John Kerry And The Mythology Of The Vietnam War:
A Veteran’s Perspective
John Kerry And The Mythology Of The Vietnam War:
A Veteran’s Perspective
By
Michael Tank
Part Three
"False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil."
- Plato
In the years since Vietnam, there have been many TV news specials and reports, many documentaries on the war, and many books written about our involvement. Most of them have done nothing to clear up the mythology of Vietnam. Many have been made or written to do just the opposite, thus promoting the lies that were begun during the war. It is essential to those who perpetrated the lies in the first place to continue the deception throughout the coming years, so as to protect themselves and their place in history. Then as now, they are more than willing to denigrate the honor of the men who served in Vietnam and to sacrifice the memory of those who died there. Documentaries such as CBS’s “The Wall Within” hosted by Dan Rather, which aired on June 2, 1988, uses the false testimony of five Veterans about war crimes they say they committed while in Vietnam. Including one, “Terry Bradley, a fighting sergeant" who told Rather he had "skinned alive 50 Vietnamese men, women, and children in one hour and stacked their bodies in piles.” (Now think about this for one minute. My father who worked part time as a commercial fisherman on the Mississippi River could skin catfish faster than any man I ever saw, and I really do not believe he could have skinned fifty catfish in an hour much less fifty human beings.) After this documentary aired, it was proven that four out of the five could not have committed such crimes; furthermore they had never even served in combat. Including our super fast human skinner, Terry Bradley, who was not the "fighting sergeant" he'd claimed to be. Instead, military records reveal he served as an ammo handler in the 25th Infantry Division and spent nearly a year in the stockade for being AWOL. That's good news for the hundreds of Vietnamese civilians Bradley claimed to have slaughtered. But Rather and CBS stood by their story. The documentary is now included in CBS’s video history of the Vietnam War, to be shown to future unknowing generations.
In an interview years after Vietnam, Walter Cronkite discussed his times as a war correspondent during WW II, Korea and Vietnam. He boasted of the new wave of young, brave and honest reporters that had taken his generation’s place in reporting the war in Vietnam. He talked about the differences in those wars concerning our government’s censorship of the news reports going out to the public. He said he understood why the United States had such censorship in WW II and Korea and that yet, he was still glad to see that the military had gone away from this policy in Vietnam. Even though he admitted that the previous war’s censorship had been vital to our Nation’s security. He explained that during WW II and Korea, when the reporters were receiving the officers' debriefing reports, that the officers “..would talk freely to us…” knowing that anything the reporters would write, had to first pass through the military censors before being released. He went on to state that with absence of a censorship policy, “…in Vietnam all that changed and the officers lied to protect their own policies.” So, he explains, it was up to the reporters to find the truth.
Later, during this interview, he discusses the 1968 Tet Offensive and his role in it. He had admitted earlier that he had only been to Vietnam, a few times for short periods and as an “…elder reporter…” he usually “…hung out with the brass, many of which were old friends of my generation from WW II and Korea and we talked of old times.” Cronkite explained, that after years of hearing the military telling the American people that we were winning in Vietnam, he decided to, “…once again to go Vietnam and to see the truth for myself” when the Communists launched their offensive in ’68. He admits that he and another CBS executive were angry at the military, as they discussed the situation on the plane ride over to Vietnam. Staying in country for only a few days, he returned even more hostile towards our military because they were now saying, that because of Tet all they needed were a few thousand more men to finish off the Communists. He did not believe them. (History would prove that our military leaders had been correct.) It was upon his return that he admits he decided to move, “…beyond just reporting the news…” and to make his famous three-minute editorial, which would affect millions of lives, help to insure America’s defeat in Vietnam and with our military absence insure the deaths of over three million Southeast Asians when the Communist overran their countries. Yet in this interview, even with the advantage of hindsight and the proof of history against him, he is proud of his participation in these events and praises himself and his fellow reporters for their honesty and bravery. This interview aired in 2002.
Unfortunately, many of these same reporters of the news in Vietnam still report on our war in Iraq or have moved upstairs and are in control. Rather, Safer, have been joined by the likes of Ted Rall and Michael Moore. I include Moore with the news media, even though he is not considered a reporter, because a documentary is supposed to be about actual events. Just as in Vietnam, our troops in Iraq are not getting a square deal from the news media and the American public is not getting the true story. The limited negative view of what we are receiving in the news of the Iraq War and of the once again, constant coverage of a small anti-war crowd here at home, is as overly excessive, distorted, and shameful as it was in Vietnam. The majority of these reporters have chosen sides and tell us only what they want us to know, even to the point of exaggeration, false information and the omission of facts, which conflict with the story they want to tell. Once again the American public believes what they see on their TV’s and read in their newspapers as the gospel.
When you turn on your TV tonight and see a burning truck or armored vehicle, which was hit by a terrorist’s rocket or ran over a mine today in Iraq, all the reporter will tell us is who was injured or killed. He may tell you how the fighting around this area has increased in recent days. Or he might tell you, while the film shows people milling about the ruined vehicle, how the people in the area just want the Americans to leave. Sometimes they add a short clip of a weapon’s cache that was uncovered in somebody’s home by the soldiers. Maybe he will add, at the end of the report, the total number of American casualties to date, you know just for effect as they say. I understand why they report an incident like this and I am sorry for the loss of life, both of ours and that of the Iraqis. But it is what he doesn’t tell you that is so telling. While he shows this one vehicle, that was tragically destroyed, he says nothing of the hundreds of thousands of vehicles that went about their business this day unharmed. While he shows us and tells us about these few people milling about, he says nothing of the fifty-two million who are pursuing normal and nonviolent activities all over the country, as he stands before the camera. When he shows us the house with the weapon’s cache, he does not mention the tens of millions of homes filled with families, maybe with electricity and running water for the first time in their occupant’s lives. There is no mention of the millions of children now attending schools, some for the first time. He does not mention the relaxed restrictions on the female population. He doesn’t mention the new found freedoms of the Iraqi people. Yet maybe, it isn’t his job to report the good things that are spreading across this land, even though it is not happening as fast as we wish it would. Maybe his job is just to report the bad things that are happening in Iraq. But maybe, someone, somebody, should remind us and the rest of the World, every once in a while, that although the price has been very dear, our sons and daughters are doing a dangerous but necessary job in building a better future for America, Iraq and all of mankind.
But this kind of truthful and positive outlook does not fit the agendas of some politicians, the anti-war groups and many in the news medias. So once again they continue to attack the mission, the troops, our current leaders and America in general, in pursuit of their own goals. There are reporters and columnists today who distort the facts, omit others and make up their own to advance their own beliefs or those of their party or self-interest groups. They have once again slandered the American forces by accusing them of war crimes, and of wrongfully fighting an innocent foe, in a far off land, where we have no right to be. They are the same people who will tell you that it was America’s fault for WW II, Korea, Vietnam, and 9-11. They point at this or that throughout the World’s history and, smiling gleefully, as they seemingly believe to have proven their point, tell us that if we had done this or hadn’t done that, than so and so would not have attacked us. Therefore, you big American dummy, it was, has and always will be your entire fault. For these so called Americans among us, who blame America for everything, there are sound and justifiable reasons why the World in general hates America. According to these so called Americans, those people in the streets we saw celebrating the deaths of our men, woman and children after 9-11, were right to do so. For these Americans among us, there is only one path to follow in order to save ourselves, and that path is theirs, for only they know the real truth. The rest of us Americans are all too stupid to understand or have a say in what goes on. Just ask Michael Moore who is busy traveling the World telling everyone how stupid we Americans are:
"(T)he dumbest Brit here is smarter than the smartest American."
- Michael Moore At London’s Roundhouse Theater (He later substituted Canadians for Brits when speaking in Canada.)
The mythology of the Vietnam War is still so prevalent today that anti-war activists, politicians and the news media, are easily applying it to the war in Iraq. The belief in the false accusations of war crimes, supposedly committed by the military in Vietnam, is still so readily held as the truth that once again our soldiers are being condemned as murders and torturers. In Vietnam our accusers pointed at, the isolated and never to be repeated crime, of My Lai as proof that what Kerry had sworn were everyday incidents actually happened everyday. Today in Iraq a few soldiers, for whatever reasons, went beyond what was right and subjected prisoners to inhumane treatment at Abu Ghraib prison. But while the Army had it under control and was already investigating those responsible, CBS made it public. It was after all a scoop. It did not raise one small concern to CBS, that releasing such a story would only inflame our enemies and endanger our own troops, even more than they already were. In the ensuing days of the prison scandal, to keep the fires of hatred burning against our young Americans and their Allies, newspapers and television news reports squeezed the prison story for every drop of blood that could be drained. They published, or showed on television, the photos that these few guards had taken and incited anti-American hatred all over the World. The New York Times alone ran twenty-four major headlines of the Abu Ghraib prison fiasco in just twenty-seven days. Moore included a short piece about the prison in his movie “Fahrenheit 911”. Columnists, such as Ted Rall, compared, not only the guilty guards of Abu Ghraib but also included all American military forces, to the Nazi Gestapo and SS. Again, as in Vietnam, if one crime was committed than all who served must be guilty. Never mind, that anyone who would follow this theory of condemning the whole for the actions of a few, must then also see that the next time a woman is raped in their own town or community, they thus must condemn themselves and their neighbors as rapists, too. For what purpose was this rush to tell the World of this crime, when the Army had already moved toward punishing those responsible and when it served no ones purpose or would have affected no one in their daily pursuits? You can only believe that the reasons, for this rush to release this story, was to beat everyone else and be the first to report it, for the sensational headlines, for higher TV ratings, to attack and embarrass the Bush administration, and to label our young men and women, serving honorably, as murderers and torturers. Without being held responsible, once again, all those involved have helped our enemies and endangered the very ones they say they all support, our troops. Why does this behavior and its perpetrators prosper? Why do these men and women of the news media continue to enjoy such celebrity and over priced compensation for doing this to our Country and to our children? Free Speech? Where is the responsibility that is the price others have to pay for this kind of free speech? Now when the Army is conducting trials of the guards, and any others who may be responsible for the wrongdoing, what do we do about the wrongdoers who released this story to the World? The guards will be rightly punished for what they have done to these prisoners, for the shame they brought on our Country, and for the harm they have caused to our troops. In the meantime, while at least one American was beheaded as his murderers declared, “This is for the crimes at Abu Ghraib!” who now pays the price for the release of these photos and the harm it has caused their fellow Americans? It will certainly not be those responsible, for they hide behind and declare freedom of speech and freedom of the press, without consequence for their words and actions. While the ones who pay the ultimate price for these abused freedoms and the irresponsibility of the media, are our own servicemen and women, our children.
