Why Wait For Petraeus?

No need to wait for the General Petraeus report on the Iraq War. You already
know what it is going to say. So just replay these fall reports from the
generals of another war 40 years ago.

Remember these statement were made just months before the Tet Offensive hit the Man.


GENERAL WESTMORELAND: Very very encouraged. I've never been more encouraged during my entire, almost four years in this country. I think we're making real progress. Everybody is very optimistic that I know of, who is intimately associated with our effort there.

GENERAL EARLE WHEELER (Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff): We feel that on the military side there has been substantial progress over the past two years, that in the last six months, the progress has been even more rapid than in the 18 months before that.

Maliki Should Worry

If I were Iraqi PM Nuri al-Maliki, I'd be more than a little concerned that George Bush is starting to draw lessons from the Vietnam War. In the early part of the Vietnam War Ngo Dinh Diem was "our man in Saigon" but by late '63 he was viewed as ineffective by many and a liability by the White House, more or less the way Maliki is now. Diem's fate has important health implications for Maliki. The White House had him murdered. [20 sec. video]


It is a rare thing to actually hear a U.S. President admit to participation in murder, but that is eactly what President Lyndon Johnson does in a very frank November 1, 1966 discussion with Eugene Carthy:

"They started on me with Diem, you remember, He was corrupt and he ought to be killed.' So we killed him. We all got together and got a goddamn bunch of thugs and assassinated him. Now, we've really had no political stability since then."

BushNam

Some of us have been saying from the beginning that the Iraq War would become another Vietnam War. After years of being in a "State of Denial", our President now agrees, as he draws the parallels in his own speeches.

But he was dead wrong to say we were not involved in the War in Vietnam in 1955. Roosevelt was against returning the French to Vietnam after WW2, but Truman helped the French back in. Eisenhower paid 80% of the French effort and sent "advisors." Kennedy sent 16,000 and LBJ upped the ante to half a million. Then there was Nixon, who among other things, expanded the war to Cambodia, and in doing so created the "killing fields" that Mr. Bush tries to blame on the Vietnamese. Well they all look the same to him.


The point is that it took the work of five presidents, both Democratic and Republican, to create that fiasco. George Bush can take full create for this one, which is why we call it BushNam. Of course Mr. Bush puts his own spin on this. He is much more of a Vietnam Revisionist than he is a Christian. Well George, We strongly disagree. You will be no more successful at rewriting the history of the Vietnam War than you have been in prosecuting the Iraq War. Truth will out, and facts are stubborn things! Those sayings are platitudes because they are true. The Iraq War is not yet anywhere near the disaster that the Vietnam War was but it can't end too soon. It is now well documented that we killed between 3.4 and 5 million souls in Vietnam, by the most ambitious accounts, less than a million have died in this war - so far.
So for those that never lived the Vietnam War, and for those that coulduse a refresher course, we offer Vietnam: American Holocaust [ 81 minute video ] and a number of clips from it.

And to all the comparisons that both we and now you have made between the Iraq War and the Vietnam War, Mr. Bush, we would like to add one more:
George Bush had a plan for getting out of Vietnam!

Mr. Bush also spoke of parallels with the Korean War, and in that spirit we offer this little tune. It was first heard among U.S. troops in the Korean War, became very popular during the Vietnam War, and as witnessed in the video "Ground Truth" This version was recorded by U.S. soldiers in Vietnam in 1968.[MP3 Here!] Strafe the Town and Kill the People Strafe the town and kill the people Let's declare a massacre. Lay napalm in the square, So you'll know that Jake was there Drop the candy in the courtyard, Let the kiddies gather 'round. Crank your twenty-millimeter, Gun the little bastards down. Come 'round early Sunday morning, Catch the village unaware. Drop a bunch of cluster bomblets, Get 'em while they kneel in prayer. Tune: Wake the Town and Tell the People

VietCong BluesAmerican soldiers in Vietnam were often put in the position of killing a lot innocent Vietnamese. This is how it happened and what it looked like. From Vietnam: American Holocaust. [04:54]	Bombing VietnamRolling Thunder was the name of one the most murderous bombing campaigns in history. During the Vietnam War more tons of bombs were dropped on that tiny country than were dropped by all parties in World War II. It is responsible for most of the killing. [08:39]
Tonkin IncidentPresident Johnson used an alleged attack by North Vietnamese gun boats on U.S. destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin to greatly escalate the American War in Vietnam, but the attack never happened. [07:18]	Rape & Murder in the Vietnam WarThis testimony from the Vietnam Veterans Against the War's Winter Soldier Hearing was used in Vietnam: American Holocaust. [03:00]
History of Conflict Vietnam struggled for it's independence for a thousand years before it was won in 1975. This is a brief history of this struggle with a focus on American involvement. [08:14]	Helicopter KillingVietnam was the first helicopter war and that is how much of the killing was done. [04:55]

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