Lessons of History

Today I received an e-mail from my friend George Mellinger of Veteran-American Voices, an author and historian.  His e-mail contained the links to 2 documentaries about Vietnam War, attempting to correct the misconceptions about that war and explain the role of the media during that war.  Apparently they are being posted on YouTube in pieces and also available for download in full.

The first documentary is called "Vietnam War - The Real Story":

Full 1-hour version is available for download here.

The second one is called "Vietnam War - The Impact of Media":

Full 1-hour version is available for download here.

So, why is the history of Vietnam War important now?  Because then, as now, our enemies used our Left and our leftist-dominated media to defeat us.  We need to learn from history in order to prevent this from happening again.  In conclusion, let me quote a journalist who participated in these documentaries, Robert Elegant.  He wrote an article entitled "How to lose a war".  Obviously, I highly recommend reading the whole thing.  The article is full of "money" quotes.  But here is the conclusion:

...As long as the "Viet Nam Syndrome" afflicts the media, it seems to me that it will be virtually impossible for the West to conduct an effective foreign policy. It is apparently irrelevant that the expectations of paradise after Hanoi's victory evoked by "the critics of the American war" became the purgatory the Indochinese people have suffered. Just as many denizens of the antebellum American South did not know that "Damyankee" was really two words, an entire generation in Europe and the United States behaves as if "the dirty, immoral war in Viet Nam" were an irrefutable and inseparable dogma. Merely equate El Salvador (or any other American intervention) to Viet Nam — and not only the American public but all "liberal" Europeans will condemn it without reservation. That is all they need to know. In its final effect — what has over the last decade been called "the paralysis of political will "— it will make it especially difficult for the United States to honor any political commitment anywhere in the world where small and threatened nations may expect American support for their independent existence. Before they fall to an aggressor, they will have been victimized by "the Viet Nam Syndrome."

It has long appeared to me that the medical and legal professions enjoy one enormous advantage. If they err, doctors and lawyers may be blamed. Yet, except in the most flagrant cases, the client or the patient pays them again for correcting their mistakes — if they can, and if he can. But the media on Viet Nam, it has become blatantly obvious, have enjoyed even greater advantages. Even in the most flagrant cases, they have not been blamed. They have, rather, been acclaimed for their errors. Who can, ultimately, prove it otherwise? The peoples of the non-Communist world have paid dearly for these errors — and may well continue to pay.

Let's just hope that we can defeat that "Viet Nam Syndrome".

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