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Return to the Article February 08, 2010Viet Nam, Holder, Obama, and the Christmas Day TerroristBy Robert Bowie Johnson, Jr. On Christmas Day, Attorney General Eric Holder decided to prevent the obtaining of crucial enemy intelligence from airline terrorist, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, by granting him the "right" to remain silent. The implicit negative consequences of that decision pertaining to our future safety reminded me of a stark and positive contrast to Holder's dangerous way of dealing with captured enemy combatants. In April of 1968, I was a young infantry captain operating near the coast of Quang Nam Province in South...

It was back in the 1970s, when I was doing diabetes research in Britain, that I first learned of the political drama surrounding Nelson Mandela. At the time I never would have predicted that one day I, too, would be imprisoned by a repressive regime for advocating human rights and democracy. By the time of his release from prison many years later, I had already spent 10 years in many labor camps and prisons in Vietnam, and was under house arrest. The Vietnamese communist government had never held a trial. As I listened to the BBC on a small portable...

Legends of Vietnam: Bronco's Tale One of the most versatile aircraft of the Vietnam War appears on the verge of a comeback. * By William E. Burrows * Air & Space Magazine, March 01, 2010 The U.S. military has been here before:fighting an enemy who wears no uniform, one who hits and runs then disappears, blending in with local villagers. It has pursued before, with overwhelming technological superiority, guerrilla fighters who improvise weapons and use the terrain to hide. The rugged mountains along the Afghanistan-Pakistan frontier, where the Taliban and al Qaeda hide, are as effective at concealment as the...

Bad Time Memories http://www.governmentmotorscorporation.us/Singing_In_Vietnam_Talking_Blues_by_Johnny_Cash.mp3 You probably never heard this one.

It may surprise readers to learn that in 2009 Vietnam was Russia’s best customer for its arms exports (www.defensenews.com, January 21). During 2009, Vietnam bought six Russian kilo-class submarines and 12 Su-30MKK fighters (Hanoi, VNEXpress, December 16, 2009; Kommersant, December 18; Interfax, December 15; RIA Novosti, December 4). While Vietnam most likely bought these weapons to counter the growing might of the Chinese navy and its continuing claims to the Spratly Islands off Vietnam’s coast, the motives for both sides are deeper. Although Vietnam’s fleet is antiquated, it clearly has decided to develop those capabilities to counter China’s claims and...

My brother-in-law is an avid war history reader, but says he can't find a non-liberal history of the Vietnam War. Do you know of one? Which are the best, any suggestions would help. Thanks, and appreciated.

It is nothing short of incredible that a combat veteran who has claimed to be a conservative Senator has led the fight to reward with amnesty, the millions of Mexican and Central American nationals who have entered this nation illegally. While the betrayal of the American people on behalf of foreign invaders by Sen. John McCain may be puzzling to most, the former POW actually has somewhat of a history of betraying his fellow citizens in favor of a foreign enemy. The question of McCain's true motives should be examined. On October 26, 1967, U.S. Navy Lt. John McCain was...

In the cruel way that war sometimes works, Vietnam killed Pete Harrison nearly 36 years after he came home. Elusive as they were, Pete thought he knew his enemies over there. The Viet Cong. The North Vietnamese. Their sympathizers. Nobody ever warned him about parasites in the water he drank, but they were there. Nobody ever mentioned the parasites could cause cancer, but they could. Nobody ever told him that cholangiocarcinoma might kill him some day, but it did. Now his widow, Sheila Harrison of Horseheads, is fighting her own war -- against the disease that took her husband's life....

Brother viciously beaten in Dong Chiem, a parish under siege J.B. An Dang In a statement to be read in all churches until next Sunday, the archdiocese of Hanoi speaks of hundreds of police agents and soldiers forcibly blocking anyone who tries to reach the Dong Chiem parish church. Those who dare approach are threatened and can be arrested. Hanoi (AsiaNews) – Vietnamese authorities appear to have opted for a violent crackdown. In Dong Chiem parish, a man religious was viciously beaten (pictured), many people have been threatened, some arrested, whilst the local church is under siege, no one allowed...

