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Sentimental Journey

October 1, 1943

RCAF HQ, London, England

After almost three years in the Canadian Army in Great Britain, I was transferred to the Royal Canadian Air Force for aircrew training back in Canada. In the three-week period from October 8 to October 30, 1943, I was at a repatriation depot near Liverpool, England. After bouncing off a previous shaky r . . .

Paranoia — Cause of the Cold War

Seneca, The Younger, over 2000 years ago, "Worse than war, is the fear of war."  President Franklin Roosevelt concurred 90 years ago, "All we have to fear, is fear itself." Paranoia is described as "delusions of supposed hostile intentions of others."  Three individuals with that mind set appear to have been the prime architects of the Cold War, which being 'cold' did not have specific batt . . .

Part 2: PARANOIA — Cause of the Cold War

Anti-Communism was the focus in the Forrestal years, 1946 to 1949. All of the following were introduced: the Marshall Plan, NATO, the World Bank, Radio Free Europe, the National Security Act, the National Security Council to run it. Forrestal upgraded the CIA and cooperated with J. Edgar Hoover and Senator Joe McCarthy to build the Black List. Forrestal coordinated Pentagon 'loyalty checks', a . . .

The Vietnam War — Commentary

A pre-war commentary- President Johnson said to U.S. National Security advisor, McGeorge Bundy May 1964, (2 months before his election, and a year before his troop build-up in Vietnam). "What is Vietnam to this country? ------- I don't think it is worth fighting for." Yet   in 1965-7 he sent in about a half million ill-fated American soldiers.  Was fear of losing the next el . . .

Money, Power and War

The horrors of war can only be viscerally, and empathetically understood by those who have experienced:  the fragility of their own bodies in danger and combat; the repulsive but demanding urgency of flowing blood; the blending odors of blood, sweat, urine, feces and death itself; heard the screams, moans, groans, curses and prayers at sudden violent trauma; and experienced the abrupt vacant . . .