Obama says Vietnam was a misunderstanding, >>mod edit<<

Ho Chi Minh's political career began in France, years before he went to Russia. He was a founding member of the French Communist Party and the Communist Party of Indochina.

He had to secretly disguised himself to sneak out of France as there was a 'bounty' on his head. He 'bounced' around various countries until making his way to Russia on a ship working as a kitchen hand.

I'm reading a book at the moment - Vietnam:The Australian War by Paul Ham. It goes into quite a bit of detail about Ho Chi Minh (a name he gave himself , born Nguyen Sinh Cung) and the history behind the Second Indochina War. By the author, the years of the French occupation set the stage for Vietnamese nationalism. The French bled Vietnam dry and sucked all the goodness out of the country, giving nothing in return.

Another interesting character is Ngo Dinh Diem, the first president of South Vietnam. When Vietnam was divided, a period where people could choose where they wanted to live was granted. 600,000 (some estimate 750,000) Catholics went into South Vietnam. Diem himself was devout Catholic. Land was confiscated from non-Catholic farmers and given to Catholics who then became the landlords. Due to increase in taxes, these landlords raised rents so high, farmers moved off the land that they had been farming for generations,, instant famine. The south wasn't squeaky clean also. 25,000 (some say up to 50,000) South Vietnamese were killed or disappeared, mainly Communist sympathisers, political opponents and non-Catholics, brought about Diem's death squads and thugs. A few hundred thousand South Vietnamese also died of starvation and related illness due to Diem's policies.

Diem became so corrupt and self serving, he and his brother were assassinated under the watchful eyes of the CIA. Ho Chi Minh at that time still lived a very much frugal life.

A work collegue of my wife has a photo (I've seen it) of her great grandfather sitting having tea with Uncle Ho, Vo Nguyen Giap and Kaysone Phomvihane ( the Pathet Lao leader). Her great grand father became the third president of Laos. He was also Kaysone's right hand man during the Lao Civil War.

 

A lot of non christian South Vietnamese had to beg in the Street because Diem confiscated land from non catholics and gave it to catholics....

 

You should not punish millions of ordinary and innocent Vietnamese Catholics because you don't like Diem.

Or maybe its because communists just hate Catholics which dates back to the days of their messiah Karl Marx.

 

And ALL the Democrats volunteered for combat duty? Let's see Bush served in the military and in a unit that served in Viet Nam, guess you didn't know his ANG unit was doing a tour in Viet Nam when he volunteered. He also volunteered fro one of the more dangerous jobs, flying all weather super-sonic interceptors in one of the most dangers planes flying at the time, the delta wing single engine F-102. Let's hear about Clinton's service. Or about how dangerous it was when Gore was typing on his typewriter.

BTW volunteering for Viet Nam service was not something the vast majority of American males of that age did, it was a cluster F*** after LBJ took over and everyone knew it. I would put it to you that if we limit elective office to only those who did the Democrats would have a far harder time finding candidates to run than the Republicans.

 

A more intellectually bankrupt statement I can hardly remember, have you ever even read the Constitution and of the freedoms and liberties of which it speaks? If so can you explain the communist parts of it and where the justification for the mass murder of hundreds of thousands of his own people because they supported liberty and freedom is located.

 

The war was a misunderstanding. It was the mistaken assumption by the US government that they could contain communism through warfare.

Now the peoples republic of America has a kinship with Vietnam. That is understandable.

 

Fine....

Can you explain which one of Ho Chi Minhs communist policies where inspired by the constitutions limited government and personal liberty?

I mean was it Ho Chi Minhs mass murder ?
Was it government confiscation of personal property that was inspired by the constitution?

 

lizarddust is just repeating what libs are taught to believe by the lib educators and the lib media.

They really think Ho Chi Minh was a good guy and Jefferson was a monster.

 

So you think this is all part of Obamas fundamental transformation of America?

 

It doesn't seem to have been a mistaken assumption.

The old Soviet Union that once threatened America is no more.

 

Yes as Vietnam slowly moves towards a capitalist system and sheds the old failed communist system.

 

So why is obama praising the roots communist system, and telling lies about how the communists are inspired by the US constitution?

 

Holy bat(*)(*)(*)(*) crazy, batman...

 

Which part of my posts did I get from a lib (whatever this is) education and lib???? media?

I don't think Ho Chi Minh was a good guy,, infact he along with Giap, were mongrels. As was Diem. But I can look at both sides of the argument objectively, unlike some people.

Jefferson who?

 

My apology.

I should have identified a lib named lifeguide2010 instead of you.

 

And where were George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and Rush Limbaugh?

 

Bush was in the Air National Guard, Cheney had a legal deferment and so did Limbaugh.

None of them were draft dodgers like Bill Clinton.

 

Did they claim vietnam was just a misunderstanding and communists get inspired by the US constitution?

 

Bush never went to nam, and according to his drill sergeant, he had the worst attendance record of anyone on the base.

 

Did Bush ever claim vietnam was just a misunderstanding, and communists get inspired by the US constitution?

 

And it would have collapsed even if we hadn't been running all over the place propping up non communist dictators. It was a flawed state.

 

^^^ This. Mihn, like Genghis Khan was a monster, but I can still look at his achievements and what he did to get to the top with some measure of respect and understanding.

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Nah. He get us into a war over a misunderstanding though.

 

K, Was Libya, Syria, and Yemen a misunderstanding too?

 

I would hardly call those wars. As far as our involvement goes.

And even if they were, I would sure love it if Bush had gotten us in and out of his wars without losing a single man and dicking around in the sand for a decade.

 

Sez who?

It was Western resistance to the Soviet Union from Harry Truman to Ronald Reagan that put pressure on the system and caused it to implode.

And no thanks to liberals who by the 1980's had lost their nerve and wanted the West to surrender to the Soviets.