1/15/2010 - NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nev. (AFNS) -- A Thunderbird pilot killed in Southeast Asia and listed as missing in action for more than 40 years returned to the location of his last Air Force assignment Jan. 14 for a celebration of his life among a sea of family and peers. "Today, we welcome Maj. Russell C. Goodman home," said Brig. Gen. Russell J. Handy, the 57th Wing commander during a funeral service with full military honors at the Air Force Air Demonstration Squadron hangar at Nellis Air Force Base. "We welcome him home to the United States, welcome...

Vincent Nguyen's journey 26 years ago from Vietnam to Canada culminated yesterday in the pomp and splendour of his ordination as a bishop of the Roman Catholic Church. More than 1,000 people crammed the pews of St. Michael's Cathedral to see 43-year-old Father Nguyen become Bishop Nguyen in a ceremony that connects back to St. Peter, the first bishop of Rome.Bishop Nguyen's friends and fellow clergymen describe him as extremely humble and shy, but his pedigree is the stuff of legend.He is a fifth-generation Catholic, the great-grandson of a man martyred for his faith in the 19th century. As a...

1/12/2010 - WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- Officials with the Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office announced Jan. 12 that the remains of an Air Force pilot, missing in action from the Vietnam War, have been identified and will be returned to his family for burial. Maj. Russell C. Goodman of Salt Lake City, Utah, will be honored at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., home of the U.S. Air Force Thunderbird demonstration team. At the time he was lost, Major Goodman was assigned to the Thunderbirds and was flying with the U.S. Navy on an exchange program. He will be buried in...

There is finally closure to a mystery that spanned four decades. A Vietnam combat veteran's remains were identified and the family can now lay him to rest

Don’t be fooled by the tougher talk coming out of the mouth of our president the past few days. In Obamaland, the rhetoric may be laced with a little more acid – a little more, mind you – but it’s still the same pacifist president running the show. Obama needs to learn that what he does will impress us more than what he says. Consider the way Obama danced around calling would-be plane bomber Abdul Mutallab a terrorist. The first time he spoke about the incident – three days after it happened – the president kept using careful wordage (“alleged...

Forty-five Years Ago Today Jannuary 4, 1965 Johnson reaffirms commitment to South Vietnam In his State of the Union message, President Lyndon B. Johnson reaffirms U.S. commitment to support South Vietnam in fighting communist aggression. In justifying the continued support to Saigon, Johnson pointed out that U.S. presidents had been giving the South Vietnamese help for 10 years, and, he said, "Our own security is tied to the peace of Asia." This Day in History Lyndon B. Johnson XXXVI President of the United States 1963-1969 Annual Message to the Congress on the State of the Union January 4, 1965...

Vietnam orders gold-trading floors shut by end-March HANOI: Vietnam, where many people see gold as a safe haven against economic uncertainty, has ordered public gold-trading floors shut by March 31 because they rest on a “fragile foundation”. The order affects about 20 gold-trading houses operated by banks and other firms, which have been running for more than two years, the state-run Vietnam News reported. Retailing of gold jewellery will still be allowed, it said. The gold-trading floors have offered heavily-leveraged trading in which investors pay a security deposit of only seven percent of the net asset value of their trades...

The cost of war — on veterans’ health and taxpayer wallets — will loom a little larger in the new year. The Department of Veterans Affairs will issue a final rule to claim adjudicators to presume three more diseases of Vietnam veterans, including heart disease, were caused by exposure to Agent Orange. The rule, expected to be published soon, will make almost any veteran who set foot in Vietnam, and is diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, B cell leukemia or ischemic heart disease (known also as coronary artery disease) eligible for disability compensation and VA medical care. The exception would be...

