(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
Of yes
OrienteringMarch 1971
The American newspaper has brought a Pentagon report showing how the United States got involved in the war in Indochina and how the political leaders from President Truman to President Nixon deliberately led Congress and American public opinion behind the light. The government is frantically trying to ban printing. Courts and courts of appeal affirm and reverse judgments on a daily basis. It is flammable and dangerous material for those in power. And above all, it is revealing of their political morals.
The report was prepared by the Pentagon in 1967-68. Between 30 and 40 authors presented a 10.000-page document. When we disregard the myriad lies and concealments that are revealed if one compares the report with the promises and statements made by US presidents from Truman to Nixon, a clear pattern emerges in the development of American warfare.
This is how the United States came to Vietnam
The moment President Truman decided to support the French militarily against the Viet Minh movement, the United States was in fact involved in the Vietnam War. And this fact became the guiding principle of American Vietnam policy. Under Eisenhower, the final decision was made to give all support to the puppet regime in Saigon and actively work to control the DRV. The decision was made. The Geneva agreement was to be broken down.
Kennedy pursued this policy. And he expanded the war. The objectives were more clearly defined during the Kennedy administration. Vietnam developed into a matter of prestige and at the same time into a test field for military policy.
When Johnson took over, he was faced with the choice of phasing out or pursuing this policy, there was no middle ground. And Johnson extended the war further. All in the spring of 1961, well before the presidential election, he made plans for full warfare. This happened before he in the election campaign sharply attacked his opponent Barry Goldwater as war incitement and a whole year for the public became aware of the magnitude of the warfare and the desperate political situation.
But the report is not just about cold and cynical planning. We also read about military madness. Intelligence reports said in advance that the FNLS force was not due to support from Hanoi and that the bombing war against North Vietnam would not yield results. Nevertheless, the terrorist bombing was set in motion. It resulted in torture and destruction for the people of Vietnam, but did not bring US military benefits.
Along with the large-scale military aid to France around 1950 followed sabotage and terrorist attacks against North Vietnam. These increased in 1954.
At the same time, the military charge continued, the Tonkin Bay resolution passed by the Senate without knowledge of what was really going on and the gradual processing of public opinion so that it could accept full war. It was the fabricated Tonkinbukt episode that made the elected representatives slip.
The liars of the Pentagon and Washington have thus been able to commit the most bestial war crimes the world knows to date.
The truth about Tonkin is told in the Pentagon report. Military operations were launched against North Vietnam in February 1964. In March of that year, Secretary of Defense McNamara called for tougher military action against North Vietnam. President Johnson accepted this. In April, new plans for action against the north were drawn up and at the military headquarters, 94 targets were prepared for bomb attacks.
In May 1964, in a private conversation with US Ambassador Lodge, General Khanh asked for a US declaration of war against North Vietnam. The president's military adviser Bundy recommends increased military pressure on North Vietnam, which includes a full-blown war. He adds that the president must somehow obtain the approval of Congress. In June, an emergency meeting will be held in Honolulu. The situation is precarious for the Americans on the battlefield. Johnson still refuses to ask Congress for a power of attorney to declare war.
Deliberate charging towards the Tonkin episode
In July, North Vietnamese territory is attacked by South Vietnamese vessels. The Pentagon report cites this episode as part of the military program. And in August, the intelligence vessel Maddox enters North Vietnamese waters. This clear provocation leads to open struggle. Torpedo boats assist Maddox during the cruise.
It was this episode that led Congress to accept the "Tonkin Bay Resolution." And less than 12 hours after the fighting in the Gulf of Tonkin, B-52 planes bomb pre-designated bomb targets in North Vietnam. It was called a retaliation. In the United States, the incident is portrayed as hostile aggression, and at the military headquarters, the generals can happily register that the reaction from American public opinion is positive.
This is the external framework around the United States' growing military activity in Vietnam. But the political and military leadership in the United States also faced problems of a more tangible nature. FNL has its strongest support in the countryside. This is also where the recruitment takes place. It was vital for the United States to find a countermeasure against this. The setback was the "strategic villages".
Professor Eugene Stanley, an economist, led a delegation to Saigon in the summer of 1981. After the visit, he recommended isolating people in rural South Vietnam in guarded cities. These were called strategic villages. And Kennedy accepted. The migration began in 1962, and by the autumn of 1963, around 8 million people had been gathered in the "cities" which were in reality concentration camps. 80 percent of the population in South Vietnam was eventually interned. The argument made for "strategic cities" was in itself contradictory. It was claimed that the infiltration from the north was the biggest danger, but at the same time the population in the south was barred from pacifying it.
The intelligence report was ignored
The Pentagon report clearly states that the US intelligence service informed Washington that it was in South Vietnam that the guerrillas were recruited and had their real strength. At that time there was no infiltration and no remote control from Moscow or Beijing. It was simply a struggle for national self-determination. But both Kennedy and Johnson ignored such reports. It is revealing that the Pentagon report shows that the United States' leading politicians in private conversations admitted that it was the American interests that the fight was about. South Vietnam was and became a subordinate issue.
Secretary of Defense McNamara openly admits that Vietnam was an exercise. It was so necessary to crush the popular uprising in South Vietnam to prevent others from liberating themselves. At the same time as the United States landed sabotage groups in North Vietnam (1964) and fired on the coast of North Vietnam from aircraft carriers and captured North Vietnamese civilians, the bombing raids on Laos also increased in intensity and scope. And the Tonkin Bay resolution now passed by Congress gave the president enormous power. In reality, he had free rein to do whatever he saw fit to "prevent further aggression." It was the president who defined what was aggression.
The United States had not had a declaration of war, but the president had authorized him to be a warrior. And he gained full control of the military forces (with the blessing of the generals) by means of repeated lies. The attacks on North Vietnam and Laos were already underway when Johnson condemned Goldwater's demands for intensive bombing of North Vietnam. And the events in Tonkin Bay were passed on to the public in the form the government wanted. The opinion was going to get a shock – and it got it. Bold types on the front pages of newspapers told of aggression from the enemy. The bombings immediately met with understanding.
Revealing details in the report
This is just a rough sketch of the contents of the Pentagon report. It is a total of 10.000 pages. What has been published so far is packed with details that confirm the main impression: From 1950 until today, the political leaders in collaboration with the military and intelligence services have managed to obscure the truth for politicians and large sections of American public opinion.
The liars of the Pentagon and Washington have thus been able to commit the most bestial war crimes the world knows to date. And when the truth comes out, they try to gag them with the help of courts they themselves should have been confronted with. But the United States in 1971 does not convict criminals. It is the free word that must be repressed again so that the crimes can continue.
Pictured: An image that helped to arouse public opinion. Saigon's police chief kills FNL prisoner in open street during Tet offensive. (Photo: Eddie Adams)
