Why Viet Nam Truth Really Matters
By Bruce McPhie
US President Obama has officially launched “The
Vietnam War Commemoration Project”, a 13-year campaign, costing US$65
million. From 2012 - 2025, the US government plans to create,
then sustain, a positive legacy for the Vietnam War.
Rewriting Vietnam War history has been going on
for awhile, of course, but expect much more.
For example, Phillip Jennings wrote an article "Why Vietnam
Truth Matters". Later, we will
look at some historical facts and alternative opinions, so you can decide which
interpretation stands up best to closer investigation.
First, note this extract from his article, and
see if you agree:
"....Okay, for the record one more time—There
was South Vietnam (a
struggling democracy) and North
Vietnam (a brutal communist government). We
were allies with the South as they fought off the North trying to take them
over. We beat the North in 1973. They signed a Peace Treaty. America came
home. The communists launched a new attack and the U.S. Democrat controlled
Congress abrogated the treaty and our obligations. North
Vietnam overran South Vietnam so it became ONE
communist, brutally ruled country to the death and miserable detriment of hundreds
of thousands of our former allies…
.... the role of the U.S.
military in Afghanistan is
to prepare the U.S.
for a negotiated settlement by putting us in the best possible position vis a
vis our enemies there. We should remember that is exactly what the U.S. military gave us in Vietnam when we
forced the North Vietnamese to the peace table. The military and Nixon had
beaten the communists thoroughly on the battlefield and psychologically by
bombing around Hanoi
at will. The U.S.
media and liberal congress then did their best to obviate completely that
advantage gained with so much blood and tears by constantly undermining Nixon
and Kissinger, passing resolutions cutting off military alternatives, and
demanding settlement at any cost…
Phil Jennings is the author of
the Politically Incorrect Guide to the Vietnam War. Phillip Jennings served in Vietnam with the United States Marine Corps,
flying helicopters, and in Laos
as a pilot for Air America...”
With devastating wars continuing out of control
today, understanding the 'Vietnam War' and its lessons for the world is now
more important than ever. The US government’s project to ‘clean
up’ the image of the war in people’s minds, must not distort historical truths
to turn a war crime into a ‘noble cause’.
What Phillip Jennings writes could misinform
others and become part of the popular myth-making by militarists, so this
important history really needs to be properly understood.
Rewriting the Vietnam War with a false history is not how
to make amends for past crimes. Instead,
he should follow the example of other military people who now work passionately
for peace and overcoming the tragic consequences of past wars. I respect those anti-war soldiers immensely,
but not the war mongers!
When did the American
War against Viet Nam
really begin?
Not in 1965 when 3,200 US Marines
landed at Danang – about 20,000 US military personnel were already in south
Viet Nam by then, engaged in combat without Congressional approval, and facing
imminent defeat. US military ‘advisers’ served and died there from the
early 1950s.
Not in 1962 the date President Obama has now called
the “50th Anniversary of the Vietnam War”, when US Army helicopter
pilots carried Saigon troops on “a single raid against an enemy stronghold. . .
one of America’s first major operations in that faraway land.” (President Obama,
Memorial Day speech, May 28, 2012)
Not in 1954 when the French War officially ended
with their surrender to the Viet Minh at Dien Bien Phu – the US had already
been there for years, funding the French war up to 80%, and preventing peace
talks.
Not even in 1950 when the US officially began large-scale shipments of
military equipment (tanks, transport planes, etc.) to the French colonialists
and their puppet government in Viet
Nam.
Actually, it began in 1945 – as a double act of
betrayal!
During World War 2, the US and Ho Chi Minh were close allies in the war
against Japan. However, in
August 1945 the US
government secretly agreed to assist the French to reclaim their colonial power
in Indochina, instead of supporting the
popular Viet Minh cause for independence, thus betraying their Vietnamese World
War 2 allies.
In September-October 1945, the Pentagon (and the British government) commandeered ships and planes to
transport 13,000 French troops into Saigon to
retake their colony, thus even betraying
their own World War 2 soldiers by delaying their return home to their families.
The
enlisted crews on these US troopships were outraged, and signed a petition to
the US Congress and the President denouncing these “imperialist policies” and
the use of American ships “to subjugate the native population” of Viet
Nam.
So began the American War against Viet Nam, and
the public opposition to it, in 1945!
The basic truth is that from the very start it
was an imperialist enterprise to control resources, which started with the US
government supporting the return of the hated French colonialists in 1945, and
continued with supporting various corrupt Vietnamese military dictators in the
south. It was never a legally-declared or legitimate war.
Official US government
statements were more honest about this back in 1953:
“Suppose we lost Indochina.
If that happened, tin and tungsten, to which we attach such a high price, would
cease coming. That is why when the US decides to give an aid of 400
million dollars to this (French) war, it does not make a gratuitous offer. In
reality, we have chosen the least costly means to prevent one of the most
terrible things for the US,
for its security, its strength and its possibility to obtain what it needs
among the riches in Indochina and South East Asia.”