YORK It took 41 years, but a York County airman missing in action since the Vietnam War has finally been laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery after his remains were positively identified earlier this year. Melvin Douglas Rash, of Grafton, was buried with full military honors Dec. 7 at the revered Washington-area cemetery. He had been missing since 1968, when his Air Force C-130 airplane was presumably shot down over Vietnam. After years of dead ends, the plane's wreckage was finally positively identified in 2002 in a jungle area near the Laotian border. It took six years before military...

Vietnam is considering putting price controls on a broad array of products and is cracking down on certain personal and political activity, in a sharp reversal of what has been a move toward more-open markets and a more-open society. Foreign businesses worry about the threat of price controls—something many analysts consider a hallmark of Vietnam's Marxist past. That comes after authorities last month blocked access to Web sites such as Facebook and Twitter, following cases in which several bloggers were detained, then released, on charges of criticizing the government. In October, nine people were given stiff sentences for calling for...

There is no shortage of "expert advice" on what we should do in Afghanistan in light of the shortcomings of the Karzai government. Several writers argue that the best way to fight the Taliban is to support and strengthen the traditional tribal system by dealing with individual tribes rather than working to build a national police force and army. While this might offer a short-term advantage over a more comprehensive "nation building" strategy, this approach proved disastrous in both Iraq and Vietnam.

For the second time in 10 days, Protestant history was made in Vietnam yesterday when 12,000 people gathered for a Christmas rally here.

First, from Norway Vøringsfossen Click 'em for full-size. This next one's not big or great, but it shows where the hotel is. Also small, but a good view of the base of the falls. Something tells me it is NOT easy to get down there. Second, from the border of Vietnam and China: Detian/Ban Gioc. Click both for full-size.

In April 2009, reports surfaced that Vietnam had agreed in principle to a deal with Russia for 6 of its diesel-electric Kilo/ Project 636 Class fast attack submarines. There have been rumors that Vietnam owns 2 ex-Yugoslav mini-submarines for use in commando operations, but the Vietnamese People’s Navy doesn’t own any full size submarines that can take on enemy subs and ships. That’s about to change, thanks to a December 2009 contract. In addition to submarines, the Vietnamese Navy order is said to include new heavyweight torpedoes and missiles (most likely Klub family) to arm them. China’s April 2009 display...

Vietnam aims to counter China with sub deal: analysts By Ian Timberlake (AFP) – 2 hours ago HANOI — Vietnam's major arms deal with Russia, reported to involve the purchase of six submarines, aims to bolster claims against China over potentially resource-rich islands in the South China Sea, analysts say. While much of Vietnam's military hardware is antiquated, it has decided to devote substantial resources to developing an underwater fleet as concerns mount over tensions with its giant neighbour over the Paracel and Spratly archipelagos, they say. "I think their primary rationale is to counteract the military build-up that the...

AL ASAD AIR BASE, Iraq, Dec. 16, 2009 – From the battle at Belleau Wood, where Marines earned the name “Devil Dog,” to the iconic image of the flag-raising at Iwo Jima, Marine Corps history is embedded in every Marine from initial training at boot camp, and it continues to provide inspiration to those who serve. Marine Corps 1st Sgt. Viriato B. Sena stands before his Marines at Al Asad Air Base, Iraq, Oct. 13, 2009. Sena, who joined the Marine Corps in 1973, participated in the evacuation of Vietnam and is now deployed to Iraq for the drawdown of...

A piece of Don Sunstrom's past has been missing for 40 years. While fighting in Vietnam, he'd gotten a fancy engraved cigarette lighter as a keepsake to remind him of a place he later would try to forget. But he lost the lighter in the jungles of Southeast Asia. Two months ago, Sunstrom, 65, who now lives in Blaine, was stunned to learn that the Zippo lighter had been found -- at the bottom of a lake in southern Wisconsin. Scott Mitchen, a professional treasure hunter and author, found the lighter during a dive in Delavan Lake and plans to...