In April of 2003, as America was preparing to go to war in Iraq, a reporter for CNN stood across from the entrance to a southeastern United States’ Army base, broadcasting Live, to the entire World over satellite. The Army support units, stationed at this base, had been called up and were mobilizing to go to Iraq and begin the war. I watched in disbelief as this reporter told everyone who cared to listen, every detail she could find, about these American units who were now leaving to fight an armed and deadly foe. She included the names of the units, the strength of the units (number of personnel), how the units where broken down into components and the number of persons in those components, the type of units (whether they were infantry, cooks, support or so on), what the units' tasks included and how they would perform those tasks, the types of weaponry used by the units, what vehicles and equipment were used by the units and the total number of such items, the departure area the unit was leaving from, the time the unit was expected to leave, and their destination, again with an estimated time of their arrival. As hard as it may seem to believe, I am not making this up. I wondered, where was the security to insure these American troops’ safety? I wondered, where was the concern for their safety and the successful completion of their mission? I wondered, who except our common enemy, could benefit from having all of this information about our very own troops? It certainly did not improve, or even really effect, my life to know all of this vital information about our forces. All this report did was to give me, and anyone else not directly involved in the upcoming struggle, useless information, which would be forgotten in the following minutes, while being extremely helpful only to our enemies, and potentially harmful, possibly even deadly, for our young fighting forces. I sat there listening, as this reporter rambled on endangering our children in our Armed Forces, I wondered why this was permitted in today’s American society without any concern for the well being of our troops? It is absolutely insane to think that this type of uncensored behavior, by the American media, is condoned or even tolerated by our government and its citizenry. It is the reflection of the arrogant and apathetic nature of the pious news media of today, which justifies every word they expel, whether it is harmful to others, helpful to some, or needed by no one, as merely their right to free speech and freedom of the press. Try to imagine this type of behavior while the Allied troops were debarking for D-Day on June 6, 1944 in England. Or this kind of informational broadcast beamed over to Japan, on the eve of our invasion of Guadalcanal in 1942. It would not have been tolerated then and it should not be permitted today. But the truly amazing part of this information abuse, is that in this modern world of instant information and Live reports from around the globe, never did you see such detailed reports, as the one about our Army unit’s deployments, for any Iraqi troop movements. Today, over a year later, our trusted American news media continues to stack the deck in favor of our enemies.
In Cronkite’s taped interview he discussed how during the Vietnam War a division had widened between the military and the war’s reporters. How the men who were fighting the war, seemed to go from welcoming the reporters at the beginning of the war, to distrusting and avoiding them as the war progressed. Of course, he put the blame on the military, and thus the troops themselves, for this absence of cooperation. For Cronkite and his fellow reporters, this lack of informational access meant that the military, and its men, were not only being untruthful about the war, but in fact, that they must be hiding something. To the reporters this meant that they could not believe anything that the military, or the troops told them. So the reporters felt they must keep digging until they found the truth, or the dirty laundry. Thus the reporters, themselves, created the distrust and the animosity, which was displayed towards them by the military. This distrustfulness and hostile attitude between the two continues today. In reality, it was the very lack of censorship, then permitted by the government, and relished by the media, along with the total lack of the reporter’s regard to the consequences of their reports coming out of Vietnam, which was to blame for this distrust. Meanwhile, the fighting man knew who his friends where. Today this void between the media and those who are in harms way, has become even more pronounced. But it has also come full circle. Today the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan also have the opportunity to watch CNN and FoxNews. They do not have to wait until someone back home sends them a newspaper clipping, or in fact, may never hear what is being reported until they do come home, as we did in Vietnam. In Vietnam Cronkite stated, that the reporters saw that what was being reported by the military was not the whole truth, now the military in Iraq and Afghanistan, can see that what is being reported by the reporters in America, is not the whole truth. The military wonders, why there are not more positive reports coming out of Iraq about their success. The military can also see, first hand, the disregard for their safety in these reporter’s actions and words.
On the October 1, 2004 airing of HBO’s Real Time, hosted by Bill Maher, the discussion turned to the telling of the truth in the media. Tucker Carlson, a member of CNN’s Crossfire, stated that if the reporter, who had recently leaked the name of a spy, had told the truth, than he would not condemn that reporter, even though it had endangered the life of that spy. When asked, by Maher, if this included giving away the positions of our troops to the enemy, as Haroldo Rivera had once done during the Iraq War, Carlson answered, after the laughter had died away, if it is the truth, than it is all right, because of freedom of the press. This type of callous and self-righteous attitude by members today’s media should be unacceptable to the American people, and yet, as seen on this broadcast, many found it humorous. There is nothing funny about having American citizen/soldiers facing the dangers and hardships of combat, while members of the press garrulously inform our enemies as to their whereabouts, or any other vital information, thus enhancing our son’s and daughter’s chances of being harmed. These members of the media are the same ones who seemingly bemoan the losses of the men and women in our war with Iraq, yet find it totally unacceptable when it is suggested, that the information they are releasing, may cause these same members of our military, for which they so piously mourn, grievous harm. One wonders if they are so calloused, as to look at the high casualty rates, as only a means of which to further attack the current administration for getting us into the war. With their self-serving attitudes, actions and words, concerning their lack of regard for the safety of our military, it seems they feel, that the higher the number of war dead the better, as they can then more harshly condemn the present warlords. It also seems that, since it is their believe that it was Bush alone who got us into the war in Iraq, that any casualties are his responsibility, and his alone. Nothing they say or do is the cause for anyone getting killed; so they are completely absolved of their own personal quilt, any responsibility for the death of a soldier must all fall on Bush. Therefore, if the spy, working undercover for the benefit of our nation, ends up with his throat slit, because his name and identity was leaked in a newspaper article, it wasn’t the reporter’s fault, he was only telling the truth while exercising freedom of the press. If a terrorist happens to catch a Live report on his satellite TV, telling him that there is a group of American soldiers coming right around the corner, and he grabs up his AK-47, runs out to let loose a few quick bursts, killing an American soldier, it’s not that TV reporter’s fault, he was only telling the truth and applying his freedom of speech. Besides, it was the Bush administration, which put that spy and that soldier in harms way. Everybody else is just telling the truth.
“The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional as to how they perceive the Veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their country."
- George Washington
Whether we should have attacked Iraq when we did or not is no longer the issue. We are there now and we cannot leave before the mission there is accomplished. Any further debate on if the war was right or wrong or who is to blame can be discussed at a later date until the cows come home. Right now it is imperative to the safety of our fighting forces and for America itself to show a unified front. It is not as radical a concept as you may think. America has been able to do it in the past.
The first thing you heard from the anti-war crowd was the comparison of this war with Vietnam. “We have gotten ourselves into another Vietnam!” they cried, even though most of them aren’t even old enough to remember Vietnam. The Iraq War itself is not another Vietnam, but the home front sure the hell is. Where Vietnam had its Fonda, Hayden, Sutherland and others, we now have Penn, Garofalo, Sheen, Sarandon, Robbins and so on and on. Movie stars, rock stars and something called the Dixie Chicks are tripping all over each other trying to get to a microphone to tell us how evil we all are. The only difference from what we heard thirty years ago in their tired rhetoric is that now, in the weakening afterglow of the 9-11 wave of Patriotism, they try to qualify their protests of the war by first saying, “I support our troops but...” Sorry, you can’t have it both ways. If you don’t support the mission you can’t support the troops. Let’s get this straight once and for all. If you don’t support the mission you can’t the support the troops. You cannot tell these brave young men and women that: You are such good brave soldiers and I support you and all, you know, but I just think you are wrong by going to Iraq. So say it again. If you don’t support the mission you can’t support the troops. You can’t have it both ways. Stop trying to come off as a good guy to the ones who are facing all the dangers, by saying you support them while you sit in comfort and safety far from harms way, and then condemn what they are doing. In fact if you cannot say anything positive about the situation, which they are currently in and have no way out of except to defeat our enemies, than keep your mouths shut! Most of you have absolutely no qualifications what so ever to discuss our nations policies except for the misinformation you have read in your selective press. Furthermore, if it were not for your celebrity status nobody would be listening to you anyway. Acting out the role of a soldier in a movie, does not make you a combat veteran or a war hero. Playing a president on TV does not make you qualified to run the country. Put your ego in a suitcase, fly off to Cannes and wait for the festival, or do something else to take your tortured mind off the troubles of the world for a while.
Besides being a hypocrite, here is why. Just as the NVA waited in Vietnam, our enemies now hope that your dissidence will eventually force our government to give up the fight and bring our troops home. Therefore, and listen carefully to this because it is a matter of life and death. They will continue to kill and maim as many of our sons, daughters and Iraqis as they can with the hope that you will keep up the pressure on our politicians and until you gain a large enough following of the American public, which will force our politicians to end our involvement. Like the NVA, they know it is the only way they can win. Attrition. Now that you don’t have that press conference to bash Bush and the war to attend, look it up. You all know that words are powerful and in this modern day of satellites and CNN, our enemies hear your every word. When you call our President a murderer and demand that we vote for Kerry and end the war, march with a sign that says, “SOLDIERS BE A PATRIOT, KILL YOUR OFFICERS!” you would just as well be sitting next to a terrorist, reloading his AK-47 or rocket launcher, handing it back, and telling him to take another shot at our boys. Believe it! You are not helping our young people in the military with your protests and outbursts, you are hurting their morale, getting them killed and helping their enemies by giving them the hope of a victory.
