Familiar Words

On April 16, 1975, just two weeks before the fall of Saigon, President Ford said, “I am absolutely convinced that if Congress made available $722 million in military assistance by the time I asked, the South Vietnamese could stabilize the military situation today.” Sound familiar? Of course it’s a bit more than the $100 million President Reagan is asking for the contras in Nicaragua, but give him time.

It seems the only lesson we’ve learned from the long, cruel, costly years of the Vietnam experience is that we are too bloody arrogant to learn anything. SHIRLEY WOLF

Santa Monica