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THE BIG PICTURE: Vietnam, 35 years later
www.boston.com ^ | May 7, 2010

Posted on 05/09/2010 4:28:34 AM PDT by VU4G10

Last Friday, April 30th, was the 35th anniversary of the Fall of Saigon and the end of the Vietnam War, and last Tuesday, May 4th, was the 40th anniversary of the shooting of protesting students at Kent State University. The Vietnam War and America's involvement in it affected the lives of millions for well over a decade, exacting a massive human cost with millions of deaths and countless injuries - both physical and mental - that plague many of those involved to this day. United States military involvement and troop strength grew rapidly after 1964 - at its highest level in 1968, with over 500,000 troops on the ground. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. now bears the engraved names of 58,267 of those troops. It's nearly impossible to encapsulate an event of such scale in a handful of photographs, but here, 35 years after the end of the conflict, is my attempt. (47 photos total)


(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS: pictures; vietnam
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1 posted on 05/09/2010 4:28:34 AM PDT by VU4G10
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To: VU4G10

Then 35 years of brutal communist rule, that made the War seem like a picnic.


2 posted on 05/09/2010 4:30:29 AM PDT by Dallas59 (President Robert Gibbs 2009-2013)
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To: VU4G10
The Vietnam War and America's involvement in it affected the lives of millions for well over a decade, exacting a massive human cost with millions of deaths and countless injuries - both physical and mental - that plague many of those involved to this day.

Brought to you exclusively by the Democrats.

3 posted on 05/09/2010 4:31:28 AM PDT by ALPAPilot
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To: ALPAPilot

Democrats - leading the way in human misery and senseless waste.


4 posted on 05/09/2010 4:51:02 AM PDT by wally_bert (It's sheer elegance in its simplicity! - The Middleman)
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To: VU4G10

Memories light the corners of my mind...

http://blogs.denverpost.com/captured/2010/04/30/captured-a-look-back-at-the-vietnam-war-on-the-35th-anniversary-of-the-fall-of-saigon-2/


5 posted on 05/09/2010 4:56:16 AM PDT by DJ Taylor (Once again our country is at war, and once again the Democrats have sided with our enemy.)
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To: Dallas59

Exactly. Why were “boat people” forced to board barely floating junks and risk the high sea in the hopes of finding a good hearted US ship to save them? Why would they leave by the millions? The media should have focused on that question, and the answer would have been as brutal as the “killing fields” of Cambodia, only they couldn’t blame the US on the brutalities that followed the end of South Viet Nam.


6 posted on 05/09/2010 5:09:08 AM PDT by Wildbill22
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To: Dallas59

Exactly. Why were “boat people” forced to board barely floating junks and risk the high sea in the hopes of finding a good hearted US ship to save them? Why would they leave by the millions? The media should have focused on that question, and the answer would have been as brutal as the “killing fields” of Cambodia, only they couldn’t blame the US on the brutalities that followed the end of South Viet Nam.


7 posted on 05/09/2010 5:09:08 AM PDT by Wildbill22
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To: Dallas59

Exactly. Why were “boat people” forced to board barely floating junks and risk the high sea in the hopes of finding a good hearted US ship to save them? Why would they leave by the millions? The media should have focused on that question, and the answer would have been as brutal as the “killing fields” of Cambodia, only they couldn’t blame the US on the brutalities that followed the end of South Viet Nam.


8 posted on 05/09/2010 5:09:08 AM PDT by Wildbill22
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To: Dallas59

Exactly. Why were “boat people” forced to board barely floating junks and risk the high sea in the hopes of finding a good hearted US ship to save them? Why would they leave by the millions? The media should have focused on that question, and the answer would have been as brutal as the “killing fields” of Cambodia, only they couldn’t blame the US on the brutalities that followed the end of South Viet Nam.


9 posted on 05/09/2010 5:09:09 AM PDT by Wildbill22
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To: Dallas59

Exactly. Why were “boat people” forced to board barely floating junks and risk the high sea in the hopes of finding a good hearted US ship to save them? Why would they leave by the millions? The media should have focused on that question, and the answer would have been as brutal as the “killing fields” of Cambodia, only they couldn’t blame the US on the brutalities that followed the end of South Viet Nam.


10 posted on 05/09/2010 5:09:09 AM PDT by Wildbill22
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To: Wildbill22

Whoa. sorry, bad internet connection resulting in multiple posts.


11 posted on 05/09/2010 5:09:51 AM PDT by Wildbill22
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To: Wildbill22

You can say that again.


12 posted on 05/09/2010 5:11:31 AM PDT by Cringing Negativism Network (Palin / Rubio 2012)
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To: VU4G10
The big picture is the Lefties of today who were the red-diaper-doper-baby Hippies then, decided in their intoxicated stupor that our trying to prevent a Communist invasion into South Vietnam was bad. Bad America for trying to save millions of lives that would come under the deadly Communist rule.

Well, America pulled out and of course the inevitable happened: the North Vietnam Communists invaded, took over, and over a million South Vietnamese were killed under its rule.

13 posted on 05/09/2010 5:15:43 AM PDT by Jim W N
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To: VU4G10

The stupid comments following those pictures on the source page are amazing. Boston is truly lost. They want communism. Perhaps we should let them have it.


14 posted on 05/09/2010 6:01:54 AM PDT by sig226 (Mourn this day, the death of a great republic. March 21, 2010)
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To: wally_bert
Democrats - leading the way in human misery and senseless waste.

Wait for the fall of Baghdad.....

.....The RATS are giving the insurgents the timetable for our departure, giving them information for their overthrow plans.

15 posted on 05/09/2010 6:21:25 AM PDT by SteamShovel (When hope trumps reality, there is no hope at all.)
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To: Wildbill22

Did your “bad internet connection” self-click the “post” button 3 times?


16 posted on 05/09/2010 6:25:07 AM PDT by kjb366
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To: onedoug

ping


17 posted on 05/09/2010 7:03:33 AM PDT by stylecouncilor (What Would Jim Thompson Do?)
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To: VU4G10
"[T]he [American] media played a major role in the final downfall of South Vietnam. . . . North Vietnam [Communist] General Vo Nguyen Giap [stated] in a French TV broadcast that [the] 'most important guerrilla during the Vietnam War was the American press.'"

And what of today's American media?

I think that Michael Savage -- who's pretty good with such things -- has defined the media's support of the enemy this time.

"The media have become the minarets of terrorism."

The American media are the Islamists' most important muezzins.

18 posted on 05/09/2010 7:07:15 AM PDT by WilliamofCarmichael (If modern America's Man on Horseback is out there, Get on the damn horse already!)
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To: VU4G10

The comments section is awful, owned by the lefties, though there are a few good comments in there. The best one is by a guy named Justin near the bottom. What impresses me about the pictures is that 35 years later they’re still trying to demoralize us and cast Vietnam as the Bad War. The psyche of the left requires that we be solemn and angry and ashamed when we think of Vietnam. But I think it was a good war, justified and winnable.


19 posted on 05/09/2010 7:10:43 AM PDT by Yardstick
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To: sig226

“The stupid comments following those pictures on the source page are amazing. Boston is truly lost. They want communism. Perhaps we should let them have it.”

I agree there were an disappointingly large number of stupid comments, but there are also some wonderfully smart and compassionate comments about the truth. I particularly liked the one by Wintermuth a German who espoused about National Socialism and Communism and wondered about how long stupid ideas like those can truly last when capitalism and freedom are present and so obviously better...


20 posted on 05/09/2010 7:12:08 AM PDT by Wpin ("I Have Sworn Upon the Altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny...")
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