2006-03-27 - 11:19 a.m.
From Howard Zinn "The Impossible Victory: Vietnam
Vietnam was fromerly a French colony until Japan took it over. With Japan's defeat in 1945, france wanted to regain control of the area but found it difficult. The area was now swamped with Communits thought and a new leader Ho Chi Minh. Minh and the Communits drafted a new constitution borrowing heavily from the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen and from the American Declaration of Independence. Just as the Americans listed their grievances against the King, the Vietnamese retaliated against French rule. It even began the same. "all men are created equal. They are endowed by their creator with cerain unalienable rights, among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness."
Between Oct. 1945 and Feb. 1946 Ho Chi Minh wrote Truman eight letters, reminding him of the self-determination probmises of the Atlantic Charter. Truman never replied.
A key to the Vietnamese threat was "Domino Theory"- China had turned Communist in 1949. The U.S. started givin large amounts of aid to the French. By 1954 the U.S. had sent 300,000 small arms, for a total of 1 Billion dollars, financing 80% of the French efforts. The U.S. was worried that with Southeast Asia's large supplies of natural resources Rubber, tin petroleum, rice that other countries like Japan, Indonesia and Malaya would find it harder to resist the newly communist crafted economic states.
In 1954, the French had been unable to win over Vietnam's populace who were overwhelmingly in support of Ho Chi Minh.
It was agreed by an international assemblage at Geneva that the French would withdraw into S. Vietnam. They also agreed that in two years a unified Vietnam would be able to choose their own government.
It leaves me with the question why was an international assemblage given the power to design these circumstances in the first place?
The U.S. quickly acted to disrupt the unification process and to establish S. Vietnam as an American sphere.
Ngo Dinh Diem, who had lived in New Jersey was given power over the government in Saigan. The "free-election" in two years was from early on destined by U.S. planners to never take place. A Joint Chiefs of Staff meeting discussed the problems that a unified Vietnam would have for the U.S. A major concern was the loss of associated states Laos, Cambodia etc. to Communist control.
Diem repeatedly blocked the elections and was given American money, arms so that his government could become more firmly established but trouble was brewing. The NLF (National Liberation Front) was firmly established in the peasan population throghout S. Vietnam. The NLF was primarily a social organization and only secondly a war group. By 1962 NLF membership was estimated at 300,000. Other trouble was Diem was alienated form the group he was supposedly representing. He was a Catholic in a mostly Buddhist country. Diem was imprisoning increasing numbers of people which was driving even more into the hands of the NLF.
Oppostion to Diem grew out of peasants in the country and by 1958 guerilla activities were initiated initiated against the U.S. established government.
When Kennedy took office in 1961 he continued policies set by Truman and Ike and then approved a secret plan for military operation in Vietnam and Laos.
Under the Geneva Accords, the U.S. was permitted to have 685 military advisors in S. Vietnam. Ike secretly sent several thousand and under Kennedy the number rose to 16,000.
Diem was proving to be more problem than solution and so the U.S. decided that his time was up.
Vietnamese gerneral began working with CIA agents to overthrow Diem. American Ambassador to Vietnam Henry Cabot Lodge was enthusiastic of the coup. He worked with General Van Don to overthrow Diem. Diem was never informed of the plans. On November 1st 1963, generals attacked the presidential palace, Diem phoned Ambassador Lodge and Lodge lied to Diem saying he knew nothing of what was taking place. Diem and his brother tried to flee, were captured, driven out into the country in the back of a truck and executed.
Three weeks after Diem was killed, Kennedy was assassinated.
Early August 1964- Gulf of Tonkin incident. A reason was required to incite the U.S. public passion in order to escalate military expenditures. Johnson and Defense Secretary Robert McNamara told the public that there had been an attack in the GUlf of Tonkin. McNamara said "While on routine patrol in international waters the U.S. destroyer Maddox underwent an unprovoked attack. He said North Vietnamese torpedo boats were the culprits.
Of course the whole GUlf of Tonkin episode was a complete fake. Outside of Howard Zinn and my parents, I've never found this mentioned in a high-school or general college history textbook. The movie called "Why we Fight" is supposed to mention it.
Chomsky has pointed out that if the war was against N. Vietnam, then why were over 80% of the bombs dropped over S. Vietnam. Chomsky says this is the unmentionable. The thing you cannot dare say. That really the war was all along a war intent on destroying S. Vietnam society.
Chomsky mentions the extent of our intent on not only destroying S. Vietnam but making sure it remained in economic stagnation. When India offered to send 100 Water Buffalo to help replenish the dwindling herds, as Water Buffalo were the peasants chief means of earning a living, used for farming etcs, that the United States threated to cancel India's Food for Peace program if they went through with it.