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Vietnam's defence minister, making a rare visit to the United States, met Tuesday with a key US Senator who called ties between the two former war foes "very important." General Phung Quang Thanh met with Democratic Senator Jim Webb, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asia, and was to meet with Senator John McCain, the Senate Armed Services Committee's top Republican. "It is vitally important that the United States engage with Southeast Asia at all levels," Webb, a former Marine who served in the Vietnam war and visited Hanoi in August, said after his...

HO CHI MINH CITY, December 14 (CDN) — On Friday evening (Dec. 11), history was made in communist Vietnam. Christian sources reported that some 40,000 people gathered in a hastily constructed venue in Ho Chi Minh City to worship God, celebrate Christmas, and hear a gospel message – an event of unprecedented magnitude in Vietnam. A popular Vietnamese Christian website and other reports indicated up to 8,000 people responded to the gospel message indicating a desire to follow Christ.

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama had a golden opportunity to become a peacemaker compared to his hawkish predecessor. But he has let that opening evaporate by escalating the war in Afghanistan. Now he is called a "war president" -- a dubious title that former President George W. Bush personally embraced after starting two devastating wars, one in Afghanistan, the other in Iraq. In both cases, the U.S. is touting its exit plans. In Iraq, Obama has declared a victory and plans to pull out many troops next year, though leaving thousands behind to secure the Baghdad government. In Afghanistan, Obama...

Vietnam could become key importer of Russian weaponry Vietnam could become a key importer of Russian weaponry if several contracts on the purchase of diesel submarines and aircraft are signed in the near future, a Russian newspaper said. According to the Vedomosti business daily, Moscow and Hanoi are close to sign deals on the purchase of six Kilo class diesel-electric submarines and 12 Su-30MK2 Flanker-C multirole fighters. The submarine contract, worth an estimated $1.8 billion, includes the construction of on-shore infrastructure and training of submarine crews and will be the second largest submarine contract concluded by Russia since the Soviet...

Miss. Survivor Of Vietnam's Hanoi Hilton Dies At 82 Pitchford Survived 7 Years In Prison Camp UPDATED: 3:48 pm CST December 3, 2009 JACKSON, Miss. -- Retired Air Force Col. Jack Pitchford, a fighter pilot from Mississippi who survived seven years in the Vietnamese prison camp known as the Hanoi Hilton, has died. He was 82. The Natchez, Miss., native was shot down in 1965 and taken to the Hoa Lo prison, a hellish place where Americans, including famous veterans like U.S. Sen. John McCain, were tortured. Pitchford was released in 1973. His brother said Pitchford died Wednesday after battling...

I have referred before to the Left’s glory in the American defeat in Viet Nam. To hear them tell it, it was a dirty imperialist war in league with a corrupt South Vietnamese government fought by baby killing, torturing murderers that led to our righteous defeat. Forget for a moment about the enemy that long-ago war. On our side we had a reluctant president, Lyndon Johnson, who wanted to “manage” a war to a draw – not win it - who committed troops but pulled his punches and whose party was vehemently against the war in the first place. If...

President Obama May Not Remember Vietnam Turmoil WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama insists that his decision to escalate the war in Afghanistan by sending in 30,000 more troops is not Vietnam all over again. Well, it sure reminds me of the perils and the price of that unwinnable war in Southeast Asia and the political chaos it wreaked at home. In Afghanistan, the designated enemies are remnants of the weakened al-Qaida network and the native Taliban, which has been growing in strength despite the eight-year war started by President George W. Bush in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 catastrophe....

Staff Sgt. Heriberto Gonzalez, a force protection escort for the 332nd Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron, holds the American flag his father and grandfather both carried during wartime. Photo courtesy of the 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing. JOINT BASE BALAD — Staff Sgt. Heriberto Gonzalez, 332nd Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron, possesses an American flag that was carried by both his father and grandfather during wartime. "Gonzo," as he is referred to by his flight line coworkers, is on his eighth deployment since joining the Air Force. An avionics craftsman by trade, he volunteered to deploy to Iraq to provide security for local...

