Tag: Vietnam

George McGovern: Iraq worse than Vietnam; we failed to learn

George McGovern, whose run for president as a peace candidate helped end the Vietnam war, has endorsed the Iraq Moratorium, saying that the Iraq war is even worse than Vietnam because the US should have learned a lesson from its disastrous Vietnam policies.

Today is Iraq Moratorium #6, which asks opponents of the war and occupation to take some action, big or small, to show that they want the war to end and the troops to come home.  Inspired by the Vietnam Moratorium, it is a loosely-knit grassroots effort which lists more than 100 antiwar events happening across the country today on its website.

“Common sense helped end the mistaken war in Vietnam.  Common sense citizen action can end the mistaken war in Iraq.  That’s why I support the Iraq Moratorium.”

“I wish our leaders today had a little more knowledge of history,” McGovern said in a talk in Milwaukee this week.  “It seems I spent half my life opposing that (Vietnam) war.”

McGovern said he remembered telling his daughter, Susan, that “even good things can come from tragedy.  Vietnam was such an obvious blunder that we’ll never again go down that road.”

McGovern was overcome with emotion and had to pause to collect himself when discussing “the loss of 58,000 wonderful young Americans” in the Vietnam War.  “To this day, I can’t walk past that black marble wall (the Vietnam Memorial)… without losing my composure, yet here we are going down that same road again, 4,000 wonderful young Americans,” McGovern said.

McGovern called Iraq “a hopeless bloody mess” and said that “in some respects, it is even worse than Vietnam because we had Vietnam as a lesson and our leaders ignored it.”

“The transcendent issue in ’72 was the war in Vietnam,” McGovern said. “We’ve got another transcendent war issue that just has to be resolved.” Although some consider the economy the top issue, the nation’s economic difficulties are rooted in the war, he said.

He was in Milwaukee to attend an event for his grandson, Sam McGovern-Rowen, who is a candidate for alderman in Tuesday’s primary election.

Torture Amnesia – Shame on America

There are some things one never forgets. I’ll never forget my brief encounter with torture 40 years ago. Our patrol engaged some VC hidden in a tree-line and a firefight ensued. The tree-line held a small hamlet. Predictably the village people fled in our direction. They fled because they knew their village would most likely be shelled, strafed or bombed. It was.

Our Viet counterparts detained a young lady they suspected of being a VC, a nurse they claimed. We brought her back to our dilapidated compound where they bound her, stripped off her shirt and attached wires to her nipples and proceed to use a crank operated electrical device to shock her. Needless to say it was thoroughly disgusting. Through it all she refused to talk. I admired her courage. I don’t know where they sent her but I hope she survived.

In April 2004, Americans were stunned when CBS broadcast those now-notorious photographs from Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison, showing hooded Iraqis stripped naked while U.S. soldiers stood by smiling. As this scandal grabbed headlines around the globe, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld insisted that the abuses were “perpetrated by a small number of U.S. military personnel”…

Waterboarding: Those Who Cannot Remember The Past

cross posted at The Dream Antilles

Waterboarding (read: torture) is nothing new.  It’s been around since the 15th century, and has a long, well documented history.  That history was briefly summed up by Ted Kennedy for Democracy Now:

It’s an ancient technique of tyrants. In the fifteenth and sixteenth century, it was used by interrogators in the Spanish Inquisition. In the nineteenth century, it was used against slaves in this country. In World War II, it was used against us by Japan. In the 1970s, it was used against political opponents by the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia and the military dictatorships of Chile and Argentina. Today, it’s being used against pro-democracy activists by the rulers of Burma. When we fail to reject waterboarding, this is the company that we keep. /snip

   Make no mistake about it: waterboarding is already illegal under United States law. It’s illegal under the Geneva Conventions, which prohibit outrages upon personal dignity, including cruel, humiliating and degrading treatment. It’s illegal under the Torture Act, which prohibits acts specifically intended to inflict severe physical or mental pain or suffering. It’s illegal under the Detainee Treatment Act, which prohibits cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. And it violates the Constitution. The nation’s top military lawyers and legal experts across the political spectrum have condemned waterboarding as torture. And after World War II, the United States prosecuted- prosecuted- Japanese officers for engaging in waterboarding. What more does this nominee need to enforce existing laws?