Yes, I know all about free speech in America, it’s your right. But with that free speech comes responsibility. Even though in the past you and your fellow outspoken critics of everything America does have not been held accountable, it would be nice to see a self employed muzzle to the benefit of all those troops you say you support. Try one on just to see how it feels. Besides this time there is no draft, none of you, who do not want to go, will not have to go. We are not asking any of you to take any of the risks, we are just asking for a little silence so those Americans who have stepped forward to carry the burden once again, can defeat an enemy, who is intent on killing every mother’s son of us, and without dragging it out this time. There have always been enough of us who are willing to do what has to be done to preserve our freedoms and your free speech, just let them get the job done with your silence for a change.
While you are sitting on the sunny beaches at Cannes, ponder this. When the terrorists have won and they continue on their murderous ways, you are no safer than the rest of us. If they win, they will eventually bring their murderous ways to you and yours. How ironic that our enemies hate us, among many other things, for our lavish lifestyle and decadence, yet the ones who speak out the most against our war with these enemies are the very ones who live the most lavish and decadent lifestyles. The Marx Brothers could not script a more ridiculous scenario. There you go! I freely give you that idea to develop into a movie; it can be a comedy of errors. Who knows you may win an Oscar and get to sit next to Michael Moore! So what of your other concerns, for it is not just the death of our troops that you say concerns you. What about those Iraqi civilians who are being killed, you ask? Now you have passed hypocrisy. Where were you when Hussein and his henchmen where killing thousands? Why do you defend the suicide bombers who kill more Iraqis than they kill Americans? Why do you not believe that the majority of these terrorists, now murdering in Iraq, are not Iraqis themselves but are terrorists from other nations? If not for the American troops now in Iraq, Hussein would still be killing at random. Without the American troops in Iraq, the Iraqis would not be able to fight the radicals that are now killing our troops, the Iraqi police and Iraqi civilians. Like your fellow protesters from Vietnam, you blame only America for the ills of the world, while you cast no blame on the ones who are trying to force their will onto others, who freely kill any and all within reach and give no thought to the deaths of the thousands in the blood bath that would surely occur if America were to now pull out of Iraq. Your only goal is the condemnation of America and its policies. How else can you explain your silence when Hussein was at his butcher’s block? You do not really care who lives or dies; you only want to be heard, to shine the spotlight on yourselves and to criticize our country. During Vietnam the protesters wanted America to believe that they were saving us poor uneducated soldiers from our corrupted government and an unjust war. We did not need them to speak out on our behalf, as so many of you believed, we were not victims, we were warriors. The majority of us had volunteered and we believed in what we were doing. Our military today are all volunteers and they too believe that what they are doing is right and they are winning the war. Just like we did in Vietnam. Again, they do not need to be saved from, by what you believe to be, a corrupt government or your so-called unjust war, they are not victims, they are Warriors.
You have criticized America for not building a strong coalition or receiving the approval of the United Nations to help us fight the war. Well America tried to build a coalition. France, Germany and Russia all declined. They declined because of their own personal interests in Iraq, mainly because Hussein owed them all large sums of money. They chose repayment over Iraqi human rights and over the lives of Hussein’s victims. Yet where is the criticism of their selfish priorities? Instead they stand on the soapbox and angrily denounce America and its military for its unselfish liberation of the Iraqi people. Others, who had joined, such as Spain and the Philippines, have pulled out after bowing to the terrorists’ threats. While the U.N. had been the watch dog on Hussein and his Iraq since the Desert War they did nothing to curb his brutality. They knew of the death squads, the false imprisonments and the total abuse of human rights by the Hussein government, yet this watchdog turned a blind eye to it all. We have all heard of the Food for Oil scandal that proliferated through the U.N. and thus the reason for the denial of the U.N. sanction for Hussein’s forced abdication. Why has this scandal disappeared from our press? If elected Kerry wants to work more closely with the U.N. in regards to our country’s defense. The problem with that notion, for one, is that petty tribal politics and graft are so rampant in the U.N. that you can’t swing a paper clip in their hallowed halls without hitting a dissident or a bagman. The U.N. had done nothing about Hussein; it has done nothing about Somalia, Zambia or any other African nation needing help. It has done nothing about the nuclear threats of North Korea, Iran, Pakistan or India. But yet you are willing to place this traitor in the White House and let him hand over the security of our families and our country and the power of our military to a corrupt conglomerate of nations, with their own individual interests most of which are harmful to our country. Until this world is a better place, control of our military should remain in the hands of America.
"History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon."
- Napoleon Bonaparte
Today we are witnessing the sad passing of a great generation of Americans. They endured the Great Depression, fought and won World War II and Korea, outlasted the Soviet Union to win the Cold War and rebuilt America into a country that was second to none in industry, agriculture, social prosperity, personal freedoms and military might. Through their labors, corporations and union organizations they insured financial security for themselves and their families in an economic prosperity that has never been equaled and they put men on the Moon. From their generation came such leaders as FDR, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Reagan. Like their fathers in WW I they had marched off to foreign lands to win freedom for the World and for ourselves. They insured that the rights of the individual were respected but protected the right of the majority. They worshiped their God and displayed symbols of their religion in public, without fear of repercussions and insured that their children were taught Patriotism and love of God and Country in their schools. They believed in hard work, honor, duty, sacrifice, and doing right by their fellow man. But mainly, they believed in the promise and the dream of the United States of America and what it could become. Though they made mistakes and there were many pitfalls, you would think that their honored place in history would be secure.
But the trouble with contemporary readers of history is the unfortunate practice of viewing the past decisions and actions of our ancestors through the eyes of the present days' changing values, morals and conceptions. Thus the public’s accepted version of history is fleeting and ever changing and already, even before their passing, the World is trying to change this generation’s image. New historians are now saying, that if America had taken a more active part after WW I then there never would have been WW II. Even now, as they condemn the United States for usurping a vile dictator in Iraq, they accuse us of standing idly by in our own self interest, for not imposing our will on Europe and in not forcing Hitler out of power before that war. With their anti-American views, America will always be caught in the indefensible situation of, damned if we do, damned if we don’t. They go on to say that Japan had no recourse except to attack us at Pearl Harbor, because of our unfair restrictive trade embargos on American steel, rubber and oil. These restrictions were in place because of Japan’s aggression in Asia and it’s imperialistic goals. Yet by these new historian’s accounts, it was the United States who was and will always remain the aggressor and empire seeker. Despite the fact that Allied causalities were estimated to be over one million in the final invasion of the Japanese home islands, Truman and his generation’s decision to use the atomic bomb, has been condemned and labeled racist. None of these new historians seem to even want to consider, the millions of Japanese who would have also surely perished in this death struggle to end the war, once their sacred home islands had been invaded. Of course it is also pointed out, that it was the leaders from this American generation that gave us Vietnam, again with no regard to the fact, that it was the Soviet Union who first gave aid and the weapons for war to assist North Vietnam in its unlawful invasion of the South.
As generations overlap it was my generation that was called to duty in Vietnam. To that war we carried the same values, moral believes and fighting spirit of our fathers in WW II and Korea. Because of our father’s efforts, we were better educated than any of our armies before. On average, we were younger than they had been when we first saw the horrors of battle, but we were better equipped, better fed and well trained. Two-thirds of us had volunteered, while in WW II two-thirds had been drafted. We were motivated by their same desire to win freedom, not only for another people, but also to insure our own. In Vietnam we fought just as bravely as our fathers before us. What was ultimately to be our downfall was that our home fronts were so vastly different and that, sadly, is to be the Vietnam Veteran’s curse in history. While our father’s generation worked as one to win and thus end the war, our generation split and separated. The few made false claims against us, helped and encouraged our enemies to harm us, and prolonged the war, until ultimately the war was lost. Meanwhile, the silent majority not only remained silent, they became mute. During WW II you could not find any of the Axis propaganda being spread throughout America. During Vietnam, our enemies’ propaganda became best sellers and was sold over the counter, preached by the anti-war protesters, handed out as leaflets on street corners and taught in classrooms on our college campuses, while newspapers and television reporters repeatedly spoke critically of the war. During WW II, FDR once watched a private, unedited screening of the battles of our Marines in the Pacific, showing the many dead and wounded on a beachheads, he turned to an aide and told him, that thank God the American people cannot see their sons in such carnage, for they would surely make him end this war. In Vietnam the war was shown nightly in any American home with a television. If the war had ended in 1968, like it should have, thousands of Americans and Vietnamese would not have had to die. Thousands more of us would have never seen combat. South Vietnam would have remained free. Thus, maybe, this false mythology of Vietnam would not have survived and America would have looked upon her sons, who had fought so well, so long and so hard, in a better light than they do now.
To Vietnam Veterans history will be even less kind than it is to us now. Now we still have a voice. But someday we, like our fathers from WW II, will be gone and what will be left behind for the revisionists of our history will be the written words and recordings of others. Many of whom were not even there. What historians of the future will look for are newspaper articles, TV broadcast reports, personal war diaries, such as Kerry’s, and the many books now being written. But what these future historians will prize most, in their search for our past, will be sworn testimony like that given by Kerry to the Congressional hearings. His possible election as President will only add more credence to that testimony in the eyes of future generations. Forgotten will be the honor that brave men had won on the battlefields of Vietnam. Forgotten will be the courage they displayed, the sacrifices they made, the extreme efforts of their struggle to maintain our Country’s freedoms, to win those freedoms for a foreign people and the kindness that they showed them. But most unforgivable of all, will be the memory of our fallen Brothers that will be tarnished forever, by the lies once laid upon them so long ago and now entered as historical fact.