Mr. President, it now falls to you to be both former Republican Senator George Aiken and the man to whom he spoke, Lyndon Johnson. You must declare victory, and get out. ... even though the Pentagon is a bunch of perpetually 12-year old boys desperate to stay up as late as possible by any means necessary — get out now. But poll after poll, and anecdote after anecdote, of the reality of public opinion inside Afghanistan is that its residents believe we are fighting Afghanistan. That we, Sir, have become an occupying force. Yes: if we leave, Afghanistan certainly will...

HANOI (Reuters) - A Vietnamese man dug up his wife's corpse and slept beside it for five years because he wanted to hug her in bed, an online newspaper reported on Thursday. The 55-year-old man from a small town in the central province of Quang Nam opened up his wife's grave in 2004, molded clay around the remains to give the figure of a woman, put clothes on her and then placed her in his bed, Vietnamnet.vn said. The man, Le Van, told the website that after his wife died in 2003 he slept on top of her grave,...

Vietnam devalued its currency by 5.4 per cent against the dollar yesterday and raised interest rates by a full percentage point in an effort to cut inflation and underpin the beleaguered dong. The dong has come under pressure recently as inflation started climbing and domestic demand, driven by the country's $8bn stimulus programme, drove the current account deficit to close to $2bn a month. It was trading on the grey market at 19,800 to the dollar on Tuesday but came back to 19,500 after the government move. Analysts, however, questioned whether financial markets would believe the latest move had put...

Those who equate Haditha with My Lai, and Iraq with Vietnam, would do well to remember the last time we gave peace a chance. For millions of innocents, it was the peace of the grave. If there's anyone who condones the deliberate murder of civilians, it is not the U.S. government but the anti-war left and its unindicted co-conspirators in the media. Thanks largely to their efforts, we abandoned Vietnam and ushered in an era of mass carnage, boat people and reeducation camps that resulted in more death after the war than during it. After Saigon's "liberation," summary executions of...

Russian Victoria Radochinskaya has won the Mrs World 2009 beauty pageant, which took place in the Vietnamese city of Vung Tau. Seventy-eight participants, aged between 19 and 41, competed for the title of the world's most beautiful married woman. Vietnam, the host country, was represented by two contenders. The final round of the competition took place on Sunday. Victoria Radochinskaya, 31, became the 15th winner of the contest since it was first held in 1985. The PR specialist received the $150,000 jewel-studded crown from last year's winner, Ukrainian Natalya Shmarenkova. First runner-up was Mrs America Andrea Robertson, a professional model....

The lodge where I stay in Kabul was badly damaged on Oct. 8 when a suicide car bomb exploded 80 meters down the road near the Indian Embassy. Seventeen Afghans working in photocopy shops near the embassy were killed and another 60 wounded. The Indian diplomats were unharmed. No apologies were offered by the perpetrators for the killings. Nobody was hurt at my lodge, but 75 windows were blown out. The next day I was talking with the owner, who, for the third time in three years, had to fork out $3,000 to fix his windows. I asked him what...

We all know dogs like to smell just about everything, including other animals' poo. Now scientists have figured out how to put the canines' odd pastimes to work to help sniff out the dung of endangered rhinos in Vietnam. The collected dung will help scientists to figure out how many Javan rhinos, also called Rhinoceros sondaicus, remain in the wild. The rhinos were considered extinct on mainland Southeast Asia until hunters in Vietnam killed one in 1988. Now two remaining populations exist, with an estimated 10 individuals in the forests of Vietnam and between 28 and 56 such rhinos on...

