What the Vietnam Protest Movements taught us; Lessons we are still learning.

http://www.alternet.org/8-essential-lessons-we-learned-vietnam-antiwar-movement?akid=13091.294211.oRuJmo&rd=1&src=newsletter1036146&t=9

1.     The Vietnam peace movement must be remembered as having shaken our country to its foundations and for defending democracy against secrecy and bureaucratic tyranny. 

3.     The claim that the American economy could afford both ‘guns and butter’ was false. The Vietnam War distorted the US economy and led to recession and stagflation.

4.     The Vietnam War was based on deception –from the Tonkin Gulf "incident" to claims of light at the end of the tunnel. Similar lies—"weapons of mass destruction" and Al-Qaida connections—led to war in Iraq.

7.     The war in Vietnam was an assault on the environment. The United States sprayed tens of millions of gallons of herbicides and defoliants over large areas of Vietnam, causing mass suffering and calamitous forced urbanization. Wars are a major contributor to climate crisis