The propaganda war was waged endlessly.
These pictures were a big part of effort.
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 ...
>>Secondly, the Vietnamese were reluctant to do what was necessary to defend themselves from communist takeover. When the locals don’t unite and defend their own liberty, the eventual outcome is never good. We’re seeing it again in Iraq and Afghanistan.<<
We have many fine FReepers here who were in Vietnam so I hope I am not speaking out of turn.
I had a very good friend who was a radio operator there (the best buddy of ground pounders everywhere). We were actually discussing management strategy when he noted a massive mistake (one of many) the “Military Strategists” made.
Here in the US, we believe (for the most part) in the country first, state second, local third. The Vietnamese experience is the opposite — you take care of your village and the region will take care of itself. And if the region takes care of itself the country will take care of itself.
So, sending Vietnamese to protect territory and targets (bridges and the like) was futile. Their reaction was “this ain’t ours, let it go.” And they did and it did.
Many thought this was the unfortunate long-term outcome, no matter how hard we fought.
We did win (see the other reply from Ruy Dias de Bivar to my post which calls it out perfectly) — but the definition of “win” was a best dicey as you point out.
The truly sad part is cronkite turned it into a pure loss . May he spend his damned eternity being tormented by those killed by his liberal agenda and overall stupidity.
So ......?????????
As long as you let the enemy have a King's X line you can never win anything. 38th Parallel comes to mind.
Quite frankly, I believe she was there just in case the military-hating groupies were to honor her husband with an Oscar.
Personally, I wouldn’t have bothered. I think the Hollywood bunch were glad to see her there .. because they knew she was not going to win.
Horrible people .. who the heck cares what they do. I do not watch their award shows .. and I don’t buy their movies.
I will occasionally buy a DVD of a really good movie .. but that is very rare.
You mean dropping bombs on vacant jungles had no positive effect? Who knew?
These pictures were a big part of effort.
If the resident gets by with his amnesty scam there will never be another GOP elected as president, unless they need a whipping boy, to calm down the LIVs.
That would be it — and even worse!
Oh I agree with the propaganda war. In the second photo the guy being shot was IIRC a member of the VC, and as such his summary execution is justified under the Geneva Convention. But the ARVN officer and by extension the US was painted in a negative light.
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