PBS's "The Vietnam War"

[8991XJ]

Interesting that the footage is fairly clean without the actual brutality except for the well known killing Loan. They had to select footage carefully to get the tone they were looking for and did a nice job of making the documentary watchable by a larger group of folks that would tune out if there was more killings shown. We all know that happened and there are some results with bodies and such.

The Jan-Jul 68 was a rough period for sure with the Tet Offensive and the loss of MLK and RFK. I had not realized those were all the same 6 month period.

 

[laatsch55]

WOW, another powerful episode.......more corruption, more lying, and the Nixon story....what did Kissinger say...." We'll not make the same mistakes, we'll make our own.....yeah, no shit Sherlock....

 

[Gepetto]

WOW, another powerful episode.......more corruption, more lying, and the Nixon story....what did Kissinger say...." We'll not make the same mistakes, we'll make our own.....yeah, no shit Sherlock....

The jury is out for me.

 

[8991XJ]

What is amazing is the amount of money the US public pays to prosecute these wars against an enemy that has nothing and eventually seems to be able to overcome. In Vietnam the north had more to win, unification, than the US did. I wonder what the true percentage of those in the south really wanted to remain a separate country from the north. I would think that number would only include the those in the know of the differences under the other government, not the peasants in the country.

What would the US look like if we had spend all the war money from Vietnam in the US, lowering taxes, improving infrastructure or whatever.

 

[Gepetto]

What is amazing is the amount of money the US public pays to prosecute these wars against an enemy that has nothing and eventually seems to be able to overcome. In Vietnam the north had more to win, unification, than the US did. I wonder what the true percentage of those in the south really wanted to remain a separate country from the north. I would think that number would only include the those in the know of the differences under the other government, not the peasants in the country.

What would the US look like if we had spend all the war money from Vietnam in the US, lowering taxes, improving infrastructure or whatever.

For me, this documentary only discusses/discloses the motives and shortcomings and corruption of the US and South Vietnam. It lionizes several figures from the North and disparages those from the South or US. Certainly there was equivalence on the northern side in terms of badness. That does not come through. Lopsided.

 

[8991XJ]

Certainly there was equivalence on the northern side in terms of badness. That does not come through. Lopsided.

I don't know. Never seen war documentaries from the other side. I just know we lose a lot of money and materiel when we go to war. Like that billion in c-notes that disappeared in Iraq. We go to war with all the equipment. Many of the countries we have gone against weren't quite as lavishly equipped. But if we go to war we should go to win and having the good stuff helps.

 

[Gepetto]

I don't know. Never seen war documentaries from the other side. I just know we lose a lot of money and materiel when we go to war. Like that billion in c-notes that disappeared in Iraq. We go to war with all the equipment. Many of the countries we have gone against weren't quite as lavishly equipped. But if we go to war we should go to win and having the good stuff helps.

Agree, if you are going in, then win. And win fast, win decisively.

If this same team did a documentary on our war with Japan in WW2, it would show all the atrocities of the 2 atomic bombs we unleashed on them and none of the outright savagery of the Japanese in every theater in Asia. (for a good read, read O'Reilly's Killing of the Rising Sun, the Japanese atrocities are spelled out in detail)

The North Vietnamese were just as brutal and this does not come through in this documentary.

That lady that drove trucks for the north down the Ho Chi Minh trail that they featured last night was almost a saint in the eyes of these documentarians, the way they portrayed her.

It was a screwed up war, no doubt, and a lot of turmoil in the US at the same time. Most of us here grew up through that era. We did a lot of things wrong for sure. But so did the Viet Cong.

Nevertheless, a good watch. Enjoying it better than watching all the hubbub over the NFL.

 

[orange]

We still rinsed and repeated with Afghanistan.

 

[Gepetto]

We still rinsed and repeated with Afghanistan.

sometimes you just keep things on slow simmer to be able to keep fighting assets in region and ready. Unfortunately we turned off that simmer in Iraq and unleashed Iran and Syria as a result

 

[8991XJ]

sometimes you just keep things on slow simmer to be able to keep fighting assets in region and ready. Unfortunately we turned off that simmer in Iraq and unleashed Iran and Syria as a result

Shoulda left SeDamn in charge of keeping Iraq in control.

 

[orange]

I have classmates and friends who served in Desert Storm and we don't necessarily agree. Assad has been playing catch up for years to what the Bathists and Hussein were up to.

Mind you that Ming The Merciless was still better and Stalin/Hitler shared number 1 on the S--- Parade.