The Vietnam War Revisited- Part XIV – It Starts Hitting the Fan

Barbara Tuchman’s analysis of the Vietnam War in her book The March of Folly: From Troy to Vietnam is the inspiration behind this series of posts. All of the previous posts in the series can be found at the bottom of this post.

The decisions made by the LBJ administration in 1964 discussed in my last blog cast the die. Much like Julius Caesar in 49 BC, LBJ crossed his Rubicon metaphorically. Once crossing the Mekong River and Delta, there was no going back. Operation Rolling Thunder was an irrevocable act that failed for the reasons chronicled in my two blogs on the subject.

The 7^th Air Force conducted “graduated bombing’’ of North Vietnam to persuade the enemy to come to terms dictated by the LBJ administration to end the war and limit the NVR’s ability to conduct the war. The code name, “Wild Weasel,” designated flights out of our three Thailand bases and Yankee Station carriers from 1965 to 1968.

Guess who selected the targets and put critical objectives off-limits? Not the military command. Not the pilots… LBJ’s whiz kids chose the targets in their attempt to micromanage the war. I bet less than 10% of our nation is aware of that fact.

The history of the Vietnam War is a compilation of lies, deception and deceit by LBJ’s administration, bordering on treason. Read these blogs and if you are not pissed off, then I worry about you.

This is where the “shit hits the fan” in my opinion, based on five years of research of over forty documentaries by authorities, historians and review of declassified CIA Intelligence Estimates of that era.

In my last year and a half, I’ve posted over forty blogs on controversial subjects surrounding the Vietnam war in an attempt to cut through prevalent revisionist history of that poorly understood war and present the facts.  

I strive to be objective. Granted, I’m guilty of military bias, having served as a flight surgeon over there. Air evacuating wounded and body bags tends to shade one’s perspective. Our military deserved respect that few received upon their return to the States. I document this in my historical narrative, RECALL.

I also document my blog research and reference sources for the interested reader to assess for themselves what is fact or fiction. Controversy surrounds Vietnam, get the facts. Half our nation was not born in the 1960’s and have no idea. Others who lived through the era may have fading recall. That’s why I write about Vietnam. We paid an enormous price.

The reason for these blogs? The purpose? So, the younger generation won’t repeat our mistakes. Santayana urged us to learn the lessons of history or be doomed to repeat it.

It irks me when I read ‘historical accounts’ that are so obviously bias to fit an agenda or ‘group think’ mantras.  George Orwell warned us about revisionist history: “Those who control the present, control the past…Those who control the past, control the future. (1984)

Think about that profound observation for a moment…How our opinions are formed.

Vietnam fell subject to that observation. Beware of ‘mind control’ propaganda. The media shaped public opinion over fifty years ago and influenced public policy and the outcome of the war. Our military did not lose the war, our politicians lost it with lack of leadership and a sound strategy to win once we became involved. I’m sure some will accuse me of bias and revisionist history despite my efforts for a fair accounting of that divisive episode in American history.

If you really want to wade into the complicated history read, RECALL, my historical narrative.

Comments welcome, if civil and factual. The subject of Vietnam is still controversial and raises shackles. Let me know what you think. I’m still learning what happened over there and here back then. Maybe you can teach me something I did not know.