This essay isn’t about rehashing the many legal arguments about how waterboarding is torture and in violation of US and international law.  Instead, this essay recalls two recent, prominent instances in which the US itself prosecuted the use of waterboarding as a crime, as torture.  It raises this simple question: how can anyone who acknowledges this relatively recent history argue that waterboarding isn’t a crime and isn’t torture.  And how is it that our learned congresspersons haven’t forcefully confronted Bushco’s minions with this history?

Please join me below.

Viet Nam – Land of the Poem Hat & the Ao Dai

nonThis essay is obviously not about the presidential primaries, domestic politics, the economy, the occupation of Iraq or foreign policy. The boomers among us will see some historical relevance. For some others it might bring back few special memories. This is a diary about a simple but elegant hat, a hat that some might consider to be symbolic of a poignant era in history, along with some additional words and photos of the flowing ao dai that is often worn together with the hat.

A change of pace here. Light reading and an attempt to provide a few eye-pleasing images and perhaps brighten your day a little bit.

The hats are traditionally known as a nón lá or a nón bài thơ. The former term refers to plain conical hat made with latania palm fronds, the latter refers to a conical hat with poetry and decoration placed between the two layers of leaves of the palm fronds. Bài th&#417 is the Viet word for poem.

huong giang 94

The conical hat is a symbol of traditional Vietnamese life. It is practical and fashionable. It’s extremely durable, very light weight and provides protection from the tropical sun and from monsoon rains. It is worn throughout Viet Nam and also appears in rural areas of neighboring Laos and bordering areas of Cambodia. It is worn by farmers, fishermen, merchants, fashion models, students, adults, children, men, women, city-dwellers and country folk. It is seen in the fields, on the streets, in the market places and in traditional ceremonies.

latania frondVietnamese conical hats are made from the dried leaves of the latania, a palm with fan-shaped fronds, layered over 16 brims fashioned from small diameter, cylindrical-shaped strips of bamboo.

Conical hats are made throughout the country. Different regions have their own versions of the basic nón design. The area around Hue, in central Viet Nam, is quite well known for its poem hats, which are light in weight yet very sturdy, and are inlaid with poems and images of well known landmarks in the Hue area. These are among the most favorite souvenir purchases made by visitors to Hue.

non la inside viewA view looking inside of the nón bài thơ (image left) shows a sampling of the inlay work. An image of the Thien Mu Pagoda (there are interesting photos of the actual pagoda at this link) can be seen in the lower left-center quadrant of the hat. Though it is difficult to see in the image, there is a poem inlaid in the lower right portion of the photo. The source of this photo is Google Images. One of the poems used is shown below along with an English translation.

The Vietnamese version of the poem below was provided by my niece. The translation to English is my own.

non la poemnon la poem eng lang

ao dai 1hoc sinh qndnMaking nón bài thơ has been a traditional craft for many generations in the Hue area. In the Phu Cam neighborhood, on the southern outskirts of Hue, many local residents engage in this craft. A large selection of conical hats for sale can be found a the main market-place along the Perfume River near the Citadel in Hue.

Nón bài thơ worn with the traditional áo dài (the pronunciation sounds like “ow yai” in the South and transitions to “ow zai” in the North) brings an aura of charm and grace to those women who wear it. Hue school girls wearing white ao dai and non bai tho have become  an endless source of inspiration for poets and writers.

The colors of an ao dai are an indication of the age and the status of the wearer. Schoolgirls usually wear white symbolizing purity. As they grow a bit more mature they begin wearing pastel shades. Married women wear patterns and darker colors.

In his 1982 novel Saigon, Anthony Grey described the Ao Dai  as  “demure and provocative…women seem not to walk, but to float gently beneath the tamarinds on the evening breezes.” It is often said that the ao dai covers everything but hides nothing.

tanya truong ao daiEvery ao dai is custom made, accounting for the fit that creates such a flattering look. Stores specialize in their production and a team of cutters, sewers and fitters ensure that the final product will highlight the figure of the wearer. Thuy, a fitter in Ho Chi Minh City, says, “To create the perfect fit, customers take their undergarments and shoes with them for the fittings.” The pants should reach the soles of the feet and flow along the floor.