This assault on the honor of the Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq War Veteran’s heritage has already begun. There are people in our country who will not be content until every American, who has ever served, is slandered and dishonored, from our fathers, ourselves and on to our sons and daughters.
“Serious people and historians know that Kerry was right the first time around. Like Iraq, Vietnam was an ill-conceived, doomed war that wasted countless lives for no good reason, launched by a president who lied about a Cold War threat (the absurd "domino theory") that simply didn't exist. As U.S. troops are doing now in Iraq, we committed horrific atrocities in Vietnam. Not only did the guys in black pajamas beat us fair and square, we deserved it. We were wrong. We deserved to lose. Service in the wars against Vietnam and Iraq are nothing to be proud of. RAMBO WAS A CHUMP"
- Ted Rall
Are these lies the legacy and the truth of America’s Patriots, which will be believed by future generations? This is more than a battle for our history and honor. It is a battle for the hearts, minds and the soul of America.
America relies on its security and safety to be provided by a very small number of her citizens. At any given time there are less than one percent of our population serving in the military. Today our Armed Forces are entirely voluntary. They must all have graduated from at least high school or have an equivalent diploma. They cannot have a criminal record. They must all pass a physical fitness and intelligence exams. Of this less than one percent an even a smaller percentage ever sees combat. It is hard for those who have not experienced war to understand what it is really like, and this is a good thing. As it is, most Americans will never have to experience the hardships and the horrors of war. Since the Civil War, we have always fought our enemies in far off lands. It is best for America that we do. No matter what people like Rall or Moore tell you, our military is not fighting to “…secure Fallujah” or even to free Iraq. They are fighting for you America. They have fought our enemies in Berlin, Seoul, Danang, and Baghdad, so that we do not have to fight our enemies in New York, Chicago, Phoenix and L.A.
It has been three years since 9-11 and America has not been attacked again. That is not because our enemies do not want to, do not have the means or did not have plans already in motion to again strike at our homeland after 9-11. The reason we have not had another terrorist strike in America is because our military has taken the fight to the terrorist in Afghanistan and yes, especially, Iraq. Even Kerry admitted, in a speech the other day, that we are now fighting terrorists from other countries in Iraq. No matter what you may believe was President Bush’s motives for sending our military into Iraq, know that we have moved the fight from our homeland to Iraq and Afghanistan and that the terrorists are now facing our trained and armed military, instead of killing our unarmed women and children. No matter what your political persuasion, you must see this as true. Given half a chance, our military will defeat this enemy and set up solvent governments in Afghanistan and Iraq. But the biggest threat to our military’s success does not come from the terrorists; it does in fact come from their fellow Americans, who continue to degrade their efforts, accuse them of war crimes, incite further hatred for America through their words and actions and criticize our leaders, even if they are just trying to win the Presidency. I ask you America to learn just one lesson from Vietnam. That lesson is to stop harming our troops in the Mideast with the daily anti-American propaganda in the press and on the air. By pandering to this anti-American rhetoric, you are helping the terrorist to kill and maim many more of our children. Who are only there to defeat those who would tie your hands, blindfold your eyes, and after reading a list of outrageous and unacceptable demands, would condemn you as an infidel dog and while praising Allah, cut off your head. That goes for you too Mr. Rall and Mr. Moore, they wouldn’t think twice about doing the same to you, just because you are who you think are.
America, it is time for us to again raise our heads and hold them high. It is time to reclaim our honor and to once again be proud of who and what we are. It is time for us to stop believing that the United States is the cause for all the evil in the World. For too long we have listened to others who say we have no honor or a right to be proud of our accomplishments. It is time to learn from our failures yet to put them in our past and to move forward. It is time for us to take seriously our position as a leader in the Free World and to stop apologizing for what our forefather’s fought and died for, our liberties and freedoms. It is time that, we once again, make the commitment to ourselves and to the World that we are the insurers of those freedoms and liberties. It is time we understand that without freedom throughout the World, our own freedoms are not secured. It is time, once again, for us to understand that our democracy is ruled by its majority. That while individual rights are very important, they do not override the rights, concerns or liberties of that majority. It is time America, to once again believe in the promise and the dream of the United States of America. It is time for us to work towards raising the standard of living for all Americans and to help the World to raise the standards of living for their citizens.
It is time for us to stop beating ourselves up, look into the mirror and say, we are a good, gracious and loving people. No other country in history has done more for other nations than we have. It is time we stop buying into all the derogatory slander that is imposed upon us by other nations, some of our own people and our enemies. We have shed the blood of our Patriots throughout the World, time and again, for the freedom of those other nations, and we have then come home, without laying claim on their foreign lands. It is time to release ourselves from the unwarranted guilt of Vietnam. For too long our Nation has bought into this false mythology of the Vietnam War, in believing that we were wrong to help another nation protect itself from invasion and Communist domination. We did not invade France in 1914, we did not invade Poland in 1939, we did not invade South Korea in 1950, we did not invade South Vietnam in 1957, and we did not invade Kuwait in 1991, we went to fight the invaders. We were right, in every case, to do so. We did not fly our own planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. We were not the ones who caused the ditching of our own plane on even yet, more “hollowed grounds” in Pennsylvania.
It is time for us to realize, as some want us to believe, that the world is not yet a utopia, that all we have to do is leave them alone and they will leave us alone. It is time that we understand, that it is not, who will first lay down their arms, but that who, will be the first to come to that people’s defense, when others have come to enslave them. It is time we understand that we have a right, and an obligation to our heirs, to protect ourselves. It is time we understand, that as long as there a people, anywhere in the World, who suffer from tyranny, we can never truly live in Peace. As long as there is a Stalin, Hitler, Tojo, Bin Laden or Hussein, we, and the World, will never be safe. It is time to understand, that we do not always have to wait for the surprise of a Pearl Harbor or the slaughter of our innocents on a 9-11. We have a right to do, what we have to do, to protect ourselves. It is time we stop feeling ashamed when we do. It is time, America, to understand that our freedoms and liberties are not paid for with money, words or inaction. The freedoms and liberties we enjoy today, and hope to enjoy tomorrow, have always been paid for in full, with the sacrifices, deeds and blood of our Patriots. Except for the families of our Heroes, no one is more aware of this price, no one mourns the terrible loss of our Brothers and Sisters, more than those of us who have been to war.
As it is now the Veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars look to fair little better than the Veterans of Vietnam, because we all know that the news media, or any of the others, are not going to try on that self- employed muzzle. So that leaves it up to you, that Silent Majority I have heard so much about since I was a young boy. It is time to take the gags out of your mouths and stop this insanity of the few. It is time to start helping these young men and women to come home alive, victorious, and with their honor. It is time to speak up loud and clear in their defense while they fight for us. The way to help them is easy and simple. First remember how you felt on 9-11, remember the people who died that morning, remember the anger you felt towards their murderers, for it now seems that the young people in our military are the only ones who do remember.
Write your Congressmen and Senators of your State and Federal assemblies. Tell them you are proud of our young people in our military and that you want the politicians to do everything they can to insure that our forces have everything they need to accomplish their missions. Tell them you are disgusted with the anti-American behavior of their party members, members of the news media and other individuals, who speak out against our Armed Forces and their missions. Stop buying the newspapers, magazines and books that print anti-war and anti-military propaganda. Most of these authors are only writing this propaganda for the bucks anyway, once you stop handing over your hard earned cash they may well put their talents to something a little more productive or entertaining. Stop listening to radio and TV programs that incite hatred for America. You’ll be surprised how much your blood pressure drops and how well you’ll feel looking at a world that is not full of all the incriminations, accusations and hate filled diatribes against your fellow man. Stop going to the movies and concerts of the actors, directors and entertainers who say they support our troops, but insist that they are wrong in what they are doing. Turn off the TV shows of those who speak out against these young Americans who are risking their lives for us. Stop believing that a few wrong-headed prison guards represent the entire Armed Services of the United States, those who tell you that this is what is going on, all over Iraq, are liars and traitors to our Nation. Make them take the responsibility and understand the consequences of their words and actions. Censure them from your lives.
Tell your respective political parties that they must do a better job in picking the candidates to run for the elective offices of our Nation, than the ones they now try to shove down our throats believing we have no choice. Tell them that while we do not expect our leaders to be perfect, we do expect them to be American Patriots, not an even worse example of Paine’s original “summer soldiers.” Tell them we want quality leaders with integrity, honesty, intelligence, a love of God and for our Nation, not just rich people who look good on camera and have a quantity of hair on their heads and pearly white teeth, to be packaged and sold to us like some new underarm deodorant. Tell them we want leaders of character and experienced in service to our Nation, not disservice. Insist that if they are to send our sons and daughters to war, that all other means have been exhausted, and that once sent they must spare no expense or leave no stone unturned, to insure their safety and the completion of their missions. Tell them we want leaders with the courage to act in the best interest of the people of our Nation, not in their own best interests, even if it means they might not win re-election. That is the type of leader that is revered in history and loved by the people.
But most of all Support Our Troops. They are not a faceless entity, they are our sons and daughters, and they are fighting for us. Now is your time to have their backs. Pray for their safe return and for the their success. Fly an American flag in front of your home and on your car. Remember that short interval of the wide spread showing of Patriotism after 9-11? We are at war, why did that support and Patriotism disappear? When our sons and daughters have completed their missions and come home, give them all the biggest and best welcome home this country has ever seen. They deserve all you can do for them and much more, for they are truly all heroes. I tell you this America, not only because we owe so much to these brave fellow Americans, but also because if the majority of you are not willing to go to war yourselves and you do not recognize the sacrifice of this less than one percent in the military, you just may find that in the future there won’t be anyone willing to go fight our enemies if knowing in advance that they will be branded as dishonorable and as criminals upon their return.
Support Our Troops
Semper Fidelis,
Michael Tank
USMC
Scout/Snipers
Vietnam Veteran
1969 - 1972
09/23/2004
“Copyright 2004. Michael E. Tank All rights reserved. No part of this document may be copied, faxed, electronically transmitted, or in any other manner duplicated without express written permission of the author.”
