condoned or excused what Calley and his platoon did; the same can be said of the criminals at Abu Ghraib. Their actions sullied the reputation of every one of us.

I’m just thinking off the top of my head, so I’m sure there are many other correlations. I’m recovering from surgery, so my thinking skills are hindered by Lortab.

The biggest difference, I hope, is the resulting punishment. I hope the punishment with the Abu Ghraib perps is swift, severe, and fitting of the crime. Lt. William Calley was sentenced to hard labor for life. He actually served only three years, under house arrest, and now works in a jewelry shop in Georgia. He should have been tried for murder, convicted, and executed.

No, this is not Vietnam, but analogies are constantly being made with inappropriate inconsistency. The anti-war activists’ efforts have never changed. The slogans have never changed. I can only hope the partnerships have changed.

For the sake of purely illusionary brevity, I’ll post this partial reply before concluding in my next post.

Interesting what you noted about Johnson and Nixon. I often wonder what the troops think of their leader, any leader, during a time of war. Is it expected of the troops to supprt wars no matter what, or is there room to disagree while not be labelled unpatriotic? It must get pretty tough for some troops caught in the middle of what they beileve and what their duty is.

TeacherVet: I know that we disagree from time to time (hell, pretty much all the time!) but I want you to know that although i am anti-war, i am not anti-soldier. My poppy sits right beside my flag all year round on my desk and I am very grateful very the freedoms i enjoy because of the bravery of the soldiers that fought and died for me to have those freedoms. And i know that war is sometimes unavoidable and indeed sometimes its necessary. Obviously I don’t think this war was necessary which is why i’m here, but I do know that sometimes it is.

The worst experience I had was 1972, having a university professor at a Liberal Arts university address me as a “baby killer” when asking me a question in class. I have never, ever been responsible for the death of a baby, in any circumstances.

In combat, fear is primary in the mix of emotions, but in the home front combat, only anger. Please forgive if I sometimes go overboard with defensiveness. The two most frequently asked questions of today’s troops are the same ones that were asked 30 years ago – What do the folks at home really think, and why does the news lie about what we’re really doing? – obviously paraphrased a hundred times over. It hurts. I don’t parrot anyone, but I use my God-given defensiveness in the most articulate manner I can.

I felt nothing but revulsion for both Johnson and Nixon, but would have taken a bullet for either of them. They were my CICs. Sorry, and I’ll shut up now – I’m not looking for a fight here.

I may not be too good with a drill, obviously, but you should see what I can do with computers, or rather do to your computer.

Warned.

But for that to happen, several improbable things would have had to occur in sequence, all having gone perfectly for the Bushies:
1. The military would have had to have captured Saddam much earlier in the “modest house” described. (hard to imagine Saddam owning a “modest house”)
2. The military must have done this without anybody talking. They would have had to have kept it completely on a need-to-know basis within their own ranks and made sure that anybody who knew too much and was thinking about telling the press too early dissapeared.
3. People would have had to have been flown about, still on the hush-hush to set the event up, probably without knowing what they were being asked to do beforehand.
4. Saddam would have had to have been put into the hole, and somehow prevented from yelling “This is fake! this is fake!” within earshot of anyone who wasn’t in on the plot.
5. The plotters would all have to have dissappeared into the background, and nobody in the media gotten tipped off or even suspicious until months after the event.

now if this “former marine” knew all this, WHY DIDN’T HE SAY SO EARLIER!?

I absolutley agree with you other ‘Licoln, FDR, both Bushes’ point. Included should be every world leader that fails to protect human life or has complete disregard to it.

But I still disagree with the admin’s rationale for invasion. I could of swore that 2 years ago (wow, almost to the day) I was hearing ‘WMD’ and ‘threat to America’ and ‘ties to Bin Laden’ on a daily basis for invasion justification.

How long were you in ‘nam TeacherVet?