{"id":4259,"date":"2012-02-19T00:22:36","date_gmt":"2012-02-19T05:22:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=4259"},"modified":"2018-08-04T01:26:27","modified_gmt":"2018-08-04T05:26:27","slug":"saturday-february-18-2012-the-fading-memory-of-the-vietnam-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=4259","title":{"rendered":"Saturday, February 18, 2012 \u2014 The Fading Memory of the Vietnam War"},"content":{"rendered":"

As time moves for\u00adward, the mem\u00ado\u00adry of the Viet\u00adnam War slips away, and is replaced with a car\u00adtoon ver\u00adsion. Almost entire\u00adly for\u00adgot\u00adten, now, after a tidal wave of Con\u00adser\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtive filth has been unleashed upon the world, is that a major\u00adi\u00adty<\/em> of Amer\u00adi\u00adcans came to oppose that war, and were revolt\u00aded by its futil\u00adi\u00adty and bar\u00adbarism. The wars of recent times have been just as cor\u00adrupt and bru\u00adtal, but jour\u00adnal\u00adists are now tamed and \u201cembed\u00added\u201d, and a gen\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtion raised on infan\u00adtile war fan\u00adtasies does\u00adn\u2019t want to know what\u2019s real. Con\u00adser\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtive ide\u00ado\u00adlog\u00adi\u00adcal hacks are now busy crank\u00ading out lie-filled revi\u00adsion\u00adist accounts of the war, and the social con\u00adflict that it brought to Amer\u00adi\u00adcans. These \u201crevi\u00adsions\u201d are the exact equiv\u00ada\u00adlent of Com\u00admu\u00adnist propaganda.<\/p>\n

These three pho\u00adtographs did a great deal to change the minds of Amer\u00adi\u00adcans about the war their Gov\u00adern\u00adment had got them into:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

On June 8,1972, U.S.\/South Viet\u00adnamese forces dropped a napalm bomb on the vil\u00adlage of Trang Bang. The vil\u00adlage had been occu\u00adpied by Viet Cong forces, but was still full of South Viet\u00adnamese civil\u00adians. The girl in the mid\u00addle, whose clothes were burned off by napalm, is Phan Th\u1ecb Kim Ph\u00fac, who was nine years old at the time. She suf\u00adfered severe burns to her back, but recov\u00adered. She now lives in Ajax, Ontario, Canada.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

On March 16, 1968, sol\u00addiers of \u201cChar\u00adlie\u201d Com\u00adpa\u00adny of 1st Bat\u00adtal\u00adian, 20th Infantry, 11th Brigade, Amer\u00adi\u00adcan Divi\u00adsion, mas\u00adsa\u00adcred sev\u00ader\u00adal hun\u00addred civil\u00adians in the vil\u00adlage of My Lai. Almost all were elder\u00adly men, women, and small chil\u00addren. As this pho\u00adto\u00adgraph of some of the vic\u00adtims spread around the world, domes\u00adtic oppo\u00adsi\u00adtion to the war got a firm foothold. Only one Amer\u00adi\u00adcan sol\u00addier was con\u00advict\u00aded of the crime, though many had par\u00adtic\u00adi\u00adpat\u00aded, and the oper\u00ada\u00adtion was direct\u00aded from high\u00ader ranks, not a \u201cspon\u00adta\u00adneous\u201d freak event. The vic\u00adtims were South Viet\u00adnamese vil\u00adlagers, the peo\u00adple that Amer\u00adi\u00adcan troops were sup\u00adposed to be \u201cpro\u00adtect\u00ading.\u201d The pur\u00adpose was to exter\u00admi\u00adnate every liv\u00ading per\u00adson in the vil\u00adlage, leav\u00ading an indeli\u00adble imprint of ter\u00adror on the region. The killing was done method\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly and sys\u00adtem\u00adat\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly. Women and chil\u00addren were slow\u00adly col\u00adlect\u00aded, herd\u00aded togeth\u00ader, and exe\u00adcut\u00aded cold-blood\u00aded\u00adly, not in any heat of battle.<\/p>\n

