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Missing from Ken Burns’ ‘Vietnam’: The patriotism and pride of those who fought
NY Post ^ | 19 September 2017 | Bing West

Posted on 09/21/2017 9:20:30 AM PDT by oh8eleven

Most of the interviewees talk in the lugubrious tones of the defeated. We all know the story ends badly. But when it’s over, we aren’t told why we lost. The music is more memorable than the pictures, and the pictures are more compelling than the narration. We are deluged by sights and sounds but not enlightened as to cause and effect.

The film casts the antiwar movement in a moderately favorable light. Are the protesters the real heroes here? What about the valiant US soldiers, 75 percent of whom were volunteers?

(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 60s; defundpbs; documentary; kenburns; moviereview; vietnam; war
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To: Repealthe17thAmendment

“All in all, I’d say LBJ and McNamara have borne the brunt of the scorn. But that could also be my personal point of view being confirmed. “

See my Post #62.

.


81 posted on 09/21/2017 10:46:19 AM PDT by Mears
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To: oh8eleven
Run for the Wall..Come join us
82 posted on 09/21/2017 10:46:46 AM PDT by SGCOS
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To: oh8eleven
The film casts the antiwar movement in a moderately favorable light. Are the protesters the real heroes here?

The so-called anti-war movement was actually the catalyst for my turning to the right.

I was brought up by New Deal Democrat parents, and considered myself a liberal. But the smugness of the Left in their hatred for America, and the group-think that was evident amongst the anti-war demonstrators, all turned me off.

In the 1972 presidential election, though I was a registered Democrat at the time, I could not make myself pull the lever for the insufferable George McGovern.

83 posted on 09/21/2017 10:47:13 AM PDT by shhrubbery! (NIH!)
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To: oh8eleven

some times media build for themselves “respectability”.

e.g CNN (”America’s news source”), Ken Burns (”he does deep and well researched documentaries....”), Tom Brokaw (didn’t he write “The Greatest Generation”?).

So they are not questioned. And for that reason, they are able to subtly put forth propaganda in the form or balanced news/information.

And for that reason, their are dangerous with out a free press that can and should respond.

A free, mainstream, press, which we do not have


84 posted on 09/21/2017 10:47:29 AM PDT by llevrok (A group of baboons is called a "congress." Just sayin' .....)
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To: Chainmail
The villagers I saw every day I was there didn't want a thing to do with the VC or the NVA - they just wanted to be free to live their own lives. They knew why were there, most of them - and they were worth protecting.

Villagers thanked the Americans for burning down their homes and crops...As long as their were guns pointed at them.

85 posted on 09/21/2017 10:50:03 AM PDT by Snickering Hound
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To: OttawaFreeper

Ironic, as LBJ would probably would have won 2nd term if he could have brought N Vietnam to the table for peace talks in 1967/1968.. He could have then concentrated on his “Great Society” which is what he wanted to do.....


86 posted on 09/21/2017 10:50:41 AM PDT by scbison
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To: PROCON
I knew during the Summer of ‘74 that it was a losing effort
Hell, I saw the ARVNs "perform" in VN and I knew in '67 that it was a losing effort.
I had some small glimmer of hope after TET, but that didn't happen.
Besides, I was more concerned with saving my own butt, than winning a war.
87 posted on 09/21/2017 10:59:41 AM PDT by oh8eleven (RVN '67-'68)
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To: OttawaFreeper

“...Lady Bird’s business interests...”

We had people from one of her companies working on choppers right along side us up at Camp Enari (4th Div. base camp near Pleiku). Making better money, of course. I’ve been trying to remember the name of that outfit. If anyone knows, I’d appreciate the name. Thanks.


88 posted on 09/21/2017 11:03:55 AM PDT by beelzepug (H,MN! WIAM? DMS!)
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To: shhrubbery!
I was a registered Democrat at the time
I've been a registered Dem since I turned 21 (1968) ... it's a family thing going back five generations. Have never voted for a Dem in all those years.
89 posted on 09/21/2017 11:04:36 AM PDT by oh8eleven (RVN '67-'68)
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To: oh8eleven

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Case%E2%80%93Church_Amendment

After the Case Church amendment went in effect and American assistance stopped, ARVN was on their knees faster than a Kardashian in the Miami Dolphins locker room.


90 posted on 09/21/2017 11:08:40 AM PDT by Snickering Hound
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To: Gay State Conservative

The old, grinning Viet Cong vet was given a prominent role to gloat on victories over Americans and the ARVN.


91 posted on 09/21/2017 11:09:40 AM PDT by luvbach1 (I hope Trump runs roughshod over the inevitable obstuctionists, Dems, progs, libs, or RINOs!)
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To: x1stcav

>> .the demonrats in Congress, along with not so few Repub’s <<

IMHO, there was no bigger villain in the Congress than GOP Sen. John Sherman Cooper of Kentucky. He spearheaded the Congressional actions that denied things like ammunition and medicine to our allies after the big withdrawal of U. S. ground forces in 1973.


92 posted on 09/21/2017 11:11:05 AM PDT by Hawthorn
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To: Vermont Lt

I despise the government that sends them to do our dirty work. (and then fails to provide them support and the firepower to get the job done quick.)


93 posted on 09/21/2017 11:12:21 AM PDT by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi - Monthly Donors Rock!!!)
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To: luvbach1

Yeah, I noted that too and wanted to punch his feckin’ lights out.


94 posted on 09/21/2017 11:14:28 AM PDT by oh8eleven (RVN '67-'68)
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To: Snickering Hound
"Villagers thanked the Americans for burning down their homes and crops...As long as their were guns pointed at them"

Nicely stated, my pro-communist friend. We never burned their crops: the VC came at night and took them. The VC also took their military-aged sons and murdered anybody they thought opposed them.

Generally, when we approached a village that hadn't seen Americans before, everybody hid. Then the kids would come out of hiding and we'd give them the tropical chocolate from our C-Rations ("shit discs") and cigarettes - the kids all smoked - and then once the villagers saw that we weren't hurting anyone, they'd bit by bit came out of hiding. After that, every time we went through those same villages, they didn't hide from us and some - at great risk - would point out the mined trails to us.

We Marines knew that the villagers were the center of gravity of the whole war and they were the people we were there to protect. We Marines even had squads living in the villages (CAP Units)- at great risk - to protect the hamlets and to train them how to protect themselves.

I went back to some of those villages in 2000 and some of them still remembered me and were happy to see us back.

Other than reading the enemy's propaganda and believing it, you still haven't answered my question: when were you there?

95 posted on 09/21/2017 11:21:17 AM PDT by Chainmail (A simple rule of life: if you can be blamed, you're responsible.)
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To: Chainmail

No arguement here but putting all our eggs into, first the Diem brothers then the generals that over threw them wasn’t interested in the type of “Freedom” we Americans espouse.

What most Americans believe it was and Anti-Communist vs Communist war, which it was but in the South, there was very much animosity between the Catholic ruling Cabal vs the dominant Buddhist majority. The government oppressed the Buddhist rural(mostly)Buddhists like second class citizens. It got so bad that when a popular Buddhist general was sacked, open warfare erupted while American troops were battling the Viet Cong. The Buddhists were put down but it caused fractions in the front line South Vietnamese units.


96 posted on 09/21/2017 11:22:21 AM PDT by RedMonqey ("Gun-free zones" equal "Target-rich environment.")
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To: oh8eleven

“I had some small glimmer of hope after TET, but that didn’t happen.”

I took R&R in Honolulu with Mrs. Pug in late March after Tet was winding down. Toughest thing I ever had to do was getting back on that plane for my last three months.


97 posted on 09/21/2017 11:25:11 AM PDT by beelzepug (H,MN! WIAM? DMS!)
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To: oh8eleven; Doche2X2
You both raise a central point. From the earliest, almost on cue, Tet was widely reported as a painful and devastating loss for the U.S., while at the same moment street demonstrations were coordinated for the TV cameras.

Those of us who lived during those years can today very easily recognize misguided snowflakes expertly manipulated by those with an anti-American agenda, as well as the lying, indeed fraudulent MSM. The spawn of self-described, Most Trusted Voice in America, Walter Cronkite are alive and hard at work.

Let's face it, the left-totalitarians did very well with their efforts during the VN era. Given the apparent absence of effective GOP leadership, the inescapable question for us today may be whether they will be as successful against Trump and his agenda

98 posted on 09/21/2017 11:28:36 AM PDT by frog in a pot
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To: oh8eleven
The only good part of Diem's government was his brother's wife - Madam Nhu.

The description "iron butterfly" comes to mind. Very beautiful but tough!!
99 posted on 09/21/2017 11:28:47 AM PDT by RedMonqey ("Gun-free zones" equal "Target-rich environment.")
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To: Chainmail

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29IUvzkNdc8

1ST CAVALRY DIVISION OF US ARMY BURNS DOWN VILLAGE IN BINH DINH PROVINCE

Or the 60’s had better special effects than we thought...


100 posted on 09/21/2017 11:30:20 AM PDT by Snickering Hound
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