Subject: Vietnam Facts vs Fiction FYI, We do not live in Viet Nam, Viet Nam lives in us. Vietnam Facts vs Fiction. I found this article very interesting. The most notable fact is that 2.7 million Americans actually served in the Vietnam Theater of war. In the last census nearly 14 million Americans claimed they served in Vietnam . Four out of five are lying. I wonder why. Vietnam Facts vs Fiction For over 30 years I..like many Vietnam veterans..seldom spoke of Vietnam , except with other veterans, when training soldiers, and in public speeches. These past five years I...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 20, 2009 – Based on an independent study by the Institute of Medicine last month, Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric K. Shinseki has directed broader health coverage from his department for Vietnam War veterans who were exposed to Agent Orange. Research found that three illnesses – B cell leukemias, Parkinson’s disease and ischemic heart disease -- possibly are associated with Agent Orange exposure. Those conditions join a list of related diseases for which Vietnam War veterans already receive compensation, such as prostate cancer, respiratory cancers, soft-tissue sarcomas, Hodgkin’s disease, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and multiple myeloma. "Since my confirmation as secretary,...

November 17, 2009 MURTHA CONTINUES TO UNDERMINE TROOPS By William RussellIn recent interviews defending President Obama’s slow decision making on Afghanistan, Congressman John Murtha continues to undermine our troops, embolden our enemies, and place our country in greater danger. He does this by drawing on the wrong lessons from his own experience in Vietnam, and endorsing the enemy’s propaganda.  By continually questioning the request for more troops, Mr. Obama and Mr. Murtha are signaling the possibility that America might withdraw as we did in Vietnam. But unlike Vietnam, we do not have the choice of leaving and withdrawing to our...

DA NANG, Vietnam, Nov. 17, 2009 – Nearly 35 years ago, Navy Cmdr. H.B. Le left Vietnam aboard a fishing trawler. He returned at the helm of a U.S. Navy warship when the guided-missile destroyer USS Lassen arrived here Nov. 7 for a scheduled port visit. Navy Cmdr. H.B. Le, commanding officer of the guided-missile destroyer USS Lassen, speaks to reporters in front of the U.S. 7th Fleet command ship USS Blue Ridge in Da Nang, Vietnam, Nov. 7, 2009. It was Le's first visit to Vietnam after leaving the country with his family in 1975. U.S. Navy photo by...

As the sane portion of the country looks on in disbelief at the Obama Administration’s decision to give 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed a civilian trial in New York City, the conduct of the War on Terror aborad is equally jarring—three months after General Stanley McChrystal has asked for an additioanl 40,000 troops to properly continue operations in Afghanistan, the President still has yet to make up his mind. Last night, Sean Hannity aired an eye-opening report on one of the influences behind Obama’s foreign policy: Lessons in Disaster by Gordon Goldstein. Goldstein’s thesis is that President John F. Kennedy...

11/12/2009 - SHEPPARD AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFNS) -- With the traditional "I do's" and exchange of wedding bands some 54 years ago on Oct. 1, 1955, James and Phyllis Hivner began their life's journey together which, like many young couples, began with not knowing what the future held. That journey was rocked 10 years later, almost to the day, when then-Capt. James Hivner and his co-pilot, 1st Lt. Thomas Barrett, were shot down Oct. 5, 1965, in their F-4C Phantom fighter-bomber over North Vietnam. About 10 minutes after ejecting from the wounded aircraft, the pair was captured by North...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 12, 2009 – Generations of American servicemembers braved and survived the din, destruction and uncertainty of war to return home to enjoy the freedoms they helped to preserve for their fellow citizens. Retired Navy Rear Adm. Robert H. Shumaker is a famous U.S. military veteran who coined the term “Hanoi Hilton” when he was a prisoner of war from 1965 to 1973 in North Vietnam. Any person –- civilian or military –- who thinks they may have emotional problems should seek professional help, he said. DoD photo by Gerry J. Gilmore  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Yet,...

As a nineteen-year-old college drop out, forty years ago on this past August 18th, I was being pushed and shoved off a bus at MCRD, San Diego, California, as we 'boots' were trying desperately to move as fast was we could for what we were all sure was a bunch of rabid DI's. They were after all, foaming at the mouth.