Source – Things Asian

The photo in the blockquote above, on the right side, is from a collection by Tanya Truong. Her slide show with larger images may be seen here. Very nice!

More ao dai images can be viewed here including one of George W. Bush at the APEC Summit in Hanoi in 2006. I’m sure there are many other people you’d rather see in an ao dai, and there are a few others – much more pleasing to the senses, on the other end of the link.

John Conyers, 1974: Why Nixon should have been impeached

(John Conyers is chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, which has before it House Resolution 333, calling for articles of impeachment to be drawn up against Vice President Dick Cheney.  In 1974, while a member of the Judiciary Committee, Conyers helped draft articles of impeachment against Richard Nixon, articles that were about to be voted on by the full House when Nixon suddenly resigned. Conyers had been one of the most vocal and persistent proponents advocating for Nixon’s impeachment. In May 1972 he and others had taken out a two-page ad in the New York Times calling for impeachment in response to Nixon’s handling of the war in Vietnam; the Watergate burglary had not yet taken place.  The essay below appeared in the October 1974 issue of the journal, The Black Scholar. Nixon resigned in August 1974 and was pardoned the next month by President Gerald Ford.  To the best of my knowledge, this essay has never before appeared online. – o.h.)


WHY NIXON SHOULD HAVE

BEEN IMPEACHED

by John Conyers, Jr.

from The Black Scholar, Vol. 6, No. 2, October 1974

Reprinted by permission of The Black Scholar

RICHARD NIXON, like the President before him, was in a real sense a casualty of the Vietnam War, a war which I am ashamed to say was never declared. Since the hearings of the House Judiciary Committee began on May 9th, 1974, we have had a professional staff of some 89 men and women gather in great detail over 42 volumes of information that was considered throughout some 57 sessions. My analysis of the evidence clearly reveals an Administration so trapped by its own war policy and a desire to remain in office that it entered into an almost unending series of plans for spying, burglary and wiretapping, inside this country and against its own citizens, and without precedent in American history.

40 Years – Remembering Tet 1968

In August of 1967 General William Westmoreland claimed to have hurt the enemy so badly that “their major efforts” were limited to the periphery of South Vietnam.

“We have reached an important point when the end becomes to come into view,”  General Westmoreland said in his speech to the National Press Club in Washington on November 21, 1967. “We are making progress…it (success) lies within our grasp, the enemy’s hopes are bankrupt.”

Meanwhile –

General Vo Nguyen Giap explained how and why the Hanoi leders had enticed the American forces to the borders of the South in an extended two-part article published in Quan Doi Nhan Dan (The Army of the People) published in September 1967. Giap cited the fighting along the DMZ and in the Central Highlands as principal examples of Hanoi’s strategy at work.

Quoted from A Bright Shining Lie by Neil Sheehan

The Offensive began on the eve of the lunar new year, 30 January 1968. In it’s early hours Westmoreland still contended that the Tet attacks were a diversion and that the real objective was Khe Sanh.

What I Said At The TIme

I started writing a journal when I was 13 years old.  I still have that raggedy old spiral notebook.

Here’s what I said about Viet Nam.  Please don’t hate me for my prodigy-like brilliance:

I wonder when World War III will be.  I’m almost sure there’ll be one, because of all the fighting going on in Viet Nam.  You see, it all started because we didn’t want South Viet Nam to become Communist (a form of government where the government owns and controls everything) so we fought the Communists so that Viet Nam would be a democracy (an individualistic government, where it is run by the people, for the people).

Well so far, all that has happened is a lot of killing!  Also, Presidential elections are coming up in 1968 (November).  I sure hope Johnson isn’t re-elected.  I’m rooting for Bobby Kennedy or McCarthy!  (Even though I can’t vote, I’m only 13 years old!)

I wish that wars wouldn’t “be.”  We have such a short time to live, why does it have to be spent in fighting?