The mil\u00adi\u00adtary moved quick\u00adly to cov\u00ader up the mas\u00adsacre. But there was an army pho\u00adtog\u00adra\u00adph\u00ader present, and his smug\u00adgled pho\u00adtos \u2014 which includ\u00aded one of a group of women and small chil\u00addren tak\u00aden just sec\u00adonds before they were exe\u00adcut\u00aded \u2014 cor\u00adrob\u00ado\u00adrat\u00aded the rumors that the mil\u00adi\u00adtary and U.S. gov\u00adern\u00adment attempt\u00aded to squash. Three Amer\u00adi\u00adcan sol\u00addiers who tried to stop the mas\u00adsacre and pro\u00adtect the vil\u00adlagers were denounced by Con\u00adser\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtives in Con\u00adgress. They sub\u00adse\u00adquent\u00adly received numer\u00adous death threats and found muti\u00adlat\u00aded ani\u00admals on their doorsteps. The con\u00advict\u00aded sol\u00addier, Sec\u00adond Lieu\u00adtenant William Cal\u00adley, served three and half years under house arrest for mur\u00adder\u00ading 22 vil\u00adlagers. This was an arbi\u00adtrary fig\u00adure, since he actu\u00adal\u00adly orga\u00adnized and direct\u00aded the killing of a much larg\u00ader num\u00adber. Con\u00adser\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtives trum\u00adpet\u00aded him as a hero and martyr.<\/p>\n

<\/a>On May 4, 1970, a small, entire\u00adly peace\u00adful stu\u00addent protest against the Viet\u00adnam War at Kent State Uni\u00adver\u00adsi\u00adty in Ohio was attacked by the Ohio Nation\u00adal Guard. The guards\u00admen fired 67 rounds over a peri\u00adod of 13 sec\u00adonds, killing four stu\u00addents and wound\u00ading nine oth\u00aders. Some of the vic\u00adtims were not pro\u00adtest\u00aders, but mere\u00adly peo\u00adple who hap\u00adpened to be walk\u00ading near\u00adby. Count out thir\u00adteen sec\u00adonds to your\u00adself \u2014 it was not a quick moment of pan\u00adic or con\u00adfu\u00adsion. The demon\u00adstra\u00adtors were not doing any\u00adthing that could have pro\u00advoked or fright\u00adened the guardsmen.<\/p>\n

Oppo\u00adsi\u00adtion to the war was now wide\u00adspread. Pres\u00adi\u00addent Nixon, and Con\u00adser\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtives in gen\u00ader\u00adal, con\u00adduct\u00aded a mas\u00adsive cam\u00adpaign of hatred against the gen\u00aduine Amer\u00adi\u00adcan patri\u00adots who opposed the war. The coun\u00adtry was filled with Con\u00adser\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtive zealots who talked end\u00adless\u00adly about the need to vio\u00adlent\u00adly sup\u00adpress dis\u00adsent, and assaults on \u201cdirty hip\u00adpies\u201d were com\u00admon\u00adplace. I remem\u00adber dis\u00adtinct\u00adly that one of the female vic\u00adtims (a nurse, who was one of the passers\u00adby, not involved in the demon\u00adstra\u00adtion) was wide\u00adly denounced by Con\u00adser\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtives as a \u201cslut\u201d who \u201cwas\u00adn\u2019t wear\u00ading any under\u00adwear\u201d, which shows that the Con\u00adser\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtive mind-set has pret\u00adty much always been the same.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As time moves for\u00adward, the mem\u00ado\u00adry of the Viet\u00adnam War slips away, and is replaced with a car\u00adtoon ver\u00adsion. Almost entire\u00adly for\u00adgot\u00adten, now, after a tidal wave of Con\u00adser\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtive filth has been unleashed upon the world, is that a major\u00adi\u00adty of \u2026<\/p>\n

Read more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,932],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-blog","category-ao-blog-2012"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4259"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4259\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4822,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4259\/revisions\/4822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}