Saturday, 20 January 2007
 

Man the Barricades!
Contributed by Zero Ponsdorf

H/T FR

An event occurred earlier this month that nearly fell through the cracks.

Four armed Guardsmen from Tennessee were surrounded by six to eight men carrying automatic weapons during an encounter on Jan. 3 east of Sasabe.

[...]

Chris Simcox, president of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps said he was surprised that the government accounts match the the description Minuteman volunteers heard from the Guardsmen involved.

Usually, government-issued reports bear little resemblance to what actually happened, he said. 

"I'm impressed," said Simcox, who had not seen the accounts before Friday. "For the first time in a long time, they did something right."

At the same time, the reports expose the danger of putting the National Guard on visible posts with orders to avoid confrontation, he said.

"They are standing out there just basically being targets," Simcox said. "They could be wiped in a second by a group walking up on them. Ultimately, it's going to lead to a bad situation.

[...]

No changes have been made in light of the incident, Soto and Aguirre said.

Guardsmen working these observation posts receive special training, and many have been in Iraq or Afghanistan, Aguirre said. They will continue to follow protocol established for the mission, said Maj. Aguirre, which means: "If they feel physically threatened, they will react accordingly," he said.

If they were shot at, they would shoot back, he said. 

Napolitano is pleased with how the Guard handled the encounter, her spokeswoman said. She and Rataczak are continually analyzing the danger the troops face but are confident they can handle whatever comes at them, L'Ecuyer said.

"It's not something they ask for," she said. "But, it's something they train for."

Read the Rest

So the U.S. was invaded by an armed group, this group did as it pleased, the NG withdrew.

If an armed person comes into your home, takes a tour, and no one is injured it's a non-event?

The way this works in my head is that the armed group could have been gang members or even on the way to Tuscon to rob a bank. They weren't downtrodden migrant workers!

If an armed person or group walks through my door unannounced I'm going to do what ever I can to neutralize them and call the cops. 

I gotta believe that there is something wrong with this picture.

***

[-- I accidentally added something to this post that I intended to put here, then caught my mistake and moved it -- Bill Faith --]

Contributed by Zero Ponsdorf on January 20, 2007 at 11:56 AM in Current Affairs, Remember the Alamo, Whitewash/Blackwash, Zero Ponsdorf | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Sunday, 03 September 2006
 

When someone asks you ...
Contributed by Bill Faith

When someone asks you why in hell we went to interfere in a civil war on the other side of the world, and how it was we then lost the war to a bunch of little guys in black pajamas, what do you tell them?  If the right explanation doesn't come to your lips right away and they make you feel defensive and uncomfortable, then reading this little book will help you a lot.

When someone says that not learning the lessons of Viet Nam, about how wrong and stupid it is for the US to try to be an imperialist power, and how immoral action always leads to defeat and disgrace, and you are not sure just how to formulate some kind of response, then reading this little book will give you a clearer picture of the real history, in simple terms you can explain to others.

When you hear or read a diatribe about how the US military lost its soul in Viet Nam, committing atrocities as a matter of course, and how it was mostly the innocent citizens and peasants of the countryside who were the victims of American might, and you wish you could effectively counter such talk, then you will find in this little book the facts you need.

When someone blathers on about how wonderful things are in Viet Nam today, and how proud the antiwar people can be who got us out of there so that national reunification and peace and justice could come to pass, do you wonder if they are right after all?  Then the details of the actual effects of the fall of Saigon will interest you, as well as what goes on in Viet Nam today.

Have you wondered about the many hundreds of books and articles now listed on the Net about Viet Nam and the war, which are worth reading, which are mistaken, inaccurate, or biased?  The reading list provided in this little book covers every aspect of the war, with books and authors whose reviews and qualifications are outstanding.  The list of websites where many volumes of information can be found is also splendid.

-- R J Del Vecchio

I'll may try, eventually, to write my own long thoughtful piece on why you should own a copy of Whitewash/Blackwash. On the other hand, I never claimed to be one of the world's great writers. For now I'll settle for "I read it. I learned from it. You will too." Click here to learn more.

Contributed by Bill Faith on September 3, 2006 at 10:02 PM in Bill Faith, R J Del Vecchio, The American Warrior, Viet Nam, Whitewash/Blackwash | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Tuesday, 29 August 2006
 

In my mailbox this afternoon:
Whitewash/Blackwash: Myths of the Viet Nam War
Contributed by Bill Faith

See my previous post here to understand how much that title means to me.  I don't have a really good place to sit and read dead-tree stuff -- my back and my eyes both give me fits after a while -- but I'll find a way to get it read within the next two or three days.  I spent enough time reading randomly chosen pages this afternoon to know it's just as good as I expected it to be. Rather than me trying to go into more detail now I'll just show you a picture of the preface page:

Contributed by Bill Faith on August 29, 2006 at 08:03 PM in Bill Faith, Media Perfidy, Peacenik Stupidity, R J Del Vecchio, The American Warrior, Whitewash/Blackwash | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Monday, 28 August 2006
 

Whitewash/Blackwash: Myths of the Viet Nam War
Contributed by Bill Faith

If you haven't read this post yet please read it before continuing. While you're at it read this Intellectual Conservative review. I'll wait.

... Back? Good.

