Posted on 09/16/2017 7:45:13 PM PDT by 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 Burnss and Lynn Novicks 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.
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...
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.
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.
Will could begin at home and learn to tame his hatred of the president.
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!
you go to war with the intent to win
“WTF? Over.” Haven’t heard that in a long time.
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...Many Americans moral vanity
begun in good faith by decent people, out of fateful misunderstandingsBaloney. 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.
“Good Bye Sweetheart,Hello VIETNAM.”
General Westmorland: Was he or was he not a yes man?
I couldn’t say...
Why do You ask?
"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." |
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
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.
Thanks for that.
What’s your take, Brother?
I’m sad the young folks on this thread are posting mocking, “funny” comments about our War.
Not you...
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