| Speaking from the outside, I don't think that the French beat themselves up over Algeria as much as the Americans do over Vietnam. I think that the American willingness to air their dirty laundry in public puts the rest of us to shame and is a testament to the maturity of their democracy.
Was the movement against the war in Algeria as big as the anti-Vietnam movement in the USA? (And that's putting to one side the argument that the Algerian War was a genuine colonial war pure and simple, but the reasons for American involvement in Vietnam were far more complicated).
I don't accept that the US "had" to introduce the Marshall Plan. They could have gone back to their homes 2,000 mile away and left us to sort ourselves out. They gave billions because they thought it was the right thing to do. Would you prefer it if they had kept occupation forces in France to keep you in the Western camp? That's what the Russians would have done.
You can put a cynical perspective on anything. You could argue that Mothers look after their children so that someone will look after them in their old age. In your world does any one ever do anything for the right reasons or is it all expediency and self interest. I can't disprove what you say, but that's not the world that I live in. |
