Posted on 06/15/2004 10:54:27 PM PDT by Interesting Times
Invoking Viet Nam to cover up Iraq abuses The Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal calls forth questions over the American War in Viet Nam: "How were captured US troops treated?" and "How did the Americans treat the Vietnamese?" Diem Quynh The Voice of America has attempted to deflect criticism of American soldiers treatment of Iraqi prisoners by claiming recently that captured US troops were treated worse in Viet Nam. Besides begging the fundamental question "what were the Americans doing in Viet Nam in the first place?" the claim is also patently false. In fact, like in any of the dozens of countries they invaded, it was the Americans who perpetrated well-documented atrocities in Viet Nam, both at the individual and mass levels.
My Lai is a byword for callous mass murder while the Bach Mai hospital and Kham Thien street bombings, though less well-known outside Viet Nam, were no less brutal for their manner of execution. As if to show they were not merely capable of impersonal atrocities (by dropping bombs), the Americans helped run the notorious Con Dao prison with its tiger cages. In each of these 3m by 1.5m cages, they held five Vietnamese prisoners. Conditions at the prison prompted a visiting US legislator, William R Anderson, to write to then-president Richard Nixon slamming the human rights violations and asking him to reconsider American involvement in the south of Viet Nam. Candidate in this years American presidential elections, John Kerry, who fought in the war, went further in his criticism. In a statement to the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations in 1971, he said the war crimes committed by US soldiers in Southeast Asia "were not isolated incidents but crimes committed on a day-to-day basis with the full awareness of officers at all levels of command." But despite these abuses, the Vietnamese did not reciprocate in kind; instead, they treated captured US troops humanely. A letter written to his family by the US navys Lt Stephen Anthony Rudloff shows a glimpse of the treatment received by American troops in captivity. He wrote, "Since my capture, I have been treated very well by the people of the DRVN [Democratic Republic of Viet Nam]. I am well fed, have had my injuries tended to by a doctor, and am in excellent condition." Another navy man, Lt Albert Molinare, wrote home, "my treatment and the treatment of all the others Ive talked to has been very fair. I feel were eating and living better than many Vietnamese outside the walls. I live with a group of other prisoners and we pass the time playing bridge and pingpong and doing some gardening. Its nothing like home of course but the treatment has been a pleasant surprise." Molinare was right that the detainees were living better than most Vietnamese who were subsisting on food rations and under extremely tough conditions. It was also true that except for their incarceration, the American soldiers lived normal lives in prison though many of them had been caught red-handed committing crimes against humanity. They got fairly good food, exercised, played on the guitar and read books, received letters from home and celebrated Christmas with trees just like they would have at home. They received periodic medical checks and treatment for injuries and illnesses. In the three decades since the war, the Americans have used their hegemony over the world media including films and short public memory to gloss over their atrocities and to demonise Viet Nam. The VOA report is merely another such attempt. VNS |
Ping.
Oh, brother. Ask John McCain about it and get back to me.
You beat me to the punch. LOL
Oh how nice .. another endorsement from the Commies to Kerry
Correction .. I should have said .. an endorement from Kerry to the Commies
Apparently it works both ways.
BTTT!!!!!!
But despite these abuses, the Vietnamese did not reciprocate in kind; instead, they treated captured US troops humanely.
He wrote, "Since my capture, I have been treated very well by the people of the DRVN [Democratic Republic of Viet Nam]. I am well fed, have had my injuries tended to by a doctor, and am in excellent condition."
http://www.powmiafamiliesagainstjohnkerry.com/
thanks. this is repulsive.
Yes... and enlightening.
The barf alert is implicit.
Interesting how Vietnamese communist propaganda hasn't changed after all these years, and how Kerry's lies are still a valuable asset to their cause.
Jeepers. Thanks for the ping!
A well orchestrated "conspiracy", interesting none of these that are squealing like pigs have any complaints about how the UN does business daily.
PING!
bump
* Part I - Rambo and the Bogus War Heroes
* Part II - Welcome Home, Babykiller
* Part III - Will the Real Vietnam Vet Stand Up?
* Part VI - The VVA - The Vietnam Victims of America
~*~
The inhumane reign of Saddam Hussein: Pt. 1 - The New York Times
8Pt. 2 - The Washington Post
8Pt. 3 - USA Today, LA Times
8Pt. 4 - Newsweek, Time Magazines
8Pt. 5 - The London Times + (UK free press)
World War IV: How It Started, What It Means, and Why We Have to Win - Norman Podhoretz
* To America's Soldiers - Barbara J. Makuch
* A note of thanks to those who serve - Christy Ferer
* Proud to Have Liberated Iraq - Barry Farber
~*~
"Tighten your seatbelts, America. The Left means to shake this country to its foundations....Just as in Chicago 1968, a lot of innocent people may get hurt." - Jesse's War.
Deceive, divide, distract - old MO of the enemy of every human soul.
Kerry better not contradict this guy or they'll take his picture out of the museum!
You forgot to post the mega-barf alert.
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