Posted on 02/23/2015 5:48:12 AM PST by rktman
In the 1960s, negative television coverage helped turn American public opinion against the war, the veterans and even the Vietnamese who fought to prevent a communist takeover of South Vietnam.
Actress Jane Fonda, who called U.S. troops murderers, was famously shown sitting on a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gunner used to shoot at American planes.
By 1971, John Kerry, a Vietnam veteran and now secretary of state, declared on national TV, We wish that a merciful God could wipe away our own memories of that service.
But is what Americans saw on television and in the movies an accurate portrayal of those warriors and their mission to halt the spread of communism?
(Excerpt) Read more at wnd.com ...
Be careful, you might disrupt the pretentious artsy-fartsy types full of objectivity in a highly subjective medium.
Yup. The character Magnum was a Seal and in Navy intelligence.
:>}. Can you say “police action”? And why is it always the “US led coalition”?
LOL! Holy crap. I’m not as senile as I thought.
After 50 years I have come to the belief that we were never meant to win in Viet Nam.
Viet Nam, like Korea before it, were a way to fight the Soviet Union without going nuclear. It was a way to bleed the Soviets (they and the Chinese were providing the material to fight the war).
By the end of 1966 we had the man power and the air superiority to overwhelm the Viet Cong and the North Viet Names Army. We pissed away our advantage.
Over the past few days I have been reading newspaper articles that covered Nov 1965 to Nov 1966 (the time I was there).
I realized every operation we made was in the newspaper within a day of the operation beginning, along with the goals, and the means. The enemy did not need any spies to figure out what we were doing, the media was telling them, sometimes with maps!
Not only that, they were telling them how effective or not effective we were.
The enemy knew where we were, what we were doing, and more important where we were not. No one can win a war if the enemy knows that much information about you.
Their supplies were cut off by the Democrat Congress. They couldn't even get medical supplies.
LBJ was the vilest piece of fecal matter to infest the White House.
I’d say Obama is working on surpassing his vileness.
Revisionists and journalists with similar political agendas have guided an entire generation of young Americans to believe that America lost the Viet Nam war. Sadly, many older citizens have allowed time and a politicized media to cloud and/or alter their memories.
The facts are certain. American troops and airmen lost not a single battle during that war. The combined military forces of America, Thailand, New Zealand, and Australia, four of the supporting nations of the South East Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO), South Viet Nam and South Korea won the war against North Viet Nam and the Viet Cong, plain and simply.
The stated military goals were precise. SEATO forces were to neutralize or push the ag-gressor forces out of South Viet Nam. South Vietnam was to be armed for its own self de-fense. In fact, the Viet Cong were effectively neutralized. North Viet Nams army was pushed back home. The rail bridges connecting North Viet Nam and China were sev¬ered. The Ho Chi Ming trail was rendered inoperative to vehicles. Haiphong harbor was mined, greatly restricting the flow of war materials into North Viet Nam from the Soviet Union.
The enemy was forced to sign peace accords in Paris, ending the military conflict on SEATOs terms. Prisoners of war were repatriated. Americas war ended then. Our Con-gress subsequently voted not to re-engage after North Viet Nam violated the accords later.
So why do most Americans believe that we lost that war? Is it because of the fierce fighting at the onslaught of the 1968 Tet Offensive that was, in fact, the Viet Congs last hurrah? Is it because of the film footage of our embassy personnel being evacuated from Saigon in 1975, three years after our war ended? Is it because of the anti-war demonstrations and turmoil at home during the war? Is it because of anti-military sentiment still fostered by left wing politicians? Is it a classic example of a Big Lie told often enough to establish credibility in gullible people?
How have the revisionists been so successful in creating a believable lie? It may be simplistic to imply that Americans inappropriately trusted TV journalists, political commenta-tors and editorialists, collectively termed the media, instead of historians, but the answer may be that simple. To this day, most Americans do not understand why we became engaged in that war, the stated objectives or the true outcome.
Twelve days of intense air assault in 1972 by 700 of our aircraft in an operation named Linebacker II converted our air superiority over Viet Nam into air supremacy wherein our bombers, including B-52s, could fly uncontested to any target in North Viet Nam. North Viet Nams supply of SAM missiles was expended and its supply lines severed. The vulnerable and impotent enemy signed the peace accords in Paris. Our war ended in victory.
Our WW2 victory on the island of Iwo Jima was not nullified because we returned the Island to Japanese control two decades thereafter. Similarly, our victory in Viet Nam was not nullified because three years after our departure, North Viet Nam reneged on the peace accords and overran South Viet Nam, unopposed by the departed SEATO military forces.
Military victory is not diminished by what politicians give away later. We won that war. Buffalo Head
I want to see that movie and will if it ever comes here. If not I ill wait for the DVD. I see very few movies. I finally got around to Gran Torino last month. It was the first I have seen in probably 6 years and it was on DVD.One way or another I will go to or get this one.
It’s that way at the Legion, too.
At the Pairs Peace Talks, an American officer said to an NVA officer "You never beat us on the battlefield."
The NVA officer replied "That's true, but it's also irrelevant."
The episode "Did You See The Sunrise" accurately portrayed KGB agents working with North Vietnamese. That was a surprise.
The US actually won that war twice, in 1968 and in 1972. Both times Hanoi was ready to sue for peace. In 1972 the top folks in Hanoi were making arrangements to go on vacation in the Soviet Union and expected for NVN to be occupied. Both times we backed off to allow the poor beleaguered commies to rebreathe and regroup. Read Giap’s memoirs.
If you understand that Communists have always been treasonous Whores, then you will understand their opposition to Vietnam.
It wasn't because of the "Give Peace a Chance" thing. It was because we were killing their Communist Friends.
The ROEs in Afghanistan and in Iraq and actually, all over the MAE are to Vietnam what 100 proof vodka is to Bud Lite..
Unfortunately, when you buy tickets to see American Sniper, you are helping fund the destructive anti American anti military movies that Hollywood prefers to make. They make those things knowing that they will bomb and occasionally make an American Sniper to recoup and to finance the others.
LOSE. The war wasn’t tight. We didn’t loose it.
I think that quote is in Giap’s memoirs.
When the sudden attacks came, the U.S. Military was caught completely by surprise. The enemy attacks swept foward, causing wide spread consternation and in some places panic.
The infiltrating attackers caused widespread havoc. The widespread offensive collapsed due to the astonishing bravery of the American soldiers and the triumphant arrival of General George Patton’s armored forces. Got you didn’t I?
If Cronkite had been around to announce,”This war is LOST”, we’d be speaking German today.
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