Optional Wars Vietnam-Iraq
Subtitle: A Combat Wounded Marine Tells All
Publisher: Outskirts press, Inc.
Published: 2008
Place of publication: USA
Language: eng
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 247
Description: Written By Bernie Weisz Vietnam Historian Pembroke Pines, Florida July 9, 2010  contact: BernWei1@aol.com Title of Review:
"Two Wrongs Don't Make A Right!"   George P. Unger's book "Optional Wars" is a book anyone must read when they ponder how this country could be stupid enough to become emeshed and bogged down in Iraq with the knowledge of this country's debacle in Vietnam. Mr. Unger very quickly qualifies himself as being knowledgeable of what warfare is like. He graphically paints a picture to the reader as to what happened to him that almost made him one of 58,000 Americans that lost their lives in S.E. Asia. Unger recounted: "I was shot during a large operation against a Viet Cong/North Vietnamese Army force, while we were traversing a wooded area adjacent to rice paddies.  It was a combat operation in a free fire zone. Since a bullet travels faster than the speed of sound I never heard the report from the enemy's rifle, and I never felt the bullet's entry, but I awoke several seconds later, on my stomach, knowing full well that something was terribly wrong. I had been shot with a round which entered my chin on the right side of my face, and exited my neck on the left side of my mouth". The effect of being shot was as such: "My jaw was shattered, numerous teeth shot out. The exit wound, in my neck, was as large as a silver dollar and with a flashlight my cartoid artery was visible, and my chin had a small hole, where the bullet had entered". Suprisingly, this happened only two weeks before Unger's tour of Vietnam was to end. All his buddies that carried him to the medevac chopper he never saw again ( a hallmark of Vietnam-a lack of future camraderie) and he was scurried away for the United States via Japan.  This experience, if anything, certainly qualifies to the reader Unger's knowledge of the perils, pitfalls, capricious vagaries and deadliness of war. Unger of course recovered, and takes the reader on a tour of his adolescence, youth, and young adulthood, certainly a tough journey with his set of circumstances and lack of parental direction. Unger went on after Marine Corps tour of duty to become a Nassau County, New York police officer, and upon retirement moved to Florida with his wife and two children, which is where this book was written. However, this book is not about being wounded, the New York City Police Force, bad parenting, etc. This book is Unger's vociferous denunciation, with the folly of Vietnam being juxtaposed point by point, of our current involvement in Iraq. This is precisely why Unger named the book "Optional Wars". Giving the embarrassing example of the "Gulf of Tonkin" farce which tricked this country into supporting military intervention in S.E. Asia, Unger points out to the reader how ex-president Bush and his cabinet used ruses such as the famous (and spurious) "weapons of mass destruction" and "yellow journalism" to rally war fever that was in reality groundless.  It is interesting to note in Lt. Dave Grossman's book "On Killing", Grossman's printing of the moral and philosophical guidance that should have been gained in the "Weinberger Doctrine", which was penned by Casper Weinberger, secretary of defense for ex-President Ronald Reagan. It's purpose was to give the U.S. "moral direction" that could be built from the ashes of the Vietnam War. The Weinberger doctrine stated: "The U.S. should not commit forces to combat unless our vital interests are at stake. We must commit them in sufficient numbers and with sufficient support to win. We must clearly defined political and military objectives. We must never again commit forces to a war we do not intend to win. Before the U.S. commits forces abroad, the U.S. government should have some reasonable assurance of the support of the American people and their elected representatives in the Congress. U.S. troops cannot be asked to fight a battle with the Congress at home while attempting to win a war overseas. Nor will the American people sit by and watch U.S. troops committed as expendable pawns on some grand diplomatic chessboard. Finally, the commitment of U.S. troops should be a last resort".  Does any of these tenants seem to be violated in our current occupation of Iraq? Unger both affirmatively and unequivocally says YES! It was obvious that the Weinberger doctrine just mentioned represented the recognition that a nation that sends men out to kill must understand the price that it will ultimately pay for these deeds in faraway lands. However, it was clearly intended to prevent a recurrance of the Vietnam experience.  So far, that price is close to 5,000 U.S. servicemen's lives lost, no light at the "end of the tunnel" in Iraq, and a current economic depression that can certainly be linked in part to the precious waste of billions of taxpayer dollars in waging this futile military effort in the Middle East. Without being a "plot spoiler", Unger's argument of our folly in Iraq is too strong to refute. I would like to quote two excerpts that particularly struck a fearful cord for our involvement in Iraq. Unger wrote: "To further flaunt our ignorance of their (Iraqi) history and culture, our President brazenly called the war a "crusade" something that the Muslims have not forgotten since the "crusades" of old, hundreds of years ago. His (George W. Bush) premature "mission accomplished", displayed his caviler cowboy attitude and to further flaunt this attitude, he challenged the terrorists, "Bring it on." Where does this stupidity end! Egyptian President Mubarak has stated, that the American actions, have only served to multiply the recruitment successes of our foes". If we kill 15 innocent civilians (collateral damage) by mistake, it only serves to swell the ranks of our enemies as their relatives and friends join the Jihadists".  Unger goes on to give two portentous predictions. He asserts that: "Unless we intend to stay 20 to 30 years and are willing to kill tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis by mistake, and unless we are prepared to continually take casualties, we have to consider new policies, or just abandoning Iraq to a Civil War and the possibility of higher gas prices at the pumps.   Finally, Unger's coup de grace against our involvement in Iraq is put forth as such: "When you enter a war, or a conflict, under one premise, and then partly through the conflagration, it is proven that your raisons d'etre were untrue, and even conjured up, what do you do?"  What is moral and ethical at this juncture? We went from WMD's and a nuclear threat, to regime change and installing democracy. Hey, I can give you a plethora of dictators in other countries without Democracy, either here in our hemisphere (Cuba) or elsewhere. How about that crazy bastard in North Korea, xenophobic Jung II, or that murderous villain in the Sudan? One could count countless countries that need realignment. Does our President have a list? Is Iran next?  What scares me is that he (Bush) claims under this War Powers act that it includes the Middle East, not just Iraq. Unfortunately for our President and his regime, we do not have sufficient warm bodies in uniform or for that matter sufficient military hardware, to engage in another incident".  This book surely quelled any doubts lingering in my mind of whether or not this great country belongs in Iraq. Whether you are an ex Vietnam Vet, a student of history, political science, or just interested in what is happening today, this is a book that you cannot afford to miss! This is a critical timepiece of current events written by an individual highly qualified to judge the similarities of our mistakes in Vietnam compared to the conflagration currently tragically unfolding in Iraq! A "must read"!
Table of contents: title: 1. Wounded In Action/Last Rites/V.A. Hospital; title: 2.The Beginning; title: 3.Becoming A Marine-So It Seems; title: 4. Republic of Viet Nam (RVN); title: 5. RVN, Afghanistan and Iraq; title: 6. Psychological Warfare and Propaganda; title: 7.Middle East Intervention; title: 8.Danang To Bagdad; title: 9.Iraq-War Planning and Aftermath; title: 10.Geneva Convention/Torture; title: 11.Wars and Deadlines; title: 12.Mercenaries, Civilian Contractors And A Draft; title: 13.War Time Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD); title: 14. Partisan Politics; title: 15. The True Cost.