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How Vietnamese still suffer thanks to America. Documentary

You indeed pay for the water - many springs, rivers and water tables are owned by various parties and you must pay to get water. The California aqueduct has chain link fences around it to prevent people from taking water - what's the need if the water is public?

I cannot just go to a random body of water and open up a floating filtration plant - the owners of the water will force me off. I cannot even bottle mass quantities of it and move it elsewhere for filtration. Water is owned like anything else.

There are privately owned water sources, certainly, but the ones that provide for the majority of Americans are owned by the state, i.e. the public. They need to be protected from security threats, like chemical weapons.

Besides those kind of strategic reserves, tell me, who charges you if you drink rain water, or from a stream as you hike through the wilderness?
 
I think people should be honest. The reason that US withdrew its troop from VN because she lost war, as simple as that.
VNese never forget the help from peace-loving Americans. Here, let's look at a great poem written by To Huu, one of our greatest poet of our time:

Ê-mi-ly, con (Emily, Child) - Tố Hữu (1965)

Emily, come with me
Later you'll grow up you'll know the streets, no longer feel lost
- Where are we going, dad?
- To the banks of the Potomac
- To see what, dad?
Nothing my child, there's just the Pentagon.
Oh my child, your round eyes
Oh my child, your locks so golden
Don't ask your father so many questions, dear!
I'll carry you out, this evening you'll going home with your mother...
Washington
Twilight
Oh, those souls
That remain or are lost
Blaze, blaze the Truth!
Johnson!
You fucker, your crimes accumulate
All humanity detests
The yellow demon upon this earth.
You cannot borrow the crimson waters
Of God, and Buddha's yellow.
McNamara
Where are you hiding, asshole? In the burial yard
Of a five corner building
Each corner a continent
You still squeeze your head
Inside hot flames
Like the ostrich buries its head in the scorching sands

Look over here!
Look at me right now!
Oh it's not only me with my little daughter in my arms
I am Today
And my daughter, oh Emily, you are forever!
I stand awake,
With the great heart
Of a hundred million
Americans.
To flame, light up the horizon
A light
Of Justice.

Hey all you fuckers, pack of devils
In whose name?
You bring B52s
Napalm, poison gas
From the White House
From Guam
To Vietnam
To liquidate peace and national freedom
To incinerate hospitals and schools
Murder people who only know love
Murder kids who only know going to school
Murder green fields, four seasons of leaves and blossoms
And even murder rivers of poetry, music and art!

In whose name?
You bury the bloom of our youth in coffins
Oh, those strong, handsome sons
Who can transform nature to into electricity, steel
For people's happiness today!

In whose name?
You bring me to dense jungles
Spiked pits, muddy fields of resistance
Villages that become fortress that disperse to reappear
Nights and days where the heavens and earth shake and jolt
Oh Vietnam, a strange land
To the children who become heroes
To the wild bees who train to be warriors
And the trees and flowers become weapons!

Go ahead and die, die
All you jerks, a pack of demons
And I ask that you listen, my America!
To the voices of pain, of eternal hatred
Of a child. Of a person of this century

Emily, oh child!
It's beginning to get dark...
I can carry you no further
When I ignite, light up as a flame
Tonight, your mother will come find you
You'll hug her and kiss
Her for me
And tell your mother this for me:
I left happy, mother don't be sad!
Washington
Twilight
Remains or is lost?
It's come, the moment when my heart's brightest
I set fire to myself
So the flames dazzle
Truth.



The little girl Emily, 18 months old, is the youngest daughter of Norman Morrison. So great was his love, on November 11, 1965, Morrison brought Emily from home to the Pentagon and looked at her a final time before he self-immolated to oppose the American war of invasion in Vietnam.

(7-11-1965)


"War Critic Burns Himself To Death Outside Pentagon," New York Times (November 3, 1965), 1.