A Veteran’s Perspective
By
Michael Tank
Part Three
"False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil."
- Plato
In the years since Vietnam, there have been many TV news specials and reports, many documentaries on the war, and many books written about our involvement. Most of them have done nothing to clear up the mythology of Vietnam. Many have been made or written to do just the opposite, thus promoting the lies that were begun during the war. It is essential to those who perpetrated the lies in the first place to continue the deception throughout the coming years, so as to protect themselves and their place in history. Then as now, they are more than willing to denigrate the honor of the men who served in Vietnam and to sacrifice the memory of those who died there. Documentaries such as CBS’s “The Wall Within” hosted by Dan Rather, which aired on June 2, 1988, uses the false testimony of five Veterans about war crimes they say they committed while in Vietnam. Including one, “Terry Bradley, a fighting sergeant" who told Rather he had "skinned alive 50 Vietnamese men, women, and children in one hour and stacked their bodies in piles.” (Now think about this for one minute. My father who worked part time as a commercial fisherman on the Mississippi River could skin catfish faster than any man I ever saw, and I really do not believe he could have skinned fifty catfish in an hour much less fifty human beings.) After this documentary aired, it was proven that four out of the five could not have committed such crimes; furthermore they had never even served in combat. Including our super fast human skinner, Terry Bradley, who was not the "fighting sergeant" he'd claimed to be. Instead, military records reveal he served as an ammo handler in the 25th Infantry Division and spent nearly a year in the stockade for being AWOL. That's good news for the hundreds of Vietnamese civilians Bradley claimed to have slaughtered. But Rather and CBS stood by their story. The documentary is now included in CBS’s video history of the Vietnam War, to be shown to future unknowing generations.
In an interview years after Vietnam, Walter Cronkite discussed his times as a war correspondent during WW II, Korea and Vietnam. He boasted of the new wave of young, brave and honest reporters that had taken his generation’s place in reporting the war in Vietnam. He talked about the differences in those wars concerning our government’s censorship of the news reports going out to the public. He said he understood why the United States had such censorship in WW II and Korea and that yet, he was still glad to see that the military had gone away from this policy in Vietnam. Even though he admitted that the previous war’s censorship had been vital to our Nation’s security. He explained that during WW II and Korea, when the reporters were receiving the officers' debriefing reports, that the officers “..would talk freely to us…” knowing that anything the reporters would write, had to first pass through the military censors before being released. He went on to state that with absence of a censorship policy, “…in Vietnam all that changed and the officers lied to protect their own policies.” So, he explains, it was up to the reporters to find the truth.
Later, during this interview, he discusses the 1968 Tet Offensive and his role in it. He had admitted earlier that he had only been to Vietnam, a few times for short periods and as an “…elder reporter…” he usually “…hung out with the brass, many of which were old friends of my generation from WW II and Korea and we talked of old times.” Cronkite explained, that after years of hearing the military telling the American people that we were winning in Vietnam, he decided to, “…once again to go Vietnam and to see the truth for myself” when the Communists launched their offensive in ’68. He admits that he and another CBS executive were angry at the military, as they discussed the situation on the plane ride over to Vietnam. Staying in country for only a few days, he returned even more hostile towards our military because they were now saying, that because of Tet all they needed were a few thousand more men to finish off the Communists. He did not believe them. (History would prove that our military leaders had been correct.) It was upon his return that he admits he decided to move, “…beyond just reporting the news…” and to make his famous three-minute editorial, which would affect millions of lives, help to insure America’s defeat in Vietnam and with our military absence insure the deaths of over three million Southeast Asians when the Communist overran their countries. Yet in this interview, even with the advantage of hindsight and the proof of history against him, he is proud of his participation in these events and praises himself and his fellow reporters for their honesty and bravery. This interview aired in 2002.
Unfortunately, many of these same reporters of the news in Vietnam still report on our war in Iraq or have moved upstairs and are in control. Rather, Safer, have been joined by the likes of Ted Rall and Michael Moore. I include Moore with the news media, even though he is not considered a reporter, because a documentary is supposed to be about actual events. Just as in Vietnam, our troops in Iraq are not getting a square deal from the news media and the American public is not getting the true story. The limited negative view of what we are receiving in the news of the Iraq War and of the once again, constant coverage of a small anti-war crowd here at home, is as overly excessive, distorted, and shameful as it was in Vietnam. The majority of these reporters have chosen sides and tell us only what they want us to know, even to the point of exaggeration, false information and the omission of facts, which conflict with the story they want to tell. Once again the American public believes what they see on their TV’s and read in their newspapers as the gospel.
When you turn on your TV tonight and see a burning truck or armored vehicle, which was hit by a terrorist’s rocket or ran over a mine today in Iraq, all the reporter will tell us is who was injured or killed. He may tell you how the fighting around this area has increased in recent days. Or he might tell you, while the film shows people milling about the ruined vehicle, how the people in the area just want the Americans to leave. Sometimes they add a short clip of a weapon’s cache that was uncovered in somebody’s home by the soldiers. Maybe he will add, at the end of the report, the total number of American casualties to date, you know just for effect as they say. I understand why they report an incident like this and I am sorry for the loss of life, both of ours and that of the Iraqis. But it is what he doesn’t tell you that is so telling. While he shows this one vehicle, that was tragically destroyed, he says nothing of the hundreds of thousands of vehicles that went about their business this day unharmed. While he shows us and tells us about these few people milling about, he says nothing of the fifty-two million who are pursuing normal and nonviolent activities all over the country, as he stands before the camera. When he shows us the house with the weapon’s cache, he does not mention the tens of millions of homes filled with families, maybe with electricity and running water for the first time in their occupant’s lives. There is no mention of the millions of children now attending schools, some for the first time. He does not mention the relaxed restrictions on the female population. He doesn’t mention the new found freedoms of the Iraqi people. Yet maybe, it isn’t his job to report the good things that are spreading across this land, even though it is not happening as fast as we wish it would. Maybe his job is just to report the bad things that are happening in Iraq. But maybe, someone, somebody, should remind us and the rest of the World, every once in a while, that although the price has been very dear, our sons and daughters are doing a dangerous but necessary job in building a better future for America, Iraq and all of mankind.
But this kind of truthful and positive outlook does not fit the agendas of some politicians, the anti-war groups and many in the news medias. So once again they continue to attack the mission, the troops, our current leaders and America in general, in pursuit of their own goals. There are reporters and columnists today who distort the facts, omit others and make up their own to advance their own beliefs or those of their party or self-interest groups. They have once again slandered the American forces by accusing them of war crimes, and of wrongfully fighting an innocent foe, in a far off land, where we have no right to be. They are the same people who will tell you that it was America’s fault for WW II, Korea, Vietnam, and 9-11. They point at this or that throughout the World’s history and, smiling gleefully, as they seemingly believe to have proven their point, tell us that if we had done this or hadn’t done that, than so and so would not have attacked us. Therefore, you big American dummy, it was, has and always will be your entire fault. For these so called Americans among us, who blame America for everything, there are sound and justifiable reasons why the World in general hates America. According to these so called Americans, those people in the streets we saw celebrating the deaths of our men, woman and children after 9-11, were right to do so. For these Americans among us, there is only one path to follow in order to save ourselves, and that path is theirs, for only they know the real truth. The rest of us Americans are all too stupid to understand or have a say in what goes on. Just ask Michael Moore who is busy traveling the World telling everyone how stupid we Americans are:
"(T)he dumbest Brit here is smarter than the smartest American."
- Michael Moore At London’s Roundhouse Theater (He later substituted Canadians for Brits when speaking in Canada.)
The mythology of the Vietnam War is still so prevalent today that anti-war activists, politicians and the news media, are easily applying it to the war in Iraq. The belief in the false accusations of war crimes, supposedly committed by the military in Vietnam, is still so readily held as the truth that once again our soldiers are being condemned as murders and torturers. In Vietnam our accusers pointed at, the isolated and never to be repeated crime, of My Lai as proof that what Kerry had sworn were everyday incidents actually happened everyday. Today in Iraq a few soldiers, for whatever reasons, went beyond what was right and subjected prisoners to inhumane treatment at Abu Ghraib prison. But while the Army had it under control and was already investigating those responsible, CBS made it public. It was after all a scoop. It did not raise one small concern to CBS, that releasing such a story would only inflame our enemies and endanger our own troops, even more than they already were. In the ensuing days of the prison scandal, to keep the fires of hatred burning against our young Americans and their Allies, newspapers and television news reports squeezed the prison story for every drop of blood that could be drained. They published, or showed on television, the photos that these few guards had taken and incited anti-American hatred all over the World. The New York Times alone ran twenty-four major headlines of the Abu Ghraib prison fiasco in just twenty-seven days. Moore included a short piece about the prison in his movie “Fahrenheit 911”. Columnists, such as Ted Rall, compared, not only the guilty guards of Abu Ghraib but also included all American military forces, to the Nazi Gestapo and SS. Again, as in Vietnam, if one crime was committed than all who served must be guilty. Never mind, that anyone who would follow this theory of condemning the whole for the actions of a few, must then also see that the next time a woman is raped in their own town or community, they thus must condemn themselves and their neighbors as rapists, too. For what purpose was this rush to tell the World of this crime, when the Army had already moved toward punishing those responsible and when it served no ones purpose or would have affected no one in their daily pursuits? You can only believe that the reasons, for this rush to release this story, was to beat everyone else and be the first to report it, for the sensational headlines, for higher TV ratings, to attack and embarrass the Bush administration, and to label our young men and women, serving honorably, as murderers and torturers. Without being held responsible, once again, all those involved have helped our enemies and endangered the very ones they say they all support, our troops. Why does this behavior and its perpetrators prosper? Why do these men and women of the news media continue to enjoy such celebrity and over priced compensation for doing this to our Country and to our children? Free Speech? Where is the responsibility that is the price others have to pay for this kind of free speech? Now when the Army is conducting trials of the guards, and any others who may be responsible for the wrongdoing, what do we do about the wrongdoers who released this story to the World? The guards will be rightly punished for what they have done to these prisoners, for the shame they brought on our Country, and for the harm they have caused to our troops. In the meantime, while at least one American was beheaded as his murderers declared, “This is for the crimes at Abu Ghraib!” who now pays the price for the release of these photos and the harm it has caused their fellow Americans? It will certainly not be those responsible, for they hide behind and declare freedom of speech and freedom of the press, without consequence for their words and actions. While the ones who pay the ultimate price for these abused freedoms and the irresponsibility of the media, are our own servicemen and women, our children.