 

Dr. King’s Greatest Speech

Photobucket

I don’t think it’s the “I have a dream”  speech, either in its Washington, DC, or earlier Detroit versions.  I think Dr. King’s greatest speech was given on April 4, 1967, to a meeting of Clergy and Laity Concerned at Riverside Church in New York City.  It’s “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence.”  Exactly, a year later, on April 4, 1968, Dr. King was murdered in Memphis.

Dr. King’s holiday is a day when I hope we can pause for a moment to remember Dr. King, to read this timeless speech of four decades ago, and to recommit ourselves to the struggle for peace and justice.  And most important, I hope we can find ways to re-dedicate ourselves to action for peace and justice.

It’s also important to remember on this holiday not the sanitized, uncontroversial, bland version of Dr. King that the traditional media now commemorate.  The version who gave the “I have a dream speech” and did nothing else of importance.  To the contrary, it’s extremely important to remember the Dr. King who was wiretapped and surveilled by the FBI and state governments, and who was constantly attacked in the media as a Communist and an outside agitator and a revolutionary.  And the Dr. King who was despite his courage in actual physical danger, along with his wife and children, for every waking minute of every one of his days.  And the Dr. King who was threatened quite publicly with lynching and bombing and shooting so regularly by racists, white supremacists and reactionaries of every stripe. And the Dr. King about whom so many Americans expressed their outspoken hatred and contempt even in polite company, at the dinner table, and in their houses of worship.

Join me at the Riverside Church.  

Message to Military Veterans of Peace

Saturday Jan. 12th Radio Tribute to Dave Cline

RADIO ON SATURDAY

Tune in to the radio tribute to David Cline on WBAI 99.5 FM in New York on Saturday, January 12, Noon – 3 PM EST {WBAI is streamed live over the Internet in multiple formats:

MP3: 24K or 64K or .ram

OGG: 24K or 64K

See WBAI Stream

From Viet Nam – A Love Story

Her grave is set near her family’s home, adjacent to a large grove of coconut palms, beside the backwater of a peaceful lagoon east of Hoi An. She died far away, in childbirth, bringing twin girls into the world in the high plateau country of Dac Lac Province. One of her newborn daughters died. One survived. It was not a good time in that part of the world. It was 1978. She was 31 years old.

A portion of his ashes lies buried next to her tomb. Another portion, the larger amount, rests in an urn in a Buddhist Temple in Ho Chi Minh City, nearly 900 km to the south. His name was John. He was a US Navy Hospital Corpsman. Her name was But (sounds like “boot”, pronounced with a rising inflection). She was a Vietnamese nurse.

I knew John for less than a year, the last year of his life. It was an honor to have known him and to have been his friend. I hadn’t known But, but I knew of her, and about her unfortunate death, years before I knew John.

This is a true story. It became known locally as “A Vietnamese Love Story”



John was a veteran of the Vietnam War, or as it’s known in Viet Nam, “The American War.” One of my earliest contacts with him was late in 2001. He was living in Australia.

He e-mailed me about But after learning that she had died and told me about his plans to return to Viet Nam:

As a Corpsman and a life long observer of people I think my collective knowledge will serve me well in this instance as it has in the past. I will consult with P. about how best to do what I plan to do, especially when I go to the temple to burn some incense and say a prayer to Buddha for But’s and my spirits.

I am somewhat pantheistic with strong leanings toward Eastern religions as well as native American beliefs. In short do good by your fellow man and be a custodian of The Earth Mother.

I worked very closely with But in ’71 while at HQ 2nd CAG and have several pictures of her. I hold her in the highest regard, largely for her patience with me.

I doubly mourn her loss. She was a fine person and an even better nurse. I’d like nothing better than to present her parents, if alive, or the surviving child, with one or more of the pictures I have. Could that be arranged? I plan to go Vietnam within the next year.

Sadly John

I would help to set up contacts for John in Da Nang, friends who would meet him at the airport and take him to meet But’s family near Hoi An. He returned to Viet Nam the first time in June of 2002.

Upon his arrival in Hoi An he learned of an another unfortunate incident in which But’s surviving daughter had died. He told me his impression was that she had taken her own life but that he could not understand the details.

