janw@inmet.UUCP (09/18/85)
> Larry Kolodney (USENET) ...decvax!genrad!teddy!lkk (INTERNET) lkk@mit-mc.arpa > What the Soviets are doing now in Afghanistan is at about the same level of > terrorism as what the U.S. did in Vietnam (operation Phoenix, napalm, Agent > Orange, etc.). This statement seems to proceed from a desire for symmetry - at least, I see no other foundation for it. Symmetry is intellectually attractive, but hard facts take precedence. A huge, indisputable fact, staring you right in the face, completely disproves the Vietnam-Afghan analogy. A quarter to a third of the population have fled Afghanistan. Vietnam had its exodus, too, but that one occurred as a result of American GI *leaving* the country. Surely, the people themselves are the best authority on who does what to them. I've put it into a jingle, so we won't forget again: How can we know what to believe Of distant lands, so weird and rum ? Well, webs of words aren't hard to weave - But here's a simple rule of thumb : The people flee when the Commies COME. They also flee when the Yankees LEAVE. Jan Wasilewsky