In April of 2003, as America was preparing to go to war in Iraq, a reporter for CNN stood across from the entrance to a southeastern United States’ Army base, broadcasting Live, to the entire World over satellite. The Army support units, stationed at this base, had been called up and were mobilizing to go to Iraq and begin the war. I watched in disbelief as this reporter told everyone who cared to listen, every detail she could find, about these American units who were now leaving to fight an armed and deadly foe. She included the names of the units, the strength of the units (number of personnel), how the units where broken down into components and the number of persons in those components, the type of units (whether they were infantry, cooks, support or so on), what the units' tasks included and how they would perform those tasks, the types of weaponry used by the units, what vehicles and equipment were used by the units and the total number of such items, the departure area the unit was leaving from, the time the unit was expected to leave, and their destination, again with an estimated time of their arrival. As hard as it may seem to believe, I am not making this up. I wondered, where was the security to insure these American troops’ safety? I wondered, where was the concern for their safety and the successful completion of their mission? I wondered, who except our common enemy, could benefit from having all of this information about our very own troops? It certainly did not improve, or even really effect, my life to know all of this vital information about our forces. All this report did was to give me, and anyone else not directly involved in the upcoming struggle, useless information, which would be forgotten in the following minutes, while being extremely helpful only to our enemies, and potentially harmful, possibly even deadly, for our young fighting forces. I sat there listening, as this reporter rambled on endangering our children in our Armed Forces, I wondered why this was permitted in today’s American society without any concern for the well being of our troops? It is absolutely insane to think that this type of uncensored behavior, by the American media, is condoned or even tolerated by our government and its citizenry. It is the reflection of the arrogant and apathetic nature of the pious news media of today, which justifies every word they expel, whether it is harmful to others, helpful to some, or needed by no one, as merely their right to free speech and freedom of the press. Try to imagine this type of behavior while the Allied troops were debarking for D-Day on June 6, 1944 in England. Or this kind of informational broadcast beamed over to Japan, on the eve of our invasion of Guadalcanal in 1942. It would not have been tolerated then and it should not be permitted today. But the truly amazing part of this information abuse, is that in this modern world of instant information and Live reports from around the globe, never did you see such detailed reports, as the one about our Army unit’s deployments, for any Iraqi troop movements. Today, over a year later, our trusted American news media continues to stack the deck in favor of our enemies.
In Cronkite’s taped interview he discussed how during the Vietnam War a division had widened between the military and the war’s reporters. How the men who were fighting the war, seemed to go from welcoming the reporters at the beginning of the war, to distrusting and avoiding them as the war progressed. Of course, he put the blame on the military, and thus the troops themselves, for this absence of cooperation. For Cronkite and his fellow reporters, this lack of informational access meant that the military, and its men, were not only being untruthful about the war, but in fact, that they must be hiding something. To the reporters this meant that they could not believe anything that the military, or the troops told them. So the reporters felt they must keep digging until they found the truth, or the dirty laundry. Thus the reporters, themselves, created the distrust and the animosity, which was displayed towards them by the military. This distrustfulness and hostile attitude between the two continues today. In reality, it was the very lack of censorship, then permitted by the government, and relished by the media, along with the total lack of the reporter’s regard to the consequences of their reports coming out of Vietnam, which was to blame for this distrust. Meanwhile, the fighting man knew who his friends where. Today this void between the media and those who are in harms way, has become even more pronounced. But it has also come full circle. Today the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan also have the opportunity to watch CNN and FoxNews. They do not have to wait until someone back home sends them a newspaper clipping, or in fact, may never hear what is being reported until they do come home, as we did in Vietnam. In Vietnam Cronkite stated, that the reporters saw that what was being reported by the military was not the whole truth, now the military in Iraq and Afghanistan, can see that what is being reported by the reporters in America, is not the whole truth. The military wonders, why there are not more positive reports coming out of Iraq about their success. The military can also see, first hand, the disregard for their safety in these reporter’s actions and words.
On the October 1, 2004 airing of HBO’s Real Time, hosted by Bill Maher, the discussion turned to the telling of the truth in the media. Tucker Carlson, a member of CNN’s Crossfire, stated that if the reporter, who had recently leaked the name of a spy, had told the truth, than he would not condemn that reporter, even though it had endangered the life of that spy. When asked, by Maher, if this included giving away the positions of our troops to the enemy, as Haroldo Rivera had once done during the Iraq War, Carlson answered, after the laughter had died away, if it is the truth, than it is all right, because of freedom of the press. This type of callous and self-righteous attitude by members today’s media should be unacceptable to the American people, and yet, as seen on this broadcast, many found it humorous. There is nothing funny about having American citizen/soldiers facing the dangers and hardships of combat, while members of the press garrulously inform our enemies as to their whereabouts, or any other vital information, thus enhancing our son’s and daughter’s chances of being harmed. These members of the media are the same ones who seemingly bemoan the losses of the men and women in our war with Iraq, yet find it totally unacceptable when it is suggested, that the information they are releasing, may cause these same members of our military, for which they so piously mourn, grievous harm. One wonders if they are so calloused, as to look at the high casualty rates, as only a means of which to further attack the current administration for getting us into the war. With their self-serving attitudes, actions and words, concerning their lack of regard for the safety of our military, it seems they feel, that the higher the number of war dead the better, as they can then more harshly condemn the present warlords. It also seems that, since it is their believe that it was Bush alone who got us into the war in Iraq, that any casualties are his responsibility, and his alone. Nothing they say or do is the cause for anyone getting killed; so they are completely absolved of their own personal quilt, any responsibility for the death of a soldier must all fall on Bush. Therefore, if the spy, working undercover for the benefit of our nation, ends up with his throat slit, because his name and identity was leaked in a newspaper article, it wasn’t the reporter’s fault, he was only telling the truth while exercising freedom of the press. If a terrorist happens to catch a Live report on his satellite TV, telling him that there is a group of American soldiers coming right around the corner, and he grabs up his AK-47, runs out to let loose a few quick bursts, killing an American soldier, it’s not that TV reporter’s fault, he was only telling the truth and applying his freedom of speech. Besides, it was the Bush administration, which put that spy and that soldier in harms way. Everybody else is just telling the truth.
“The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional as to how they perceive the Veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their country."
- George Washington
Whether we should have attacked Iraq when we did or not is no longer the issue. We are there now and we cannot leave before the mission there is accomplished. Any further debate on if the war was right or wrong or who is to blame can be discussed at a later date until the cows come home. Right now it is imperative to the safety of our fighting forces and for America itself to show a unified front. It is not as radical a concept as you may think. America has been able to do it in the past.
The first thing you heard from the anti-war crowd was the comparison of this war with Vietnam. “We have gotten ourselves into another Vietnam!” they cried, even though most of them aren’t even old enough to remember Vietnam. The Iraq War itself is not another Vietnam, but the home front sure the hell is. Where Vietnam had its Fonda, Hayden, Sutherland and others, we now have Penn, Garofalo, Sheen, Sarandon, Robbins and so on and on. Movie stars, rock stars and something called the Dixie Chicks are tripping all over each other trying to get to a microphone to tell us how evil we all are. The only difference from what we heard thirty years ago in their tired rhetoric is that now, in the weakening afterglow of the 9-11 wave of Patriotism, they try to qualify their protests of the war by first saying, “I support our troops but...” Sorry, you can’t have it both ways. If you don’t support the mission you can’t support the troops. Let’s get this straight once and for all. If you don’t support the mission you can’t the support the troops. You cannot tell these brave young men and women that: You are such good brave soldiers and I support you and all, you know, but I just think you are wrong by going to Iraq. So say it again. If you don’t support the mission you can’t support the troops. You can’t have it both ways. Stop trying to come off as a good guy to the ones who are facing all the dangers, by saying you support them while you sit in comfort and safety far from harms way, and then condemn what they are doing. In fact if you cannot say anything positive about the situation, which they are currently in and have no way out of except to defeat our enemies, than keep your mouths shut! Most of you have absolutely no qualifications what so ever to discuss our nations policies except for the misinformation you have read in your selective press. Furthermore, if it were not for your celebrity status nobody would be listening to you anyway. Acting out the role of a soldier in a movie, does not make you a combat veteran or a war hero. Playing a president on TV does not make you qualified to run the country. Put your ego in a suitcase, fly off to Cannes and wait for the festival, or do something else to take your tortured mind off the troubles of the world for a while.
Besides being a hypocrite, here is why. Just as the NVA waited in Vietnam, our enemies now hope that your dissidence will eventually force our government to give up the fight and bring our troops home. Therefore, and listen carefully to this because it is a matter of life and death. They will continue to kill and maim as many of our sons, daughters and Iraqis as they can with the hope that you will keep up the pressure on our politicians and until you gain a large enough following of the American public, which will force our politicians to end our involvement. Like the NVA, they know it is the only way they can win. Attrition. Now that you don’t have that press conference to bash Bush and the war to attend, look it up. You all know that words are powerful and in this modern day of satellites and CNN, our enemies hear your every word. When you call our President a murderer and demand that we vote for Kerry and end the war, march with a sign that says, “SOLDIERS BE A PATRIOT, KILL YOUR OFFICERS!” you would just as well be sitting next to a terrorist, reloading his AK-47 or rocket launcher, handing it back, and telling him to take another shot at our boys. Believe it! You are not helping our young people in the military with your protests and outbursts, you are hurting their morale, getting them killed and helping their enemies by giving them the hope of a victory.
