Clipmarks | Vietnam ClipsMcCain worked hardest against POW/CIA issue Why..?clipped by: TJColatrellaclippers remarks: Why what did McCain have to hide...? "Songbird" was his nick name while a POW..! [Video] Tags: mccain, pow/mia, vietnam, hanoi hilton, president, collaboration with the enemy, north vietnam McCain?s Warped Worldviewclipped by: katsteevnsMcCain?s Warped WorldviewPosted on Aug 19, 2008The world according to John McCain is one in which America is triumphant at home and abroad thanks to the Bush legacy, rolling to victory internationally and mastering its domestic economic problems. If daily news, like reports of the 10 French soldiers killed by a resurgent Taliban in Afghanistan and the U.S. government?s imminent nationalization of much of the American mortgage-lending industry, would seem to deny such a rosy scenario, then that only shows skeptics lack the courage that sustained McCain as a prisoner of war in Vietnam.  Republican presidential candidate John McCain stands in front of an A-4 Skyhawk fighter as he is introduced at a rally at the Virginia Aviation Museum in Richmond in February. McCain was flying such a craft when he was shot down during the Vietnam War. Cold-war snapshotclipped by: JayologySource: War Since 1945, by Jeremy Black; CNN; The Cold War, by John Lewis Gaddis. Compiled by Corinne Chronopoulos. 1991: After a failed coup against Gorbachev by communist hard-liners, the USSR collapses. 1989: Berlin Wall falls. 1979: The USSR invades Afghanistan. The US funds jihadists to drive them out. The Soviets leave in 1988. 1965: Vietnam War: The US enters the Vietnam War to prevent the spread of communist control to South Vietnam. 1962 US spots Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba. Kennedy orders a naval blockade. After tense negotiations, the Cuban missile crisis is defused. 1961: Communist East Germany erects Berlin Wall to prevent travel westward. 1950: Communist N. Korea invades S. Korea; the US enters the Korean War. Cold-war snapshot 1948: The US and Britain airlift supplies into a Berlin blockaded by the USSR. 1947: Truman pledges US support to any country threatened by communism. John McCain Needs to Lay Off the POW Talkclipped by: cptenaudclippers remarks: The fact is, John McCains service during Vietnam was honorable and he sacrificed a great deal. But his service to the country carries no more weight than that of any other POW. Likewise, while McCain has given so much to his country, thousands of veterans--past and present--have given as much or more. In this war alone, thousands of troops have lost limbs, been paralyzed, and been burned beyond recognition. So to see McCain resort to playing the POW card when answering legitimate questions, in my mind, cheapens that experience. And by cheapening his own experience in war, he degrades all of our experiences in war. He turns the horrific incidents weve all seen, touched, smelled, and felt into a lame excuse to earn political points. And it dishonors us all. And while Spencer Ackerman is not a veteran himself, I think he sums up what many combat vets are feeling today after hearing the campaigns statement: by: Brandon FriedmanThu Aug 21, 2008 When John McCain revealed that he didnt know how many houses he and his wife currently own (they have at least eight properties), the Obama campaign pounced. They accused him of being elitist and disconnected and launched an ad within hours. The McCain campaign--realizing this was trouble--retorted the only way they knew how: With a truly stupefying response from McCain spokesman Brian Rogers: "This is a guy who lived in one house for five and a half years -- in prison," referring to the prisoner of war camp that McCain was in during the Vietnam War. Yes, you read that right. McCain justified not knowing how many houses he has by saying he was a POW in Vietnam, four decades ago. I have some things to say about this: 1. Being a POW is not an excuse for everything. The bottom line is that were sick of hearing about this as a justification for everything John McCain does or doesnt do. This instance is only the latest example, as others have noted. Film Reveals CIAs Most Secret Place on Earthclipped by: papananookclippers remarks: This films analysis sets it apart from other books and documentaries on the subject, most of which justify the conflict, lauding the CIA operatives and their Air America pilots as heroes. The reality, as Alfred McCoy says towards the end of the film, was very different. "We destroyed a whole civilisation, we wiped it off the map. We incinerated, atomised human remains in this air war and what happened in the end? We lost." The covert nature of the conflict meant that U.S. forces were able to ignore virtually all the rules of engagement operating in Vietnam. Every building was a potential target and the civilian toll was huge. The situation grew worse in 1970 when U.S. President Nixon authorised massive B-52 bombing strikes on Laos, which remained classified information until many years later. American planes dropped an average of one planeload of bombs on targets in Laos every eight minutes, 24 hours a day for nine years, making it the most heavily bombed country on earth ![[A view of Long Chen. The most secret location in the secret war against Laos was the former CIA air base of Long Chen, a place that remain off limits even today. ]](http://www.commondreams.org/files/article_images/longchen.jpg "longchen.jpg") A view of Long Chen. The most secret location in the secret war against Laos was the former CIA air base of Long Chen, a place that remain off limits even today. PHNOM PENH - It was known as the ?secret war, a covert operation waged by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) throughout the sixties and early seventies against communist guerrillas in Laos. A new film, ?The Most Secret Place on Earth, to be released in cinemas across Europe later this year, explores this little known conflict. "I first got the idea to do the film when I visited the Plain of Jars in Laos in 2002," recalled Marc Eberle,36, the German director in an interview with IPS. Little is known about the Lao conflict despite the fact that it remains the largest and most expensive paramilitary operation ever run by the U.S. "Laos was the progenitor of the way America fights wars in the 21st century," he says. Für die Inhalte dieses Feeds ist alleine der jeweilige Autor/Anbieter verantwortlich. Die Inhalte stellen nicht die Meinung von EasyRSS dar. Dies ist eine automatisch generierte E-Mail. Bitte antworten Sie nicht auf diese E-Mail. 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2008/08/23
EasyRSS: Clipmarks | Vietnam Clips