John stopped by Bangkok en-route back to Australia. I was due to go to Laos for a new visa and so John agreed to join me. We took an overnight bus to Nong Khai and crossed the Mekong into Laos early the following morning. We spent several days in Laos and traveled from Vientiane to Vang Vieng, a picturesque village in a serene valley frequented by low-budget backpacker tourists.

While we were there John shared memories from his time in Viet Nam – from his experiences during the war and from his recent trip. He took special pride in his accomplishments while assigned to 2nd CAG. He told me many stories about what he did there taking care of wounded Marines as well as injured and sick Vietnamese civilians and of going on med-caps to rural villages. He also told me of his fondness, respect and admiration for his co-worker, Tran thi But. He told me that through the years since he left Viet Nam he had never forgotten her and often wondered how she fared when the war ended. I sensed that he loved her and was still mourning her death.

Unknown to me and to John before he returned to Hoi An, But also had two sons who lived in Saigon. When he learned of this he arranged for them to come to Hoi An and he took a serious interest in their welfare and had plans for assisting them to help jump start them on their way through life. He had “adopted” them as sons and they looked to him as a father. He had them enroll in English classes in Saigon.

While here in Thailand we looked at motorbikes. One of “his boys”, as he like to call them, was a motorbike taxi driver and his bike had seen much better days. John was planning on getting him a new one and was trying to figure out what might be appropriate. But’s other son was a mechanic and John planned to purchase tools for him to use in his work.

John suffered from chronic PTSD. His first trip back had been a very heavy one emotionally. He wasn’t sure what to do next. I encouraged him to return again if he had no other plans, and spend time getting better acquainted with But’s two sons.

In early July he would travel back again to check on “his boys” and to see what else he could do for them and for the local people of the area. On the night of July 3 I had one of those horrible Viet Nam nightmares, re-playing once again the same theme I have seen for decades. They had become less frequent as the years passed but were equally as frightening as they had been in years gone by. That same night in a hotel room in Hoi An John died of a heart attack. A police investigation followed and determined that there had been no foul play.

John’s brother arrived from Australia and working through the US Consulate in Ho Chi Minh City and the Vietnamese government, permission for local cremation was obtained and John’s remains were placed in an urn kept in a temple near the homes of But’s son’s, “John’s boys”. I went over to help with what I could and with local friends and But’s family, arranged for a simple private ceremony at a temple in Hoi An. A small portion of John’s remains, with the permission of But’s family, were laid to rest beside her tomb. A large number of people were involved and helped. Interestingly there were people who had been on opposite sides during the war years and who had joined efforts in making sure everything was handled properly and and that John’s brother, on his first trip to that part of the world, was made to be as comfortable as possible.

The evening after the service John’s brother and I stopped off a tailor shop in Hoi An. We had a brief wait as he was having some articles of clothing altered. Several local people were there chatting with the shop owners in typical small town fashion and the topic was the American who had been found dead in a local hotel. They had no inkling of the connection between John and the two foreign customers sitting among them in the shop. To them we were just two of many foreign tourists who visit their historic town. They seemed to know all of the details about the local girl, But, and the American. People in Da Nang, people in Hoi An were talking about it, they said.

And so, the story of But and John came to be known in Quang Nam Province as a Vietnamese love story. And, for a country, which until very recently, had been at war for many generations, and in which most love stories had tragic endings, indeed the story of John and But fit the pattern very well.

Diary Of A Fool

It would seem now that the only people who ever supported Joe McCarthy were John Birchers and other rightwing loons far out of touch with sanity.  Somehow Tailgunner Joe not only got elected himself but struck terror in the heart of liberals.  A recent book described the ability of Joe McCarthy to destroy Democratic politicians who opposed him.  Oddly it was a Republican, Eisenhower, who really did Joe in.

I was young and foolish once, instead of old and foolish as I am now.  I believed.  I believed in Joe McCarthy, the virgin birth, heaven and hell, everlasting fire and torment for sinners.  And then I volunteered for Vietnam.

Who Killed the Kennedys

I was eleven in ’63…when they killed John Kennedy. That was the end of my innocence, and the end of America’s too. 

I shouted out,
“Who killed the Kennedys?”
When after all
It was you and me

Rolling Stones – Sympathy for the Devil

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