Why do we bother?

I note in this mornings Australian a letter from David Lyons who lives in Hallidays Point, NSW

ON Anzac Day when we ponder those Australians who fell while invading other nations, we might ask ourselves just why Australians were involved in invasions of Turkey, Korea, Vietnam and Iraq in the first place. The inhabitants of these countries had made no threat to Australia, indeed most would have been struggling to place Australia on a map. David Lyons Hallidays Point, NSW

David, if you’re going to be asking yourself questions you might start with getting you’re facts right. True, we were involved in invading Turkey and Iraq but in both Vietnam and Korea we were involved in stopping other countries invading, not invading ourselves. In Korea, the North Korean communist party, ably assisted by the Chinese communists, invaded South Korea with the intent of imposing their oppression over the people. Had it succeeded, South Korea would be a basket case like the communist North Korea is today, rather than a free and prosperous society. In Vietnam, the communist North Vietnam invaded for the same reasons as in Korea. Had the western world not been white-anted by the media and opportunistic communist propaganda thenVietnam would not be the basket case it is today. I have been to Vietnam recently and the country is still locked in 18 th Century poverty and the people have few freedoms. I might add, there is hope for Vietnam but it will take a long time to overcome 30 years of communist ‘lockdown’ and Russian ‘help’. In Turkey, we invaded to stop Germany expansionism and in Iraq we invaded as a part of the war against terror. David, your philsophy, if applied over the last century and this one, would have the world a terrible place to live in. You have to realize that human nature dictates that some will try and impose their will on others and some will fight that imposition. The fact that some have fought allows you the freedoms you enjoy today. You say ‘the inhabitants of these countries had made no threat to Australia’. Maybe they didn’t but their governments surely did. You need to read more. You didn’t mention Japan invading the Pacific and threatening Australia. Was Australia’s deployment of troops to Papua New Guinea another invasion in your strange world? Stay home on ANZAC Day and watch football and let Australians who understand the world as it really is commemorate the sacrifice of so many so that stupid bastards like you have the freedom to denigrate that same sacrifice.