Yes, I know all about free speech in America, it’s your right. But with that free speech comes responsibility. Even though in the past you and your fellow outspoken critics of everything America does have not been held accountable, it would be nice to see a self employed muzzle to the benefit of all those troops you say you support. Try one on just to see how it feels. Besides this time there is no draft, none of you, who do not want to go, will not have to go. We are not asking any of you to take any of the risks, we are just asking for a little silence so those Americans who have stepped forward to carry the burden once again, can defeat an enemy, who is intent on killing every mother’s son of us, and without dragging it out this time. There have always been enough of us who are willing to do what has to be done to preserve our freedoms and your free speech, just let them get the job done with your silence for a change.
While you are sitting on the sunny beaches at Cannes, ponder this. When the terrorists have won and they continue on their murderous ways, you are no safer than the rest of us. If they win, they will eventually bring their murderous ways to you and yours. How ironic that our enemies hate us, among many other things, for our lavish lifestyle and decadence, yet the ones who speak out the most against our war with these enemies are the very ones who live the most lavish and decadent lifestyles. The Marx Brothers could not script a more ridiculous scenario. There you go! I freely give you that idea to develop into a movie; it can be a comedy of errors. Who knows you may win an Oscar and get to sit next to Michael Moore! So what of your other concerns, for it is not just the death of our troops that you say concerns you. What about those Iraqi civilians who are being killed, you ask? Now you have passed hypocrisy. Where were you when Hussein and his henchmen where killing thousands? Why do you defend the suicide bombers who kill more Iraqis than they kill Americans? Why do you not believe that the majority of these terrorists, now murdering in Iraq, are not Iraqis themselves but are terrorists from other nations? If not for the American troops now in Iraq, Hussein would still be killing at random. Without the American troops in Iraq, the Iraqis would not be able to fight the radicals that are now killing our troops, the Iraqi police and Iraqi civilians. Like your fellow protesters from Vietnam, you blame only America for the ills of the world, while you cast no blame on the ones who are trying to force their will onto others, who freely kill any and all within reach and give no thought to the deaths of the thousands in the blood bath that would surely occur if America were to now pull out of Iraq. Your only goal is the condemnation of America and its policies. How else can you explain your silence when Hussein was at his butcher’s block? You do not really care who lives or dies; you only want to be heard, to shine the spotlight on yourselves and to criticize our country. During Vietnam the protesters wanted America to believe that they were saving us poor uneducated soldiers from our corrupted government and an unjust war. We did not need them to speak out on our behalf, as so many of you believed, we were not victims, we were warriors. The majority of us had volunteered and we believed in what we were doing. Our military today are all volunteers and they too believe that what they are doing is right and they are winning the war. Just like we did in Vietnam. Again, they do not need to be saved from, by what you believe to be, a corrupt government or your so-called unjust war, they are not victims, they are Warriors.
You have criticized America for not building a strong coalition or receiving the approval of the United Nations to help us fight the war. Well America tried to build a coalition. France, Germany and Russia all declined. They declined because of their own personal interests in Iraq, mainly because Hussein owed them all large sums of money. They chose repayment over Iraqi human rights and over the lives of Hussein’s victims. Yet where is the criticism of their selfish priorities? Instead they stand on the soapbox and angrily denounce America and its military for its unselfish liberation of the Iraqi people. Others, who had joined, such as Spain and the Philippines, have pulled out after bowing to the terrorists’ threats. While the U.N. had been the watch dog on Hussein and his Iraq since the Desert War they did nothing to curb his brutality. They knew of the death squads, the false imprisonments and the total abuse of human rights by the Hussein government, yet this watchdog turned a blind eye to it all. We have all heard of the Food for Oil scandal that proliferated through the U.N. and thus the reason for the denial of the U.N. sanction for Hussein’s forced abdication. Why has this scandal disappeared from our press? If elected Kerry wants to work more closely with the U.N. in regards to our country’s defense. The problem with that notion, for one, is that petty tribal politics and graft are so rampant in the U.N. that you can’t swing a paper clip in their hallowed halls without hitting a dissident or a bagman. The U.N. had done nothing about Hussein; it has done nothing about Somalia, Zambia or any other African nation needing help. It has done nothing about the nuclear threats of North Korea, Iran, Pakistan or India. But yet you are willing to place this traitor in the White House and let him hand over the security of our families and our country and the power of our military to a corrupt conglomerate of nations, with their own individual interests most of which are harmful to our country. Until this world is a better place, control of our military should remain in the hands of America.
"History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon."
- Napoleon Bonaparte
Today we are witnessing the sad passing of a great generation of Americans. They endured the Great Depression, fought and won World War II and Korea, outlasted the Soviet Union to win the Cold War and rebuilt America into a country that was second to none in industry, agriculture, social prosperity, personal freedoms and military might. Through their labors, corporations and union organizations they insured financial security for themselves and their families in an economic prosperity that has never been equaled and they put men on the Moon. From their generation came such leaders as FDR, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Reagan. Like their fathers in WW I they had marched off to foreign lands to win freedom for the World and for ourselves. They insured that the rights of the individual were respected but protected the right of the majority. They worshiped their God and displayed symbols of their religion in public, without fear of repercussions and insured that their children were taught Patriotism and love of God and Country in their schools. They believed in hard work, honor, duty, sacrifice, and doing right by their fellow man. But mainly, they believed in the promise and the dream of the United States of America and what it could become. Though they made mistakes and there were many pitfalls, you would think that their honored place in history would be secure.
But the trouble with contemporary readers of history is the unfortunate practice of viewing the past decisions and actions of our ancestors through the eyes of the present days' changing values, morals and conceptions. Thus the public’s accepted version of history is fleeting and ever changing and already, even before their passing, the World is trying to change this generation’s image. New historians are now saying, that if America had taken a more active part after WW I then there never would have been WW II. Even now, as they condemn the United States for usurping a vile dictator in Iraq, they accuse us of standing idly by in our own self interest, for not imposing our will on Europe and in not forcing Hitler out of power before that war. With their anti-American views, America will always be caught in the indefensible situation of, damned if we do, damned if we don’t. They go on to say that Japan had no recourse except to attack us at Pearl Harbor, because of our unfair restrictive trade embargos on American steel, rubber and oil. These restrictions were in place because of Japan’s aggression in Asia and it’s imperialistic goals. Yet by these new historian’s accounts, it was the United States who was and will always remain the aggressor and empire seeker. Despite the fact that Allied causalities were estimated to be over one million in the final invasion of the Japanese home islands, Truman and his generation’s decision to use the atomic bomb, has been condemned and labeled racist. None of these new historians seem to even want to consider, the millions of Japanese who would have also surely perished in this death struggle to end the war, once their sacred home islands had been invaded. Of course it is also pointed out, that it was the leaders from this American generation that gave us Vietnam, again with no regard to the fact, that it was the Soviet Union who first gave aid and the weapons for war to assist North Vietnam in its unlawful invasion of the South.
As generations overlap it was my generation that was called to duty in Vietnam. To that war we carried the same values, moral believes and fighting spirit of our fathers in WW II and Korea. Because of our father’s efforts, we were better educated than any of our armies before. On average, we were younger than they had been when we first saw the horrors of battle, but we were better equipped, better fed and well trained. Two-thirds of us had volunteered, while in WW II two-thirds had been drafted. We were motivated by their same desire to win freedom, not only for another people, but also to insure our own. In Vietnam we fought just as bravely as our fathers before us. What was ultimately to be our downfall was that our home fronts were so vastly different and that, sadly, is to be the Vietnam Veteran’s curse in history. While our father’s generation worked as one to win and thus end the war, our generation split and separated. The few made false claims against us, helped and encouraged our enemies to harm us, and prolonged the war, until ultimately the war was lost. Meanwhile, the silent majority not only remained silent, they became mute. During WW II you could not find any of the Axis propaganda being spread throughout America. During Vietnam, our enemies’ propaganda became best sellers and was sold over the counter, preached by the anti-war protesters, handed out as leaflets on street corners and taught in classrooms on our college campuses, while newspapers and television reporters repeatedly spoke critically of the war. During WW II, FDR once watched a private, unedited screening of the battles of our Marines in the Pacific, showing the many dead and wounded on a beachheads, he turned to an aide and told him, that thank God the American people cannot see their sons in such carnage, for they would surely make him end this war. In Vietnam the war was shown nightly in any American home with a television. If the war had ended in 1968, like it should have, thousands of Americans and Vietnamese would not have had to die. Thousands more of us would have never seen combat. South Vietnam would have remained free. Thus, maybe, this false mythology of Vietnam would not have survived and America would have looked upon her sons, who had fought so well, so long and so hard, in a better light than they do now.
To Vietnam Veterans history will be even less kind than it is to us now. Now we still have a voice. But someday we, like our fathers from WW II, will be gone and what will be left behind for the revisionists of our history will be the written words and recordings of others. Many of whom were not even there. What historians of the future will look for are newspaper articles, TV broadcast reports, personal war diaries, such as Kerry’s, and the many books now being written. But what these future historians will prize most, in their search for our past, will be sworn testimony like that given by Kerry to the Congressional hearings. His possible election as President will only add more credence to that testimony in the eyes of future generations. Forgotten will be the honor that brave men had won on the battlefields of Vietnam. Forgotten will be the courage they displayed, the sacrifices they made, the extreme efforts of their struggle to maintain our Country’s freedoms, to win those freedoms for a foreign people and the kindness that they showed them. But most unforgivable of all, will be the memory of our fallen Brothers that will be tarnished forever, by the lies once laid upon them so long ago and now entered as historical fact.
This assault on the honor of the Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq War Veteran’s heritage has already begun. There are people in our country who will not be content until every American, who has ever served, is slandered and dishonored, from our fathers, ourselves and on to our sons and daughters.
