Longish excerpt -- fiction drawn from events; "They lie to us." -- World Conspiracies

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Monday, October 06, 06:54:51pm EDT [ Login ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, [2] ]

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Date Posted: 15:55:45 10/03/01 Wed
Author: Oberon
Subject: Longish excerpt -- fiction drawn from events; "They lie to us."

"Do they teach anything about the war?"

The transition nearly gave Vince mental whiplash. "The high points, I guess."

"Then I'm sure the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was mentioned."

Vince dredged a memory out of high school. "I know the name."

"The 2nd of August, 1964, the destroyer Maddox was attacked by three North Vietnamese PT boats, thirty miles off the coast. Two days later, sixty-five miles out, the Maddox and the Turner Joy were attacked again.

"That day, the 4th, President Johnson denounced the attacks as 'without provocation.' He promised reprisals, and announced that U.S. warplanes had been ordered to bomb North Vietnam.

"Congress passed emergency legislation three days later, the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, authorizing Johnson to 'take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression.' He was able to fight a war without the messy legalities of actually declaring one.

"With these powers, Johnson launched the longest war in American history. At that point there had been twelve American advisor casualties." Ian ground the cigarette out, and toyed with another before lighting it.

"Sounds heroic and righteous. Too bad it was a lie.

"On the 2nd, according to the log of the Maddox, the ship was no more than ten miles off the coast, providing cover for South Vietnamese gunboats manned by CIA crews. The gunboats were attacking NV radar stations in the gulf. The log shows that the Maddox fired first, while the PT boats were six miles away.

"There is no certainty that the second attack happened at all. The captain of the Maddox wrote, 'no actual sightings by Maddox.' And a Navy pilot saw only the ship firing at an empty sea. Johnson himself said, 'those dumb sailors were just shooting flying fish.'

"On top of it all, the resolution, supposedly drafted in response to the first attack, had actually been written by Assistant Secretary of State William Bundy three months before the incident occurred.

"It was manufactured to give Johnson's re-election campaign a push, give him a way to counter Goldwater's accusations that he was 'timid before Communism.'"

Vince drained his glass. "I don't think it was exactly put that way in school."

"The victors write the histories. Sometimes, so do the losers. Johnson won his election, but by 1968 he knew he had lost the war. All he could do was try to save the coming election for the Democrats.

"In the four years since Tonkin, American casualties had grown from a dozen to more than twenty-nine thousand.

"That June, Johnson proposed to halt the bombing of North Vietnam. It took several months before the North finally agreed to his terms. Peace talks were scheduled to begin November 2nd, just days before the election, but Saigon withdrew from negotiations in October.

"Nixon beat Humphrey with a margin of less than one percent. The war became his to win or lose. But it actually became his before the election was held."

Vince stared at his glass. It was emptier than it should have been, so early in the day. "What do you mean?"

"At a secret meeting in New York City in July, Nixon met with the South Vietnamese ambassador. He established regular communications between Ambassador Bui Diem and his campaign manager, John Mitchell, and other senior advisors. Promises were made that, if Nixon won, he would visit Saigon before the inauguration.

"The day after the election, South Vietnamese Vice President Nguyen Ky told the U.S. ambassador that it would be another two months, the balance of the Johnson administration, to resolve the 'problems.' But on the 25th of January 1969 -- just days after Nixon was sworn in -- President Thieu agreed to resume the peace talks.

"Clark Clifford phrased it more politely, but the bottom line is that the Republicans sabotaged the peace effort for the sole purpose of dethroning the Democrats. Nixon's war lasted another three years and twenty-nine thousand U.S. lives -- and perhaps a million Vietnamese.

"If not for Nixon, I wouldn't have had to go. If not for Johnson, my brother's wouldn't. If not for them both, we wouldn't have spent four hundred billion dollars and fifty-eight thousand U.S. service personnel."

Vince was grateful for the fresh pint. "I think I'm starting to see." He didn't sound convinced.

A third of Ian's Guinness was gone. "I'm not through.

"I spent sixteen years with a major chemical company, while I was married, while the girls were growing up. Its flagship product is a common food additive, something you probably use without knowing it. The additive is a byproduct of a U.S. Army contract to develop a chemical warfare agent . . . a nerve toxin. There is a direct correlation between it and increased incidents of MS and other neural disorders. It remains on the market.

"From the beginning of the Cold War, and continuing today, the politicians and generals in Washington have calculated how many American lives might be lost in a nuclear war. Numbers range from fifty to one hundred fifty million. They call this 'acceptable losses.' FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, is designed to see to it that the government continues, even if the people are dead.

"What happened to mass transit in the 1930's? Until then, trolley cars ran on electricity, like light rail now. Did the automobile manufactures deliberately buy them out and dismantle them to increase sales of cars and buses?

"Why did hemp become illegal in this country in 1937? Because of its potential misuse as a drug, or because the logging and paper industries were threatened by its usefulness for paper and cloth?

"Who knew the Japanese had targeted Pearl Harbor? Who killed JKF, RFK, and King? What was the true purpose of the Gulf War, and why is Hussein still in power, unless he serves a purpose for someone? Why and how did the CIA illegally recruit Nazis after the war? What do we really know about anything done in our names as citizens of the Republic?"

"Jesus Christ, Ian!"

"Jesus has nothing to do with anything you think you know, boy; not religion, not politics, not business."

"I was right. You are psychotic."

Ian laughed. "No, son. Perhaps if I believed I could do something about any of it, or if I was perpetually outraged and had to spend my days ranting down on the Mall.

"In a way, it may be worse. It's just what I expect now. Men persist in living down to my lowest expectations. It's disappointing." Ian stubbed out the cigarette.

"If you want to find the real psychopaths, look to the men with wealth and power, anyone with something to gain or lose. They will maintain what they have the same way they got it.

"They lie to us, son. Even when they don't need to. They've done it so long, they couldn't stop if they tried." He lifted a finger for Maggie; one more.

"Gotten to know me better?" he asked. He smiled.

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