Lest anyone be surprised at the number of OWD posts you're going to see on this subject in the coming days and weeks, a couple of relevant facts:

1) All four Founding Dogs are Viet Nam combat veterans. I'm the only one of the four who's never been under direct fire. (I did dodge enough "Chinese fireworks" to last me a lifetime but I didn't die.) We got to know each other due to our shared hatred for John Kerry, whom we've never forgiven, nor will we, for returning from a brief visit to Nam to launch a political career based on slandering our troops.

2). Of the remaining Dogs, four more are also Viet Nam veterans, as are some others who stay in touch but haven't accepted keys to the site yet. 

To put it simply using terms I picked up from Del "This book is about what we're about." There's nothing this Old Dog would like more than to see a copy of Del's book on every bookshelf in America. I'll do my best to make that happen. The day I win the lottery I'll buy enough copies to go around.

Keith, Barry, Scotty, this one's for you. And yes, Barry, I'm still embarrassed. I'm here and you're not. I haven't forgotten. Sgt Vanh, Lt Minh, Xuan, Kiemoi, I try not to even wonder what happened to you, but it doesn't always work.

Del's made it about as easy as a man can to get copies of his book. The "list" price is $9.95, but you can order it by mail for $8.00, S&H included, discounted as low as $5.50 if you buy enough copies. (Email Del for details.) For schools and bookstores it's $5.00. For teachers, libraries, USOs and Vet Centers it's free, as in $0.00. (Damn it, Del, at that rate you're going to make about as much money off your book as we make off this blog!)

Del's promised me code for a PayPal button but in the mean time to get your copy you'll need to email him (techconsultserv@juno.com) for his address and mail him a check.

I have a copy of Whitewash/Blackwash on the way, as do George Mellinger and John Werntz. Watch for the reviews. Watch for me to remind you about the book every few days just because I feel like it.

A question for the Dogs: Who's going to do the first post pointing out all the parallels between the way the MSM misreported the Viet Nam war and the way they're continuing down the same path today? Just askin'. ... At least back then they didn't have Fauxtoshop.

UPDATE

Those of you who prefer to save time by paying electronically may do so using the button below. It's programmed with a fixed price of $9.95 but it's the best I can do for now. To get the "direct mail" price or any of the discounts mentioned above you'll still need to email Del and send him a check.

Contributed by Bill Faith on August 28, 2006 at 10:23 PM in Bill Faith, R J Del Vecchio, The American Warrior, Whitewash/Blackwash | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBack

Friday, 25 August 2006
 

Re: Countering Vietnam Misconceptions by Photography
Contributed by Bill Faith

Steve, thank you for an excellent post and for taking the first step toward establishing a valued friendship and good working relationship between Old War Dogs and R J Del Vecchio. Del has declined, at least for now, my offer of a key to the site but we'll definitely be staying in touch. In his words "You're about what I'm about." Just a quick hint of something you'll be hearing more about later:

Whitewash / Blackwash: Myths of the Viet Nam War

Excerpt -- Myth #8: Media coverage of the war was balanced and accurate and contributed to development of appropriate US policies

However, the overriding effect of the Tet offensive in the US was extremely damaging psychologically; at the least it convinced many people that the outcome of the conflict was in severe doubt, and at the worst it absolutely confirmed to many others that it was an unwinnable war, or that the US leadership had been deceiving people about the progress made, or both.

Perhaps the pivotal event of the time was a broadcast on February 27th by Walter Cronkite, the greatly respected dean of US newsmen, after his return from visiting the war zone. Although he had previously been at least tacitly supportive of the war, and been reasonably objective in his reporting, in the dramatic TV spot late that February he was strongly negative about what had happened and the general prospects for the future of the war. Some of his statements were clearly in error, he made some predictions that failed to come true, and he wound up declaring the war a "stalemate" that could only be settled by negotiation.

[Read the whole thing here. Seriously. You need to.]

Myths of Vietnam/Lessons for Iraq
By Jamie Glazov
FrontPageMagazine.com | September 14, 2005

[...]

FP: So what do you and the others involved in this booklet hope to accomplish overall?

Del Vecchio: The great mass of readily available information about Vietnam is riddled with inaccuracies, misstatements, and some outright falsehoods.  Yet it is more critically important today for people to understand the real history of that war than ever, and unless people look carefully among those sources of information to avoid those with major flaws, they cannot hope to glean good information as the basis for thinking about the war and its meaning. 

All we hope to accomplish in this booklet, which is written to be clear, concise and objective, is to help people see how many reefs there are in the river of information about Vietnam, and show them how to cruise that river to avoid those reefs.  It is still true that sincere, intelligent people may see the same valid data about the war and draw somewhat different conclusions, but if any of the biased and inaccurate information is absorbed, then chances of achieving real understanding become very low, and chances of arriving at a very flawed view of the war become high.  Those flawed views have damaged our country too long, and we cannot afford to indulge in them any longer.

[Read the whole thing here.]

To my knowledge there are three copies of Whitewash / Blackwash on the way to OWD members. Of the current "official" members of the pack 8 of us are Viet Nam vets, not to mention some invitees I haven't given up on yet. "Developing ... "

Contributed by Bill Faith on August 25, 2006 at 05:24 PM in Bill Faith, R J Del Vecchio, The American Warrior, Whitewash/Blackwash | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack