Vietnam re-hash

Dean Esmay has a post over on Dean's World re-hashing the Vietnam war. That's good. When discussing the Vietnam war we see the same lame reasoning, ignorance and name calling we saw during Vietnam that we are seeing now when the Iraq debacle is discussed. The names are different, communist VS al Queda supporter but the argument is the same.
The Vietnamese started the Vietnam war, not because they wanted to be communists but because they wanted to rid themselves of western (French) imperialistic rule. They hated the west and really didn't differentiate between the French or Americans. The communist Chinese and Russians came to their aide and that's when it became a battle of political philosophies. To the west it was never a war about freedom for the Vietnamese but a war to protect the economic interests of the west. That probably included the vast economic interests of the Roman Catholic Church in South East Asia. Outside of the major cities in the south the vast majority of the population supported the insurgency. If you were an American Soldier the kid you befriended during the day would shoot you in the back at night. The only way we could have "won" the war in Vietnam was to defoliate the entire country and kill nearly everyone. One has to wonder if that's what people like Dean, who criticize the politicians for holding back the military, advocate. There are those who think that the United States has God given imperialistic rights to dominate the world and it's resources. Like imperialistic communism was an evil religion to the Soviet Union imperialistic capitalism is a religion to the west. Any who oppose this religion of capitalism are branded communist and un American.

We see the same pattern in Iraq and the middle east. In the 1920's Europe and the United States recognized the importance of middle east oil. All foreign policy in the region since then has centered around imperialistic control of that resource. Un-natural national boundaries have been established and despots have been supported to insure that the oil will flow from there to here. We are once again bogged down in a war where the majority of the population hate us. Polls in Iraq indicated that many, if not a majority, risked going to the voting both because it was seen as a way to get the Americans out. If a majority of the Iraqis don't support the insurgents they do support their stated goal, to drive the Americans out. Once again we are involved in a conflict we can't win and those who oppose it are being labeled "Un-American". Deja Vu all over again. The supporters of the Vietnam war were dead wrong and the supporters of the quagmire in the desert are just as wrong.

Update
Dean Esmay has responded to the above:

Most of what you said about why we went to Vietnam is nonsense but, more importantly, what you said about my position has nothing to do with what my actual position is. Just to be clear.

I find this to be fairly typical for the folks who bash America and constantly accuse us of doing things for selfish, evil, imperialist reasons though: they constantly distort the position of those who disagree with them, creating straw men like that.

It's too bad people do that, but what can you do? Closed-minded reactionaries are to be found in all parts of the political world I guess.

You decide.