- US President Eisenhower, at the Conference of
State Governors, Seattle,
August 4, 1953.
The ‘Vietnam War’ had nothing to do with
"freedom and democracy" for the Vietnamese! It was not a
“noble cause” to resist “Aggression from the North”.
It didn’t matter that ‘South Vietnam’ was not a democracy,
and engaged in US-sponsored systematic torture and human rights abuses - just
as long as they were “anti-communist”. Tyrants are fine, just as long as they
remain ‘our’ tyrants! This holds true
today.
Imperialist wars are never about the rights or
interests of the ordinary people anywhere. They are always only about controlling
strategic resources and making profits for the super-rich ruling class.
Therefore, they are always sold to the public by lies and myths, hyping up
false fears and cultural misunderstandings. The corporate-owned mass media plays
a vital role in the selling of such improper wars, during the Vietnam war, as
well as today.
All that was true in the case of Indochina,
just as it is true today - with Iraq (lies for oil, the petro-dollar, military
bases, etc.) and Afghanistan (lies about 9/11 and "terrorists" for
oil & gas pipelines, military bases, minerals, etc.), Libya & Syria
(false “humanitarian interventions” to weaken independent states and control
resources), etc.
The attacks on Iran, including economic
sanctions which are effectively an act of war against innocent Iranians, are
all about regime change to create a weak puppet state, to protect Israeli
hegemony, US dollar dominance and big banking interests, and to control oil,
minerals, resources, corporate profits, etc. - nothing to do with an alleged
nuclear weapons programme, for which no evidence exists, or the interests and
welfare of the people of Iran.
Have we forgotten already the deliberate lies
about "Weapons of Mass Destruction" in Iraq?
Or, the fabricated “Tonkin
Gulf attacks” and other ‘false flags’
and propaganda in the case of Viet
Nam?
The Phillip Jennings writings can be challenged
by historical facts, easily found in many scholarly history books. The truth of the anti-war argument was also
confirmed by the famous leaking of the official ‘Pentagon Papers’ – the “Top
Secret” US government study of the war.
Highly-decorated US
military hero, Major-General Smedley Butler, turned anti-war
whistle-blower and famously wrote all about why "War is a Racket" way
back in 1935.
Contrary to popular myth, the international
agreement signed at Geneva in 1954, did not
create two countries - 'North Vietnam'
and 'South Vietnam'.
It recognized only one country, temporarily
divided in 1954 at the end of the French war, with two governments each
claiming legitimacy over the whole country, from the Chinese border in the
north to the southern tip of the Mekong Delta.
The Geneva Agreement specifically stated that the division
into two zones was "a temporary military demarcation line, not a
territorial boundary", and it would dissolve after nationwide democratic
elections in 1956, supervised by Canada,
Poland and India.
The Democratic
Republic of Viet Nam government headed by president Ho Chi Minh (northern zone)
gained political legitimacy by massive popular support of the people, who
claimed power throughout the whole country in the largely-peaceful August
Revolution, after the occupying Japanese were defeated in World War 2. Ho Chi Minh proudly declared the national
independence of the new republic of Viet Nam in Hanoi
on September 2, 1945.
At the time, Ho Chi Minh seriously wanted the
wartime friendship with the USA
to continue, and wrote 8 cables to the US President discussing that - but
got no replies. The ‘Cold War’ had
replaced the anti-fascist World War 2.
Ho Chi
Minh's government also had political legitimacy bestowed on it by Viet Nam’s last
king.
On August 30, 1945, king Bao Dai formally
abdicated power, handing the royal sword and gold seal to the new republican
government. Declaring he was now happier
to be a private citizen in a free country instead of the king of an enslaved
one, he ended the feudal monarchy. President
Ho Chi Minh invited him to serve as an advisor.
The other government
(southern zone) was the State of Vietnam,
established in 1949 by the French to oppose Ho Chi Minh, and headed by the
ex-king Bao Dai who allowed himself to be used once again by the French as
their puppet Head of State. State of Vietnam later had a name change to the Republic of Vietnam
(commonly known as ‘South Vietnam’,
with its capital in Saigon), and was then headed by President Diem, an
unpopular Vietnamese catholic from the US, who replaced Bao Dai. Understandably, the minority of Vietnamese
who had previously supported and benefited from the now-defeated French
colonialists then supported this US-backed government.
So, who was expected to win the 1956 national
democratic election?!
Even US
President Eisenhower later wrote in his memoirs that if the democratic election
had been held in 1956, at least 80% of the national population would have voted
for Ho Chi Minh.
Therefore the ‘southern’ side, with US government backing, refused to
hold the elections. They even refused to begin the consultative process to set-up the
internationally-supervised elections, so their claim that the other side would
not allow a free election is invalid.
The most important provision of the 1954 Geneva Agreement was therefore sabotaged,
although the US
government had publicly promised to honour it.
This made another war inevitable.
For the majority of the Vietnamese people, the
victory that they should have won peacefully in the ballot box now had to be
won on the bloody battlefield instead, at a terrible cost in lives and
property, the destruction of much of the natural environment, and the social
and family infrastructure.
