Hearts and Minds Page #8

American money, and for no other reason.

Kennedy lied about the type of

involvement we were doing there,

our own combat involvement,

and about the recommendations that were

made to him for greater involvement.

President Kennedy lied about...

the degree of our participation

in the overthrow of Diem.

The, um... Johnson, of course,

lied and lied and lied...

about our provocations

against the North Vietnamese...

prior to and after

the Tonkin Gulf incidents,

about the plans

for bombing North Vietnam,

and the nature of the buildup...

of American troops in Vietnam.

Nixon, as we now know, misled and

lied to the American public...

for the first months of his office in

terms of our bombing of Cambodia...

and of Laos,

ground operations in Laos,

the reasons for our invasion

of Cambodia and of Laos,

and the prospects for the mining at

Haiphong that came about in 1972,

but was envisioned

as early as 1969.

The American public

was lied to month by month...

by each of these

five administrations.

As I say, it's a tribute

to the American public,

that their leaders perceived

that they had to be lied to.

It's no tribute to us that it

was so easy to fool the public.

We have adopted a plan...

which we have worked out in cooperation

with the South Vietnamese...

for the complete withdrawal of

all U.S. combat ground forces...

and their replacement

by South Vietnamese forces...

on an orderly, scheduled timetable.

This withdrawal will be made from

strength and not from weakness.

As South Vietnamese forces

become stronger,

the rate of American withdrawal

can become greater.

Congratulations to Battalion 332...

on your recent victories

over the communists.

We ask ourselves,

"When will peace come?"

And I tell you, if you chase

the communists back to the north,

there won't be any war

in this hamlet.

Help rebuild the houses.

Help the people.

Rid the hamlet of all V. C...

so there will be no more suffering

and destruction...

for ourselves and our compatriots.

Oh, my friend.

- How you doing? Good to see you again.

- You just get back?

- Yeah. How you doing, men?

- Very good to see you.

How you doing?

Trung, good seeing you.

- Good to see you, sir.

- How you doing? Fine.

Just came in this afternoon, sir.

Been very quiet?

- Except last time, when the, uh...

- When the rockets went off?

Yeah.

Very nice. I read about

it in Stars And Stripes.

That's one of our success stories

here, this battalion is.

We had a real, uh...

a lot of trouble with it.

We just gave, uh,

four bronze stars...

and five Ar-Comms

with V-device this week...

to a battalion commander and three

of his officers and five soldiers.

And we have six N-pac awards...

pending for

last Saturday night's action...

where we killed six V.C.

And captured nine weapons.

Good grief.

He had been the recon company

commander of the, uh, 263rd...

and he'd done a real tremendous job

just as recon company commander.

And then they moved him over here.

In a ten-day period or two-week

period, he completely reversed it.

They had the battalion here

under a very poor major.

They had it to the point

where the company commanders...

were throwing down their weapons

and crying... or at least one of them did.

Ten days later they had

a big contact with the V. C...

and in 3 days killed 42,

lost none of their own.

He does it with a

fairly limited staff.

Although some of his people, like

that young major there, Major Yuk...

tremendous guy.

He just heard his name over there.

Hey.

It's no surprise

that in a very poor country...

you can find people

who will wear foreign uniforms.

What has always surprised us,

what we've never been willing

to predict or understand,

is that the Vietnamese

communist leadership...

can find enough people

to live in the tunnels,

fight for nothing

wearing ragged shorts,

year after year

under the American bombs.

A war in which one side

is entirely financed...

and equipped and supported by foreigners...

is not a civil war.

The only foreigners

in that country...

were the foreigners we financed

in the first part of the war...

and the foreigners we were

in the second half of the war.

Basically, we didn't want to acknowledge...

the scale of our involvement there.

We didn't want to realize

that it was our war,

because that would have been to say

that every casualty on both sides...

was a casualty

caused by our policy.

The question used to be "Might it

be possible we were on the wrong side...

in the Vietnamese War?"

We weren't on the wrong side.

We are the wrong side.

You have exemplified,

in your corner of the world,

patriotism of the highest order.

You have brought to your great task

of organizing your country...

the greatest of courage,

the greatest of statesmanship.

I had two possibilities.

Either I could submit

to Washington's politics...

Every morning, "Yes, sir."

Or I would have to resign.

You can be sure that as a soldier

I only submit very rarely.

And, in fact, never.

I chose the second solution,

that of resigning.

On the Vietnamese side, I would say

the most encouraging factor...

is the promise offered

by General Khanh's government.

Through a security

service in the president's office,

we taped all communications

with the outside.

All telephone communications.

And fortunately, among these

taped telephone communications,

I still have the tape

from which we can hear precisely...

General Taylor...

stating precisely that he wants me,

General Khanh,

to leave Vietnam.

Can you let us hear it?

Certainly. I hope it works.

- General Taylor.

- Uh, this is General Khanh speaking.

How are you? Glad to hear you.

Uh, uh, may I speak in French?

Mr. President and ladies and gentlemen,

as our joint communique indicates,

President Thieu and I have

had very constructive talks...

with regard to how we shall

work together in the years ahead,

working for the program of peace,

which we now hope

will all be the wave of the future,

not only for the

Republic of Vietnam,

but for all of the countries

in Indochina.

What kind of freedom

could you preserve here...

when you put so many

of our compatriots into prison...

without any charge,

without any reason why?

Just because you want us

to have freedom?

What kind of freedom

could you give us?

We know that we only have freedom

if we fight for it.

But here we fight for what?

We fight for prisons?

People can be arrested

at any moment by any organization.

And then tortured in inhuman ways

in all the prisons.

And, above all, in police stations.

And then imprisoned

for years and years without trial.

Their only crime

is loving their country.

They had the courage

to tell the truth.

They asked for the liberation

of political prisoners.

They asked for an end to the war.

They asked for peace,

for national reconciliation.

And all that is considered a crime

by the government of Thieu.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes