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Getting Vietnam Right
The American Spectator ^ | Aug. 30, 2007 | Mark Moyar

Posted on 08/30/2007 8:26:30 AM PDT by Interesting Times

In the past week, the criticisms swirling around the President's VFW speech have provided much less insight into the President or the speech than into the critics. Rather than address the speech's central issue -- the 1975 debate over the ramifications of abandoning Vietnam -- these individuals have tried to push their own views on Iraq by mentioning other aspects of Vietnam. Emblematic of the attackers was Senator John Kerry, who said that the President's comparison of Vietnam with Iraq was "irresponsible" and "ignorant of the realities of both of those wars." Kerry explained that in Iraq, as in Vietnam, "more American soldiers are being sent to fight and die in a civil war we can't stop and an insurgency we can't bomb into submission." Senator Ted Kennedy, another opponent of both wars, backed this interpretation with the comment that the United States lost the Vietnam War because the South Vietnamese government "lacked sufficient legitimacy with its people."

Kerry and Kennedy missed key facts about Vietnam, some of them long obvious, others newly emerged from historical studies. The New York Times and NBC News and CNN and so on missed them, too, because they chose to rely on outdated historians or their own prejudices. The insurgency in Vietnam was dead by 1971, thanks to South Vietnam's armed forces, America's forces, and a South Vietnamese civilian population that overwhelmingly viewed the South Vietnamese government as legitimate. During 1972, after all American combat units had departed, South Vietnamese forces defeated a massive North Vietnamese invasion with the help of American air power. The so-called Christmas bombing of 1972 bombed North Vietnam into submission, resulting in a peace treaty. Had the antiwar Congress not slashed aid to South Vietnam and prohibited the use of American aircraft over Vietnamese skies...

(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: bloodbath; leftistmythology; markmoyar; vietnam
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Mark Moyar, author of the Vietnam War history "Triumph Forsaken," has provided much of the scholarship behind the Bush Administration's new initiative to confront the mythical Vietnam of the Left, in which heroic antiwar protestors brought peace to Southeast Asia instead of unimaginable carnage.
1 posted on 08/30/2007 8:26:31 AM PDT by Interesting Times
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To: Howlin; eddie willers; cajungirl; wirestripper; Southflanknorthpawsis; Peach; prairiebreeze; ...

I’m back.


2 posted on 08/30/2007 8:27:46 AM PDT by Interesting Times (ABCNNBCBS -- yesterday's news.)
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To: Interesting Times
I don't think this is too far off-topic:

Click either image above.

"There were reeducation camps, and they weren't pretty and, you know, nobody likes that kind of outcome, but on the other hand I've met a lot of people today who were in those education camps, who are thriving in the Vietnam of today."
---- John Kerry, July 19, 2007, C-SPAN

Among his many, many flawed perceptions, John Kerry - known in the Vietnamese-American newspapers as "phan boi" (traitor) - must be completely oblivious of the many tens of thousands who died, were crippled by beatings, or became chronically ill in "reeducation camp."

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* Special Jury Prize - Newport Beach Film Festival
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* Grand Jury Prize - San Diego Asian Film Festival
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3 posted on 08/30/2007 8:32:12 AM PDT by angkor
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To: Interesting Times

Remove me from any and all of your ping lists.

Thanks


4 posted on 08/30/2007 8:32:25 AM PDT by Reagan Man (FUHGETTABOUTIT Rudy....... Conservatives don't vote for liberals!)
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To: Interesting Times

correct spelling: Viet Nam


5 posted on 08/30/2007 8:35:46 AM PDT by Broker (Mabuhay!)
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To: Interesting Times

The traitor John Kerry ought to shut his mouth - he was instrumental in snatching defeat from the jaws of victory in Vietnam.


6 posted on 08/30/2007 8:36:18 AM PDT by ConorMacNessa (HM/2 USN, 3rd Bn. 5th Marines, RVN 1969. St. Michael the Archangel defend us in battle!)
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To: Interesting Times

BTTT


7 posted on 08/30/2007 8:37:02 AM PDT by E.G.C.
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To: Reagan Man
Remove me from any and all of your ping lists.

Gladly.

8 posted on 08/30/2007 8:37:50 AM PDT by Interesting Times (ABCNNBCBS -- yesterday's news.)
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To: Broker
correct spelling: Viet Nam

I think I'm going to have to go with Dr. Moyar's spelling over yours. Were you able to extract anything else from his article?

9 posted on 08/30/2007 8:39:10 AM PDT by Interesting Times (ABCNNBCBS -- yesterday's news.)
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To: All
More recent articles on the president's new Vietnam truth initiative can be found here.

10 posted on 08/30/2007 8:40:21 AM PDT by Interesting Times (ABCNNBCBS -- yesterday's news.)
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To: Interesting Times

So this is the way you make your return to FR. Just remember, I never requested at any time to be placed on your ping list(s) and never would.


11 posted on 08/30/2007 8:48:32 AM PDT by Reagan Man (FUHGETTABOUTIT Rudy....... Conservatives don't vote for liberals!)
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To: Interesting Times

The President may have had this author to the White House for a chat, as he did Mark Steyn and others.


12 posted on 08/30/2007 8:49:14 AM PDT by ClaireSolt (Have you have gotten mixed up in a mish-masher?)
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To: angkor

Must see. Thanks for the links.


13 posted on 08/30/2007 8:51:25 AM PDT by colorcountry (Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. --Voltaire)
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To: Reagan Man
So this is the way you make your return to FR. Just remember, I never requested at any time to be placed on your ping list(s) and never would.

By all means, continue whining. I can use the pings.

14 posted on 08/30/2007 8:58:40 AM PDT by Interesting Times (ABCNNBCBS -- yesterday's news.)
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To: Interesting Times

Whatever. I’ll be seeing you around FR.

Just remember, keep me off your ping lists.


15 posted on 08/30/2007 9:03:27 AM PDT by Reagan Man (FUHGETTABOUTIT Rudy....... Conservatives don't vote for liberals!)
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To: ClaireSolt
The President may have had this author to the White House for a chat, as he did Mark Steyn and others.

I wouldn't be at all surprised. It's great to see this talented young historian cutting through decades of myth and disinformation.

16 posted on 08/30/2007 9:03:53 AM PDT by Interesting Times (ABCNNBCBS -- yesterday's news.)
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To: Reagan Man

Ping.


17 posted on 08/30/2007 9:09:14 AM PDT by Interesting Times (ABCNNBCBS -- yesterday's news.)
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To: Interesting Times

The usual cast of despicable characters. Kerry, Kennedy ...


18 posted on 08/30/2007 9:11:10 AM PDT by R. Scott (Humanity i love you because when you're hard up you pawn your Intelligence to buy a drink)
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To: angkor
I don't think this is too far off-topic:

Not off-topic at all. Thanks...

19 posted on 08/30/2007 9:14:41 AM PDT by Interesting Times (ABCNNBCBS -- yesterday's news.)
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To: Broker
You’re right, but the Vietnam anglicization makes it easier to discuss people and things Vietnamese.
20 posted on 08/30/2007 9:17:02 AM PDT by onedoug
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