Present and future generations still suffer
from the horrible consequences of that criminal war, including from Agent
Orange and other US chemical warfare toxins, an estimated 800,000 tonnes of
unexploded bombs and mines still killing and maiming people today, and the
“wandering spirits” of about 300,000 Vietnamese soldiers still
Missing-in-Action and their shattered families who mourn them still.
But, as Ho Chi Minh
famously said: "Nothing is more precious than independence and
freedom."
Remarkably, the Vietnamese won the war that was
forced upon them. This Vietnamese victory can be demonstrated by simply
looking at the terms of the 1973 Paris
Peace Agreement.
The Paris Agreement was essentially exactly the
same as an agreement proposed by the Vietnamese on October 8, 1972, and agreed
to by US President Nixon and
Kissinger, without even consulting their government in Saigon.
When Saigon found out
they were furious, because the agreement involved the withdrawal of all foreign
troops (i.e. the US
and their allies), but northern People's Army forces supporting the southern Provisional
Revolutionary Government would remain where they were in the south. After all, the Geneva
Agreement had acknowledged the territorial integrity of one Viet Nam, so
they could hardly be "foreign troops" invading their own country!
During 12 days and
nights of Christmas 1972, the US
Air Force therefore launched the massive, brutal bombing of Hanoi and other populated cities in the north
to try to force concessions, including withdrawing northern soldiers from the
south. It failed.
The US Air
Force was shocked when 81 planes were shot down, including 34 of their
high-flying B52 bombers which they believed were invincible!
Public protest, and the loss of so many US planes and
top pilots, forced an end to the bombing. In nearly 10 years of aerial bombing,
the Vietnamese destroyed over 4000 US planes. The Pentagon still does not want to publicly
admit to this devastating defeat for the US Air Force!
On January 27, 1973, the US signed the Paris Peace Agreement, which allowed northern
troops to remain in the south! There
were no more concessions. Vietnamese
proudly celebrate this great victory every year as their “Dien
Bien Phu of the Air".
This name reminds us of the historic Vietnamese
military victory over the French at Dien Bien Phu in northern Viet Nam in 1954. Ironically, by 1954 the US taxpayers were paying 80% of the
French colonialist war costs!
The Paris
Peace Agreement was a turning point, but not the end of the war. US military and economic support for Saigon
continued, with many US troops ‘rebranded’ and remaining as “advisors”, and
there were immediate violations from the desperate Saigon
side. However, the historic ‘Ho Chi Minh Campaign’ was ultimately
successful, and Saigon unconditionally
surrendered to the revolutionaries on April 30, 1975.
National reunification
was finally won, but it could have been won peacefully at the ballot box in
1956, and if the US
had not made the wrong choice in 1945!
Instead of writers like
Philip Jennings writing a distortion of history to justify the unjustifiable,
they should use their experience and talents to write against the criminal
folly of war. The military people to
respect are those who follow in the tradition of military heroes like US Major-General
Smedley Butler, who finally understood that he was nothing more than "a
racketeer, a gangster for capitalism....a muscle-man for Wall
Street".
Today’s real military heroes are those who
stand up, become whistleblowers against illegal wars and the lies used to sell
them, go AWOL from criminal wars such as Iraq and Afghanistan, publish the
truth and sabotage the imperialist war machine from within – as Vietnam
veterans did so powerfully and effectively during that unjust war.
There are many reasons ‘Why Vietnam
Truth Really Matters’, one of them being to correctly learn from that history
in order to prevent future tragedies. Yes indeed, "War is a
Racket", and falsely promoting it as something noble does not serve
humanity or the planet well.
During the Vietnam War,
thousands of US soldiers, who at first believed they were “serving their
country”, soon realized it was a lie and a war crime.
In many and various ways, they opposed the war,
testified against war crimes, refused to obey orders, sought conscientious
objector status, etc., and built a very active resistance within the US
military. By 1968, there were dozens of
anti-war newspapers and organizations founded by veterans. The disintegration
of military discipline due to the increasingly anti-war combat troops was a
major factor in the eventual defeat of the US
military in Viet Nam.
The anti-war Vietnam
soldiers are true heroes, but will they be remembered and honoured in the
official Vietnam War Commemoration Project? The insatiable war machine
wants only compliant recruits, lured by false patriotism.
I welcome your constructive feedback, and hope
the facts, history and opinions here will assist you to separate truth from
myth about the Vietnam War during the US government’s Vietnam War
Commemoration Project, 2012-2025.
Bruce McPhie
September
15, 2012
Rewriting
History: US War On Vietnam
By Michael
Uhl (Vietnam Veteran, now
anti-war activist)
The
Vietnam War and the Struggle For Truth
By John
Grant (Vietnam Veteran, now anti-war activist)
“Sir!
No Sir! – The Suppressed Story of the GI Movement to End the War in Vietnam”
A timely
film produced, directed and written by David Zeigler.
www.sirnosir.com