[Ann Morrison's statement ]
"Norman Morrison has given his life today to express his concern over the great loss of life and human suffering caused by the war in Vietnam. He was protesting our Government's deep military involvement in this war. He felt that all citizens must speak their convictions about our country's action."

"Death of a Quaker: His friends see a lesson," New York Times(November 7, 1965), 2.

Morrison : The richer we get materially, the poorer we get spiritually.

- "Norman was a mystic," the friend continued. "He had a direct, emotional experience of God, not as a master puppeteers pulling the strings, but as a creative force of love."
- In the recollection of conversations with Mr. Morrison there is an endlessly restated question: What can a man do with his life? How can he best show his beliefs? When must thoughts give way to deeds?
 
@somsak ,

The American withdrawal from Vietnam was not because of tactical victory of the Vietnamese, because quite frankly the Americans won most of the battles the VPA and the Viet Cong. The American people were not in favor of the war and wanted an overall withdrawal of troops, which forced a policy change. Perhaps our American military professionals here in PDF can voice out a more authoritative point of view: @gambit , @CENTCOM .

One of the saddest books I read was A Better War (http://www.amazon.com/Better-War-Unexamined-Victories-Americas/dp/0156013096 ), which details precisely what you're saying. We lost psychologically, we were not strong enough to stay the course.
 
VN here seems to forgives US for war. That's good.
Then forget Thailand for hosting US bases too.

:smitten::dance3:
 
VN here seems to forgives US for war. That's good.
Then forget Thailand for hosting US bases too.

:smitten::dance3:
Yeah, its tired to keep the hatred, normally we dont seek for revenge if the enemy stop doing bad things to us now.

We only fight back when the enemies push us into the corner.
 
VN here seems to forgives US for war. That's good.
Then forget Thailand for hosting US bases too.

:smitten::dance3:
Our history text book (for highschool) rarely mentions Thailand at all. Aside from US aircraft from US bases on Thailand took off and carried out bombing opperation and something like that. There were a bunch of other nations soldiers joined the US in VN wars, yet only those who dig deep can find out more detail about them.
 
@somsak ,

The American withdrawal from Vietnam was not because of tactical victory of the Vietnamese, because quite frankly the Americans won most of the battles the VPA and the Viet Cong. The American people were not in favor of the war and wanted an overall withdrawal of troops, which forced a policy change. Perhaps our American military professionals here in PDF can voice out a more authoritative point of view: @gambit , @CENTCOM .

The war is won or lost is based on intention.
It is not an intention for US to lost the country of South Vietnam.
It is an intention of Vietkong to unite Vietnam and remove the South Vietnam flags from the world's map.
The Vietkong's will was the history, and not the US. will.

After losing South Vietnam, I heard in Thai websites said that U.S. refuse to sell any weapon to Thailand because US believe in Domino Theory that Thailand will fall to Communist Camp. This was not the case as China defect from USSR to US side. It was Thai military together with Kuomintang (Taiwan) left over military that defeat the communist. It was because China stopped helping Communist force in Thailand too. Kuomintang force that loses the civil war in China free down here to S.E.A. It was to become mercenary force sided with US led free world.
 
Our history text book (for highschool) rarely mentions Thailand at all. Aside from US aircraft from US bases on Thailand took off and carried out bombing opperation and something like that. There were a bunch of other nations soldiers joined the US in VN wars, yet only those who dig deep can find out more detail about them.

That's right. If I remember it, the Philippines sent an engineering battalion to South Vietnam, as did Thailand.
 
@somsak ,

The American withdrawal from Vietnam was not because of tactical victory of the Vietnamese, because quite frankly the Americans won most of the battles the VPA and the Viet Cong. The American people were not in favor of the war and wanted an overall withdrawal of troops, which forced a policy change. Perhaps our American military professionals here in PDF can voice out a more authoritative point of view: @gambit , @CENTCOM .

The South lost because they are unable to stand by their feet after USA withdraw their troops.
Lam Son 719 operation show that.

And The North tactic is killing US troops as many as they can to force the change in mind of US officials.
 
