Remembering Vietnam

National Review ^ | September 16th 2017 | George Will

[Ennis85]

Many Americans’ moral vanity is expressed nowadays in their rage to disparage. They are incapable of measured judgments about past politics — about flawed historical figures who were forced by cascading circumstances to make difficult decisions on the basis of imperfect information. So, the nation now needs an example of how to calmly assess episodes fraught with passion and sorrow. An example arrives Sunday night. For ten nights on PBS, Ken Burns’s and Lynn Novick’s The Vietnam War, ten years in the making and 18 hours in length, tells the story of a war “begun in good faith by decent people, out of fateful misunderstandings,” and “prolonged because it seemed easier to muddle through than admit that it had been caused by tragic decisions” during five presidencies. The combat films are extraordinary; the recollections and reflections of combatants and others on both sides are even more so, featuring photos of them then and interviews with many of them now.

A 1951 photo shows a congressman named John Kennedy dining in Saigon. There is an interview with Le Quan Cong, who became a guerilla fighter in 1951, at age twelve. Viewers will meet Madame Le Minh Khue, who was 16 when she joined the “Youth Shock Brigade for National Salvation”: “I love Hemingway. I learned from For Whom the Bell Tolls. Like the resourcefulness of the man who destroys the bridge. I saw how he coped with war, and I learned from that character.” As did another combatant who loves that novel, John McCain. Eleven years after his Saigon dinner, President Kennedy said, “We have not sent combat troops in the generally understood sense of the word.”

[ealgeone]

Military strategists going forward should study Vietnam for how not to fight a war. You never play with one hand tied behind your back. When you to war, you go to war with the intent to win and that means defeating the enemy.

[Rummyfan]

I won’t watch Ken Burns’ take on this. The Best and the Brightest got us involved, then tried to micro-manage the conduct of the war. A lot of good men lost, then thanks to the Dems we totally abandoned the Vietnamese which also led to genocide in Cambodia. What the heck... a thread on Viet Nam could run to one thousand posts and we still wouldn’t address all the issues.

[miss marmelstein]

Will could begin at home and learn to tame his hatred of the president.

[PROCON]

Vietnam was the precedent for politicians establishing the "Rules Of Engagement" to make the war more "fair" and to appease the anti-war public.

I'm a Vietnam Vet, saw this SH*t firsthand and it pissed us off..........WTF, OVER, you want us to win this f****** war or not?!?!?

It's still happening in Afghanistan and it pisses our Military off still.

I have high hopes for Sec. Mattis!

[sparklite2]

you go to war with the intent to win

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It was Napoleon who said, “If you’re going to take Vienna, take Vienna.” IOW, half-hearted prosecution of war is a bad idea. That looks to be the American way ever since WWII.

[Snickering Hound]

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xi2oyv

George Will’s ‘Sports Machine’.

Throw the ball, George!

[Rebelbase]

[Terry Mross]

“WTF? Over.” Haven’t heard that in a long time.

[sparklite2]

Many Americans’ moral vanity

Bow-tied patrician George Will peers down from his commanding pile of self-righteousness to find the morals of lesser beings to be merely vanity. As for Johnson's starting US involvement in the Vietnam War, Mr. Will swoons thus...

begun in good faith by decent people, out of fateful misunderstandings

Baloney.  The claim that North Vietnam fired first at the first Gulf of Tonkin confrontation was a lie.  And the second confrontation was fabricated from whole cloth. LBJ would have his Congressional permission to wage war.

As for Mr. Will's own moral vanity, when asked why he refused to write about Vince Foster's murder and subsequent removal to Ft Marcy Park, Mr. Will responded that he did not dwell in such matters.  If elitist moral vanity has a poster boy, it is George Will.

[Big Red Badger]

“Good Bye Sweetheart,Hello VIETNAM.”

[DIRTYSECRET]

General Westmorland: Was he or was he not a yes man?

[Big Red Badger]

I couldn’t say...
Why do You ask?

[ConorMacNessa]

Army Bro, I am in full accord. The "Rules of Engagement" imposed on us during the Vietnam War were, in my opinion, much less onerous than those imposed on our troops today.

That said, I will not view anything authored by Ken Burns, whose extreme Leftist bias infects everything he produces.

I too am a Vietnam Vet - I saw what actually happened and I've had enough of the lies spread by the Left. We won every battle on the field, and but for the machinations of people like Fonda, Kerry and Cronkite, among others, we would have enjoyed the fruits of our victory.

We were kicking ass and taking names when I was medevacked out in 1969, and I know my Brothers-in-Arms continued to do so until ordered to stand down.

"I am an American fighting man. I serve in the forces guarding our country and our way of life.
I am prepared to give my life in their defense."

[Bodleian_Girl]

We met as soul mates
On Parris Island
We left as inmates
From an asylum
And we were sharp
As sharp as knives
And we were so gung ho
To lay down our lives

We came in spastic
Like tameless horses
We left in plastic
As numbered corpses
And we learned fast
To travel light
Our arms were heavy
But our bellies were tight

We had no home front
We had no soft soap
They sent us Playboy
They gave us Bob Hope
We dug in deep
And shot on sight
And prayed to Jesus Christ
With all of our might

We had no cameras
To shoot the landscape
We passed the hash pipe
And played our Doors tapes
And it was dark
So dark at night
And we held on to each other
Like brother to brother
We promised our mothers we’d write
And we would all go down together
We said we’d all go down together
Yes we would all go down together

Remember Charlie
Remember Baker
They left their childhood
On every acre
And who was wrong?
And who was right?
It didn’t matter in the thick of the fight

We held the day
In the palm
Of our hand
They ruled the night
And the night
Seemed to last as long as six weeks
On Parris Island

We held the coastline
They held the highlands
And they were sharp
As sharp as knives
They heard the hum of our motors
They counted the rotors
And waited for us to arrive
And we would all go down together
We said we’d all go down together
Yes we would all go down together

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qjzjhl-QztE

[PROCON]

Well said, Navy Bro, well said.

I too will ignore Ken Burns, don't need his garbage.

I'm sad the young folks on this thread are posting mocking, "funny" comments about our War.

Eff them, they were either in diapers or not yet born, but they still giggle and mock.

Again, eff them.

[sparklite2]

Thanks for that.

[PROCON]

What’s your take, Brother?

[sparklite2]

I’m sad the young folks on this thread are posting mocking, “funny” comments about our War.

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Huh? Like what?

[PROCON]

Not you...