Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: Notesfiles $Revision: 1.6.2.16 $; site inmet.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!harvard!think!inmet!janw From: janw@inmet.UUCP Newsgroups: net.politics Subject: Asymmetry Message-ID: <7800452@inmet.UUCP> Date: Wed, 18-Sep-85 00:11:00 EDT Article-I.D.: inmet.7800452 Posted: Wed Sep 18 00:11:00 1985 Date-Received: Sun, 22-Sep-85 15:57:36 EDT Lines: 30 Nf-ID: #N:inmet:7800452:000:1118 Nf-From: inmet!janw Sep 18 00:11:00 1985 > 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 Brought to you by Super Global Mega Corp .com