Déjà vu all over again

The essay compares the current presidential approval rating, roughly 35%, to U.S. public support for the Vietnam War after the 1968 Tet offensive, an assault that left thousands of American troops dead or wounded and created hundreds of thousands of refugees. It argues both eras share a pattern of official dishonesty, disconnection from the public, and leaders declaring victory regardless of facts on the ground.

The author draws a parallel between the CIA-led Phoenix program's 1969 quota of 20,000 'neutralized' NLF members, many killed without due process, and ICE arrest quotas aimed ostensibly at 'the worst of the worst' despite most detainees having no pending criminal charges. It also cites the deletion of nearly 400 federal databases as an act of historical falsification echoing wartime record manipulation.

The piece closes by invoking Lt. William Calley's dismissal of the My Lai massacre as 'no big deal,' asking whether the country has again reached a point of accepting mass harm with a shrug.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.