Vietnam War No Longer “Yesterday’s News”…

    I wrote the original draft of Indra’s Net more than a decade ago.  With the Vietnam War and Gulf War behind us, the book pointed toward the obsolescence of war…Then came September 11, 2001, and the American people faced a new enemy.  For the first time, war was not an offshore or nationally defined venture; terror had arrived on our shores in its grossest form.  The indiscriminate losses of life associated with terrorism, urban insurgency and sectarian violence were no longer distant.

Nineteen Middle Eastern terrorists had thwarted airport security systems and utilized our domestic airliners to wreak havoc.  Terrorism from outside was new to America, and the U.S. response to 9/11 reflected traditional reactions: identify an overseas foe, foster a fear response within our domestic populace and involve military forces. 

Frustrated by the ambiguous size and nebulous location of Al-Qaeda, the Bush Administration sought out a larger-focus target.  The Gulf War had been recent enough to offer up Iraq as a potential threat.  Although the Iraqi view of Al-Qaeda was not much different from ours, Iraq had a bellicose leader, perceived to be a belligerent force in the Middle East.  Better yet, Iraq, once the world’s fifth largest armed force, had been systematically contained by a U.S. no-fly zone.  U.S. strike forces could easily target the remaining areas of that country.  With Americans uncertain and fearful of terrorism on U.S. soil, Iraq became the enemy.

Fear of Weapons of Mass Destruction served as fodder. Although an unfounded, calculated Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld propaganda effort, alleged WMDs became the rallying point for a preemptive strike by the U.S.  Once on the ground inside Iraq, U.S. forces mired.  The hastily drawn battle plan and loose sense for the “enemy” revealed a glaring lack of understanding about regional culture, politics and values.  As at Vietnam, the U.S. shifted from “liberating” a country to creating a military theater and fighting a war.  The battle lines soon pitted the world’s best trained and most technologically advanced fighting force against loosely organized guerrilla insurgents fighting on their own soil.

The casualties of Iraq and mounting casualties of Afghanistan in many ways resemble those of the Vietnam War.  Improved battlefield medical techniques and services have exceeded any previous war, with 90% of injured U.S. forces surviving.  This brings with it a phenomenon: the largest number of American amputees since the Civil War, with an alarmingly high number of traumatic brain injuries and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder victims.

A U.S. foreign policy based upon military action and establishing a sympathetic government is nothing new.  Afghanistan’s current leadership bears a striking resemblance to the string of suspect presidents that the U.S. propped up in South Vietnam between the mid-1950s and 1975.  Similarities between Southeast Asia and the Afghanistan/Pakistan region do not stop there.  If we continue applying failed entry strategies, persistently expanding this war, can the U.S. expect a different outcome than at Vietnam? 

Why is Vietnam significant to America’s role in the world today?  U.S. foreign policy at Iraq and Afghanistan is not unlike the Southeast Asia policies of the 1950s and early ‘60s.  Less than half a century ago, the U.S. became embroiled in the longest war in its history.  Are we destined to exceed that record in the Middle East?  What alternate strategies can we explore?

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Indra’s Net

     While Indra’s Net speaks to WWII and the Vietnam experience, it also speaks to the larger issue of war. War is once again the central theme of American foreign policy, and my blog welcomes earnest viewpoints and founded facts that illuminate the impact of contemporary wars and ways nations can ameliorate political and cultural differences—and defeat terrorism—short of wide-scale military conflict…Take in the novel. It’s up for discussion.—Moses Ludel

     “…this ambitious novel spreads its net across the marches of history, reeling in gold nuggets of intriguing fictional action…One of the best things about this novel is the author’s firm grasp of history, especially as experienced from the viewpoint character Dinh…the comprehensive novel reads like a history book without the boring bits…An engaging, satisfying, and richly lengthy read.”—****Holly Chase Williams, ForeWord CLARION Reviews.

Featured at the New York and Los Angeles BookExpo, Beijing and Frankfurt Book Fairs…Available through all major book outlets and independent bookstores in soft cover edition and Amazon Kindle book.

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