“Serious people and historians know that Kerry was right the first time around. Like Iraq, Vietnam was an ill-conceived, doomed war that wasted countless lives for no good reason, launched by a president who lied about a Cold War threat (the absurd "domino theory") that simply didn't exist. As U.S. troops are doing now in Iraq, we committed horrific atrocities in Vietnam. Not only did the guys in black pajamas beat us fair and square, we deserved it. We were wrong. We deserved to lose. Service in the wars against Vietnam and Iraq are nothing to be proud of. RAMBO WAS A CHUMP"
- Ted Rall
Are these lies the legacy and the truth of America’s Patriots, which will be believed by future generations? This is more than a battle for our history and honor. It is a battle for the hearts, minds and the soul of America.
America relies on its security and safety to be provided by a very small number of her citizens. At any given time there are less than one percent of our population serving in the military. Today our Armed Forces are entirely voluntary. They must all have graduated from at least high school or have an equivalent diploma. They cannot have a criminal record. They must all pass a physical fitness and intelligence exams. Of this less than one percent an even a smaller percentage ever sees combat. It is hard for those who have not experienced war to understand what it is really like, and this is a good thing. As it is, most Americans will never have to experience the hardships and the horrors of war. Since the Civil War, we have always fought our enemies in far off lands. It is best for America that we do. No matter what people like Rall or Moore tell you, our military is not fighting to “…secure Fallujah” or even to free Iraq. They are fighting for you America. They have fought our enemies in Berlin, Seoul, Danang, and Baghdad, so that we do not have to fight our enemies in New York, Chicago, Phoenix and L.A.
It has been three years since 9-11 and America has not been attacked again. That is not because our enemies do not want to, do not have the means or did not have plans already in motion to again strike at our homeland after 9-11. The reason we have not had another terrorist strike in America is because our military has taken the fight to the terrorist in Afghanistan and yes, especially, Iraq. Even Kerry admitted, in a speech the other day, that we are now fighting terrorists from other countries in Iraq. No matter what you may believe was President Bush’s motives for sending our military into Iraq, know that we have moved the fight from our homeland to Iraq and Afghanistan and that the terrorists are now facing our trained and armed military, instead of killing our unarmed women and children. No matter what your political persuasion, you must see this as true. Given half a chance, our military will defeat this enemy and set up solvent governments in Afghanistan and Iraq. But the biggest threat to our military’s success does not come from the terrorists; it does in fact come from their fellow Americans, who continue to degrade their efforts, accuse them of war crimes, incite further hatred for America through their words and actions and criticize our leaders, even if they are just trying to win the Presidency. I ask you America to learn just one lesson from Vietnam. That lesson is to stop harming our troops in the Mideast with the daily anti-American propaganda in the press and on the air. By pandering to this anti-American rhetoric, you are helping the terrorist to kill and maim many more of our children. Who are only there to defeat those who would tie your hands, blindfold your eyes, and after reading a list of outrageous and unacceptable demands, would condemn you as an infidel dog and while praising Allah, cut off your head. That goes for you too Mr. Rall and Mr. Moore, they wouldn’t think twice about doing the same to you, just because you are who you think are.
America, it is time for us to again raise our heads and hold them high. It is time to reclaim our honor and to once again be proud of who and what we are. It is time for us to stop believing that the United States is the cause for all the evil in the World. For too long we have listened to others who say we have no honor or a right to be proud of our accomplishments. It is time to learn from our failures yet to put them in our past and to move forward. It is time for us to take seriously our position as a leader in the Free World and to stop apologizing for what our forefather’s fought and died for, our liberties and freedoms. It is time that, we once again, make the commitment to ourselves and to the World that we are the insurers of those freedoms and liberties. It is time we understand that without freedom throughout the World, our own freedoms are not secured. It is time, once again, for us to understand that our democracy is ruled by its majority. That while individual rights are very important, they do not override the rights, concerns or liberties of that majority. It is time America, to once again believe in the promise and the dream of the United States of America. It is time for us to work towards raising the standard of living for all Americans and to help the World to raise the standards of living for their citizens.
It is time for us to stop beating ourselves up, look into the mirror and say, we are a good, gracious and loving people. No other country in history has done more for other nations than we have. It is time we stop buying into all the derogatory slander that is imposed upon us by other nations, some of our own people and our enemies. We have shed the blood of our Patriots throughout the World, time and again, for the freedom of those other nations, and we have then come home, without laying claim on their foreign lands. It is time to release ourselves from the unwarranted guilt of Vietnam. For too long our Nation has bought into this false mythology of the Vietnam War, in believing that we were wrong to help another nation protect itself from invasion and Communist domination. We did not invade France in 1914, we did not invade Poland in 1939, we did not invade South Korea in 1950, we did not invade South Vietnam in 1957, and we did not invade Kuwait in 1991, we went to fight the invaders. We were right, in every case, to do so. We did not fly our own planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. We were not the ones who caused the ditching of our own plane on even yet, more “hollowed grounds” in Pennsylvania.
It is time for us to realize, as some want us to believe, that the world is not yet a utopia, that all we have to do is leave them alone and they will leave us alone. It is time that we understand, that it is not, who will first lay down their arms, but that who, will be the first to come to that people’s defense, when others have come to enslave them. It is time we understand that we have a right, and an obligation to our heirs, to protect ourselves. It is time we understand, that as long as there a people, anywhere in the World, who suffer from tyranny, we can never truly live in Peace. As long as there is a Stalin, Hitler, Tojo, Bin Laden or Hussein, we, and the World, will never be safe. It is time to understand, that we do not always have to wait for the surprise of a Pearl Harbor or the slaughter of our innocents on a 9-11. We have a right to do, what we have to do, to protect ourselves. It is time we stop feeling ashamed when we do. It is time, America, to understand that our freedoms and liberties are not paid for with money, words or inaction. The freedoms and liberties we enjoy today, and hope to enjoy tomorrow, have always been paid for in full, with the sacrifices, deeds and blood of our Patriots. Except for the families of our Heroes, no one is more aware of this price, no one mourns the terrible loss of our Brothers and Sisters, more than those of us who have been to war.
As it is now the Veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars look to fair little better than the Veterans of Vietnam, because we all know that the news media, or any of the others, are not going to try on that self- employed muzzle. So that leaves it up to you, that Silent Majority I have heard so much about since I was a young boy. It is time to take the gags out of your mouths and stop this insanity of the few. It is time to start helping these young men and women to come home alive, victorious, and with their honor. It is time to speak up loud and clear in their defense while they fight for us. The way to help them is easy and simple. First remember how you felt on 9-11, remember the people who died that morning, remember the anger you felt towards their murderers, for it now seems that the young people in our military are the only ones who do remember.
Write your Congressmen and Senators of your State and Federal assemblies. Tell them you are proud of our young people in our military and that you want the politicians to do everything they can to insure that our forces have everything they need to accomplish their missions. Tell them you are disgusted with the anti-American behavior of their party members, members of the news media and other individuals, who speak out against our Armed Forces and their missions. Stop buying the newspapers, magazines and books that print anti-war and anti-military propaganda. Most of these authors are only writing this propaganda for the bucks anyway, once you stop handing over your hard earned cash they may well put their talents to something a little more productive or entertaining. Stop listening to radio and TV programs that incite hatred for America. You’ll be surprised how much your blood pressure drops and how well you’ll feel looking at a world that is not full of all the incriminations, accusations and hate filled diatribes against your fellow man. Stop going to the movies and concerts of the actors, directors and entertainers who say they support our troops, but insist that they are wrong in what they are doing. Turn off the TV shows of those who speak out against these young Americans who are risking their lives for us. Stop believing that a few wrong-headed prison guards represent the entire Armed Services of the United States, those who tell you that this is what is going on, all over Iraq, are liars and traitors to our Nation. Make them take the responsibility and understand the consequences of their words and actions. Censure them from your lives.
Tell your respective political parties that they must do a better job in picking the candidates to run for the elective offices of our Nation, than the ones they now try to shove down our throats believing we have no choice. Tell them that while we do not expect our leaders to be perfect, we do expect them to be American Patriots, not an even worse example of Paine’s original “summer soldiers.” Tell them we want quality leaders with integrity, honesty, intelligence, a love of God and for our Nation, not just rich people who look good on camera and have a quantity of hair on their heads and pearly white teeth, to be packaged and sold to us like some new underarm deodorant. Tell them we want leaders of character and experienced in service to our Nation, not disservice. Insist that if they are to send our sons and daughters to war, that all other means have been exhausted, and that once sent they must spare no expense or leave no stone unturned, to insure their safety and the completion of their missions. Tell them we want leaders with the courage to act in the best interest of the people of our Nation, not in their own best interests, even if it means they might not win re-election. That is the type of leader that is revered in history and loved by the people.
But most of all Support Our Troops. They are not a faceless entity, they are our sons and daughters, and they are fighting for us. Now is your time to have their backs. Pray for their safe return and for the their success. Fly an American flag in front of your home and on your car. Remember that short interval of the wide spread showing of Patriotism after 9-11? We are at war, why did that support and Patriotism disappear? When our sons and daughters have completed their missions and come home, give them all the biggest and best welcome home this country has ever seen. They deserve all you can do for them and much more, for they are truly all heroes. I tell you this America, not only because we owe so much to these brave fellow Americans, but also because if the majority of you are not willing to go to war yourselves and you do not recognize the sacrifice of this less than one percent in the military, you just may find that in the future there won’t be anyone willing to go fight our enemies if knowing in advance that they will be branded as dishonorable and as criminals upon their return.
Support Our Troops
Semper Fidelis,
Michael Tank
USMC
Scout/Snipers
Vietnam Veteran
1969 - 1972
09/23/2004
“Copyright 2004. Michael E. Tank All rights reserved. No part of this document may be copied, faxed, electronically transmitted, or in any other manner duplicated without express written permission of the author.”
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