The war is won or lost is based on intention.
It is not an intention for US to lost the country of South Vietnam.
It is an intention of Vietkong to unite Vietnam and remove the South Vietnam flags from the world's map.
The Vietkong's will was the history, and not the US. will.

After losing South Vietnam, I heard in Thai websites said that U.S. refuse to sell any weapon to Thailand because US believe in Domino Theory that Thailand will fall to Communist Camp. This was not the case as China defect from USSR to US side. It was Thai military together with Kuomintang (Taiwan) left over military that defeat the communist. It was because China stopped helping Communist force in Thailand too. Kuomintang force that loses the civil war in China free down here to S.E.A. It was to become mercenary force sided with US led free world.


The United States was involved in 3 nations' fight against the communist insurgency, which reflected on the Domino Theory: 1) The Philippines, 2) Thailand and 3) Vietnam.

In the Philippines, the United States aided the Philippine Government during the late 1950s to early 1960s in squashing the Hukbalalahap War, which was a communist insurgency in the Philippines. It was successfully put down during the administration of President. Ramon Magsaysay. In regards to Thailand, the United States had supported Field Marshal Plaek Phibunsongkram in fighting the rural insurgencies, later on seen during the rule of General Prem Tinsulanonda, in which the United States aided Thailand in the communist insurgency near Chiang Mai and Issan. I think during the rule of Prime Minister Kriangsak Chomanan , there was also a strong US military cooperation with Thailand.

The United States' involvement in South Vietnam was related to its policies in the rest of South East Asia. Tho South Vietnam collapsed, the bolstered defenses in Thailand, the Philippines as well as to an extent Malaysia (which relied heavily on British and Australian support), the Domino Theory failed to manifest throughout the rest of South East Asia. It stopped in Laos and Cambodia.
 
That's right. If I remember it, the Philippines sent an engineering battalion to South Vietnam, as did Thailand.
The largest foreign troops beside US was South Korea. Beside there were also Australia and some European countries.
 
The South lost because they are unable to stand by their feet after USA withdraw their troops.
Lam Son 719 operation show that.

And The North tactic is killing US troops as many as they can to force the change in mind of US officials.

In my own military point of view, please let me infer, i think the main failure of the South Vietnamese Armed Forces was due to their purely defensive doctrine. Theirs was a reactive policy. An offensive policy would have been far more advantageous and fortuitous for them.

But then again, we are speaking through hindsight.
 
The South lost because they are unable to stand by their feet after USA withdraw their troops.
Lam Son 719 operation show that.

And The North tactic is killing US troops as many as they can to force the change in mind of US officials.
It was not to kill, but rather to injure and disable as many US troops as possible. It was part of the psycological warfare against US.

In my own military point of view, please let me infer, i think the main failure of the South Vietnamese Armed Forces was due to their purely defensive doctrine. Theirs was a reactive policy. An offensive policy would have been far more advantageous and fortuitous for them.

But then again, we are speaking through hindsight.
Because they were fine with the way they had been. First a part of France nation, then an US ally. Unifying with the North would have only dragged them down anyways.
 
It was not to kill, but rather to injure and disable as many US troops as possible. It was part of the psycological warfare against US.

Yes, I will admit that the Tet Offensive was quite revolutionary. Tho the Tet Offensive was a tactical failure (all Viet Cong units were repulsed and annihilated by South Vietnamese and American military units), it was a psychological blow to the troops. Its just ingenious how the North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong dug trenches, tunnels to evade American strategic bombing, and local patrols.

Had the South Vietnamese Government under President Ngo Dinh Diem enacted the same offensive policies into North Vietnam, this might have taken the fight in the north, far from the South and this would have prevented the civilian casualties experienced in South Vietnam. In Fact, the South Vietnamese should have utilized Laos and to an extent Cambodia to pursue a pincer offensive to the north.

Unfortunately, they enacted a defensive doctrine. In war, offensive is the best defense.
 
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