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Endless War, Endless Refugees and Thomas Merton's Prophecy

indigo 007
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Joined: Nov 20 2011

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6079_Smith_W
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Joined: Jun 10 2010

Good article.

If I wanted to be cheeky I'd say clearly he must be suffering some religious mental illness.


Sean in Ottawa
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Joined: Jun 3 2003

I raised this yesterday. Please when posting an article that you wrote - acknowledge it as yours.

I do not get why you don't do that. It is not illegitimate to do post your own articles after all people write here for comment -- they just do not let a post suggest it comes from a third party.

Please explain why you cannot introduce your own articles as being yours?

You might get less resentment than when it appears to be an attempt to mislead.


Rev Pesky
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Joined: May 1 2012

Anyone trying to turn Kennedy into a 'peace' president has never heard of Vietnam.


kropotkin1951
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Joined: Jun 6 2002

Rev Pesky wrote:

Anyone trying to turn Kennedy into a 'peace' president has never heard of Vietnam.

Or Cuba's Bay of Pigs


Michael Moriarity
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Joined: Jul 27 2001

I'm old enough to actually remember Kennedy campaigning against Nixon based on what he called the "missile gap". He alleged that the Eisenhower administration had spent insufficient money on the ballistic missile systems, resulting, he claimed, in the USSR being ahead in ICBMs. Not exactly a peace president's campaign issue.


Noops
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Joined: Feb 15 2005
kropotkin1951 wrote:

Rev Pesky wrote:

Anyone trying to turn Kennedy into a 'peace' president has never heard of Vietnam.

Or Cuba's Bay of Pigs

It was my understanding that the BoP was not undertaken with Kennedy's approval.

6079_Smith_W
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Joined: Jun 10 2010

Nope, he approved it. But it was in place before he took office.

Part of the reason Nixon was hooped in the debates was that he knew what was being planned, but could not talk about it.


Rev Pesky
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Joined: May 1 2012

6079_Smith_W wrote:

Nope, he approved it. But it was in place before he took office.

Part of the reason Nixon was hooped in the debates was that he knew what was being planned, but could not talk about it.

One of the interesting things about the first debate, which was broadcast both on radio and television, is that radio listeners felt the debate was either tied, or Nixon won. By contrast, television viewers, by a large margin, believed Kennedy won.

Given that both listeners and viewers heard exactly the same words, it's a bit difficult to put Nixon's 'loss' of the debate up to his inability to use the planned Bay of Pigs invasion.

He did know about it, and he had requested that Allen Dulles (CIA chief) not inform Kennedy of the plans. That request was granted, but one wonders why, unless Nixon didn't want Kennedy to say something about it during the debate. 

In any case, both candidates took a hard line re: Cuba, and Nixon's anti-communism was well-known. It's hard to see how the debate result would have changed if he had spoken of the Bays of Pigs plan during the debate.


6079_Smith_W
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Joined: Jun 10 2010

I said part of the reason. I didn't say the result would have been different.

But the way I heard that story is that on both counts Kennedy knew, and knew Nixon couldn't rebut without revealing information that the government would rather have kept secret.

http://townhall.com/columnists/humbertofontova/2010/09/27/the_kennedy-ni...

 

 


Rev Pesky
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Joined: May 1 2012

6079_Smith_W wrote:

I said part of the reason. I didn't say the result would have been different.

But the way I heard that story is that on both counts Kennedy knew, and knew Nixon couldn't rebut without revealing information that the government would rather have kept secret.

http://townhall.com/columnists/humbertofontova/2010/09/27/the_kennedy-ni...

The source you provide for the contetion that Kennedy knew of the Bay of Pigs plans is the only one I can find that suggests Kennedy knew before he was inaugurated. Every other source contradicts that single source.

However, in the end it doesn't matter because the Cubans were already aware of USA plans. It was no secret. Nixon may have had a few more details, but the overall plan was reasonably well known.

What 'hooped' Nixon in the debates was simply that he looked awful in them. That's why radio audiences tended to score the win for Nixon, while television audiences scored for Kennedy. Even Nixon acknowledged that fact. The Bay of Pigs plans had nothing to do with it. There are a number of people who are trying to rewrite history (such as your source at townhall.com).


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