Hearts and Minds Page #6

We're taught that we're

to obey our government,

and I would have to go

if I was instructed to.

Once in a while, I think about it,

but I like to think about the things

that are happening right now to me.

I don't it's affected mine at all.

I don't even know who we're fighting for

over there, to be real honest with you.

I think we're fighting

for the North Vietnamese, ain't we?

I fled from Dau Tien

to go live in Suoi Dua.

Then I was allowed to go back,

and I went back...

and stayed in Ben Chua.

While I was in Ben Chua,

trouble broke out again.

So I was taken up to Co Tach.

I was picked up again

and sent to Ben Chua...

to be lumped together

with the others.

My house burned down

while I was away.

Once more, I got sent to Co Tach.

I've fled five, six,

at least seven times already.

The lives of my countrymen are

worth no more than that of a fly.

You take it and swat it dead...

just like that.

Ladies, listen to me.

There were some women amusing themselves

and one pushed the other onto a table.

The lady's falsies

broke the table in two.

If a table breaks, think of what

would happen to a man's face.

Watch it, they're filming.

Don't joke.

People in America

will think we're ridiculous.

We have about 15 companies now,

including an insurance company

and a tractor company.

We are in the hotel business,

in the travel agency business.

We are the exclusive dealer

for Ford in the country, Ford cars.

Oh, many, many other things,

like, uh, an oil company

in the forming.

We, uh, have a bottling company.

In other words, uh,

we greatly... we greatly believe

in the future of this country,

and, uh, we think

there's a great future for Vietnam.

And, uh, we think

that Vietnam will be liveable,

will not go communist,

because otherwise, all these

companies will go to waste.

And the way we work

is we take a calculated risk.

If we don't lose South Vietnam

within the next three to five years,

then nobody can catch up with us.

I'm a Johnny-come-lately as far

as war profiteering is concerned.

Uh, the reason why I...

uh, organized this group of companies

is because when I was in Paris,

I saw that peace was coming,

whether we liked it or not.

Therefore, I got home

in order to prepare for peace.

All these companies have been organized

in order to prepare for peace...

and prepare for the economic

takeoff that will come with peace.

We have the infrastructure of hotels, of

travel agencies and things like that.

But, of course, there are no tourists

in Vietnam now. But there will be.

And, uh, we are getting

ready for that sort of thing.

Does it feel comfortable?

Keep it flat. Just like you

do with your good leg.

Now try to walk.

Well, it really isn't that much.

We were just walking and...

We were walking on a patrol

and, uh, we ran into an ambush.

About six, seven guys

really got hurt.

Ran into a battalion ambush,

they said it was.

And it was supposed to be one of the

biggest ambushes of Tet season.

And we called in two or three

medivacs, and they got hit.

So, finally, the last one

came in and got us out.

From that, I never saw any of the others

I was with, except for one or two.

And that was about it.

Most of the guys I keep in touch

with are guys in the hospital.

They usually have a reunion

once a year.

That's about it. There's really

not that much to talk about.

Here we are for one thing that we

said, and I don't give a sh*t now.

I don't care

about the football game now.

I don't care about anything now.

The one thing that we wanna show these

bastards with Masillon pride...

is that we come down and show

'em a great Masillon effort.

And what the piss you doing?

What are ya doing?

Get going! Goddamn it, Tony!

Don't let 'em beat us!

Don't let 'em beat us!

Let's go! Show 'em Masillon pride.

- Come on! Go!

- Go!

Go, go, go, go!

Get him! Get him!

Make no mistake about it.

I don't want a man in here...

To go back home thinking otherwise.

We are going to win.

Go, motherf***er! Go!

Since the Lunar New Year,

the Vietcong and North Vietnamese

have proved they are capable...

of bold and impressive

military moves...

that Americans here

never dreamed could be achieved.

Whether the Vietcong can sustain this

onslaught long remains to be seen,

but whatever turn

this war now takes,

the capture of the U.S. Embassy

in Saigon for seven hours...

will be a story to rally

and inspire the Vietcong.

Don North, ABC news,

at the U.S. Embassy in Saigon.

I know that, as was the case in the

Battle of the Bulge in World War II,

that after the enemy exposed

himself, we would defeat him.

He would be weakened, and

we could follow that up.

Through the use of, uh,

the maximum military force that

we could bring to bear on him,

through the bombing, through

the mining of the harbors,

through the cutting of his

lines of communication,

by moving in and cleaning

out his sanctuaries,

the enemy would have no choice...

but to come to some accommodation.

In the beginning of 1968,

General Westmoreland needed

206,000 more troops.

We met hour after hour after

hour in the Pentagon.

And I started in and asked

the Joint Chiefs of Staff,

"How long do you think that

we'll still be in the war?"

None of them knew.

"Uh, do you think that the

206,000 men will be enough?"

Nobody knew.

"Uh, might we have to send

more men?" "Well, possibly."

"Well, in six months?"

"We don't know."

"A year? Eighteen months?"

I couldn't get answers

to these questions.

By the end of that

four-day interrogation,

I was getting down... by the end of it...

into very serious questions,

"Do any of you men, as you

look at it objectively,

do you find any diminution in the

will of the enemy to fight?"

Well, they said,

"No, we guess we don't."

"Are they sending the same number of men

down through the Ho Chi Minh trail?"

"Well, yes, and even they

might be a little more."

"And how about our bombing? We've

placed great reliance on our bombing.

Is our bombing stopping them?"

"No."

"Well, what is the amount of attrition

that our bombing's causing?"

"Well, maybe 10 to 15 percent."

So I remember asking one question.

"If a North Vietnamese field commander

in South Vietnam needed 1,000 men..."

They said, "Yes."

"If he asked for, say, 1,200

men, 1,000 would get through?"

"Well, that's right."

'then he'd have the thousand he

needed." "Well, yes. That's so."

Well, this type of interrogation...

Finally, by the end of four or five days,

I must say that my thinking...

had undergone a very

substantial revolution.

Come on, everybody!

As long as the

American President...

is commander in chief...

of the biggest war machine

in human history,

with bases on every continent, we

are going to get into trouble.

Our enemy is the growing

militarization of American life.

Our enemy is American imperialism.

And there is an awakening.

The enemy was on the ropes after

the Tet offensive was over.

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