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U.S. Involvement in Vietnam War: Good or bad ?

U.S. Involvement in Vietnam War: Good or bad ?. “Without censorship, things can get terribly confused in the public mind.” – General William Westmoreland. Censorship is the cause, not the remedy, of confusion about the war. - Loewen. Huge mistake; destined to fail.

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U.S. Involvement in Vietnam War: Good or bad ?

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  1. U.S. Involvement in Vietnam War: Good or bad? “Without censorship, things can get terribly confused in the public mind.” – General William Westmoreland Censorship is the cause, not the remedy, of confusion about the war. - Loewen Huge mistake; destined to fail Righteous cause; liberation against communism http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5oYH0QYp24

  2. History… In 1945 Japan surrendered Ho Chi Minh declared independence France reasserted control Led to 8-year “Anti-French War of Resistance” 1954: Ngo Dinh Diem: • Became S. Vietnam leader • Pro-US, anti-Communist, Catholic • Supported by Eisenhower and France

  3. Loewen on Vietnam: Arthur Herman: “Who Owns the Vietnam War?” • Why did the US fight in Vietnam? • Most teachers avoid the topic (0 - 4.5 minutes) • Most textbooks: • dodge the issue • rely on anticommunism to explain US involvement “Leftist / Liberal myths” about the war: • US intervened in civil war • No real US interests • Created delusion of defending freedom • Incorrect fear of communism BUT the Communist threat was real!

  4. Communist Threat: Real • Ho Chi Minh: supported by Communists • Mao in China • Stalin in the Soviet Union US supported France: concern of “domino effect” Some “Blue sunglasses:” “In reality, Vietnam was too small a country to upset the international balance of power.” (America: A Concise History Since 1865, vol 2, Henretta, Brody, and Dumenil)

  5. Herman: another liberal myth: US: unprepared to confront Viet Cong, an indigenous guerilla force, in unconventional conflict… But…

  6. Tet offensive: Herman says: US won January 1968: Viet Cong / North Vietnamese Army attacked S. Vietnam US Marines crushed the Northern uprising: Overwhelming military victory for US and S. Vietnam Destroyed Viet Cong as effective military and political entity Forced to hit-and-run / hide Many hid in Cambodia and Laos

  7. Tet loss? Military win does not equal political or social success Some claim Communist win / US loss of Tet offensive:

  8. My Lai Massacre 1971

  9. My Lai: Unique or Common Atrocity? Herman quotes Daniel Ellsberg: “My Lai was beyond the bounds of permissible behavior… virtually every soldier in Vietnam [knew that] it was wrong.” Loewen: “My Lai was not a minor event… because it was emblematic of much of what went wrong with the entire war in Vietnam”

  10. Loewen uses John Kerry’s testimony: My Lai: Not isolated incident… Kerry: These types of crimes were “committed on a day-to-day basis with the full awareness of officers at all levels of command.” US troops “personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped [electric] wires to human genitals, cut off limbs, [blew] up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages…shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks…in addition to the normal ravage of war.”

  11. Attacks on civilians: part of war… “It does deprive the enemy of the population, doesn’t it?” – General William C Westmoreland Textbooks never mention attacks on civilians being a problem Platoon http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPi8EQzJ2Bg Loewen says: attacks on civilians were US policy: “We evaluated our progress by body counts, and in some areas the entire civilian population was treated as the enemy [which] led to war crimes.”

  12. Did US Cause Khmer Rouge Violence? “blue:” Nixon’s incursions into Cambodia (beginning 1970) triggered retaliation & was illegal, unconstitutional, and destabilized the region 1975-1979: 65,000 killed by Khmer Rouge Herman: Communist sanctuaries harbored Viet Cong If US wasn’t in S. Vietnam then encampments would not have moved into Cambodia French journalist Margolin: Khmer Rouge: founded 1951 based on Leninism, Stalinism, and Maoism with violent past American Journalist Michael Lind: Congress deserves blame for massacres and famines for removing troops and support for Cambodian allies

  13. Missing information, images, and quotes…

  14. Apples to apples… Herman: Viet Cong were much worse than US American press did not mention this The US can not account for other people’s actions - only our own. US has to stand for something moral.

  15. US in Vietnam: good or bad? 1967 Jonathan Schell: The US is destroying the country it is supposed to protect “We have destroyed their two most cherished institutions: the family and the village. We have destroyed their land and their crops. We have corrupted their women and children and killed their men.”– Martin Luther King Jr 1968: “defoliation campaign” By 1973: US dropped three times as many explosives on N Vietnam than all bombs dropped on Europe, Asia, and Africa during WWII- including Hiroshima and Nagasaki

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