“Colin Powell’s Legend [with 1968] My Lai Massacre.” Robert Parry and Norman Solomon, 1996. The 1989 documentary video, “Four Hours in My Lai: Anatomy of a Massacre” is presented here. Understand that the U.S. sold the war to the American people and the draftees as a war against communism so that young men could dig and find their hatred for an ideology and then put that hateful subject in a foreign land with instructions to kill. It just made killin’ that much easier. And then to read the comments section of the video on YouTube just shows what little understanding, not a defense mind you, but what little historical context and understanding the commenters have.
Check out the comments from this shorter version of the documentary here:
“Vietnam Falls: It Is Time to Establish Responsibility,” Susan M.L. Huck, 2003.
If you’re looking for a list of books on the Vietnam War, this is not a bad place to start.
VIETNAM WAR FILMS
Full Metal Jacket, 1987, directed by Stanley Kubrick.
The movie was based on this novel, The Short-Timers by Gustav Hasford, 1979.
Born on the 4th of July, 1989, directed by Oliver Stone, starring Tom Cruise.
Platoon, 1986, directed by Oliver Stone, starring Charlie Sheen, Wilhem DeFoe, etc.
VIETNAM DOCUMENTARIES [posted on Thursday, December 30, 2021]
Thanks to AntiWar. So according to this video, South Vietnam was created, organized, and ruled by the CIA. The key justification for the occupation of South Vietnam was to proclaim that the fight was a worldwide fight against communism.
Interesting for me was to see a Burt Lancaster movie, Go Tell The Spartans, 1978, about America’s setting up posts in South Vietnam.
Biggest myth was that the 1954 Geneva [Switzerland] Accords divided Vietnam in half at the 17th Parallel and caused a civil war. The Geneva Accords were signed by French and Vietminh representatives, providing for a cease-fire and temporary division of the country into two military zones at the 17th parallel. Albeit, Minh forces were to withdraw north of that line. Captured French and colonial troops would be released in the South. And the defeated French were allowed to remain in the South for 2 years to allow a gradual withdrawal. In 1956, the temporary demarcation lines disappeared as national elections were to be held supervised by an international commission to unify the country. Vietminh leaders were certain to win these elections and this was known to the American president, Dwight D. Eisenhower, who was concerned about the loss of western influence in Asia. As the French left, the American CIA arrived and created a government known as South Vietnam. The CIA flew in Ngo Dinh Diem from New Jersey and appointed him president as U.S. Army advisors took control of the defeated the French Colonial Army and began to expand it. Anybody who doubts these events can read these links below:
“The Two Vietnams 1954-65”; Encyclopedia Britannica.
“The Viet-Nam Demarcation Line is not an international boundary in the traditional sense; rather it is a provisional military demarcation line. As such, it should never be shown on official maps by the standard symbol for an international boundary.” US State Department; September 10, 1962.
Or listen to CIA career officer, Ralph W. McGehee [not sure why his name is spelled differently in different places] explains:
San Gabriel Tutor 