Posted on 11/03/2017 9:00:28 AM PDT by Perseverando
He didn’t screw up the Bay of Pigs. He told the CIA clearly in advance that there would be no American forces. The joint chiefs and CIA simply thought they could force his hand and make it impossible to say no.
The era of the CIA setting national policy apparently still continues.
“I got a lot closer than Hawai’i. “
Did you get to the Mekong Delta? Haiphong Harbor?
I was asking about YOUR expertise because you asked how old my wife was when my previous posts had bracketed her age.
BTW, what IS your expertise? How old are you? When were you in Vietnam?
I’ve always felt that JFK’s assassination was an act of just retribution for the cavalier attitude he had about toppling and assassinating foreign leaders.
It may take 100 years but eventually history will show that everything Kennedy touched was tainted or a complete failure.
I’ll answer the irrelevant part of your question, but first -
You stated that the population of VietNam was 75% Buddhist.
I contradicted you, asserting no more than 15%.
My source is Pew Research and the CIA World Factbook.
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/vm.html
Your source is that your wife was scared by some Catholic thugs.
As for your irrelevant questions -
I am 69.
I was “in country” in 1970 & 71.
Yes, I was in the Mekong Delta.
And the Gulf of Thailand.
And Ben Hoa, Long Binh, Tan Son Nhut, Saigon and a number of other places in III Corps and IV Corps.
I was a member of a MACV Team and as a Liaison I lived detached from the US Army and billeted with ARVNs.
I lived with them day-to-day and got to know them quite well.
I also did a stint with a team at the Central POW Camp on Phu Quoc working with Chieu Hoi prisoners.
I met very few on either side who were Catholic or Buddhist.
Hence I tend to trust the stats I read from CIA.
“I was “in country” in 1970 & 71.”
Diem was out of power in 1963.
“https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/vm.html";
Duh, Vietnam has been Communist for over 40 years! Of course most are going to say ‘none’ for religion.
“Your source is that your wife was scared by some Catholic thugs.”
You darn right they were scared of dictator Diem.
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A few weeks later Kennedy got the same treatment. Many thought his wife was behind it. Just like LBJ wanted.
“My source is Pew Research and the CIA World Factbook.”
Dude, you have FAILED to refute my statement.
Like the endless American Civil War....
I was Regular Army, and proud to serve with the 1/1 Armored Cavalry Regiment, Americal Division, I CORPS, 68-69.
Terrifying but beautiful country. I suspect all the South Vietnamese I knew were generally sweet and gracious by day and VC by night.
Went back there with my then grown daughter in 2000, and had a great time in the South where I suspected everyone thought she was an American movie star. In Hanoi everyone couldn’t have cared less...except the hawkers, always anxious to sell you something around Hoan Kim Lake.
Not so terrifying the second time around.
A very rich part of my cultural education. Sadly, one I would never have known but for all the death and destruction.
Always prayers for those killed and wounded therein, a few of whom I knew personally, including an idol of my youth.
Chou.
Pew says 16.4%
CIA says 6.4%
Your Ad Hoc anecdote says 75%
There is simply nothing there for me to refute.
You can continue posting all you want.
That’s my case - I’m done.
Have a nice day.
Thanks for playing.
“Pew says 16.4%
CIA says 6.4%”
For 1962? Dude you blew it!
Dude, a decade being persecuted by Diem and 40 years of communist rule severely reduces the number of open Buddhists!
Bump
“CIA says 6.4%”
Just about all the family and friends of my wife in Vietnam are Buddhists but the are sure not in that 6.4%!
Don’t believe that number, dude.
A bonze fire.
Maybe the small figure represents “pure” Buddhists, while most Viets practice basically a combination or hybrid belief system of folk religion and Buddhism, among other beliefs.
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