Another "Bright Shining Lie"

On the first Saturday of each new month during the summer a group of Vietnam Veterans gather at the Vietnam Memorial in the early morning hours to wash The Wall. It is an act of homage, honoring our Brothers and Sisters. We are joined by a local service group, Civil Air Patrol Cadets, recruited to continue the work after we are gone. Each person has his or her motives for coming together in that hallowed place. For me, it is an act of contrition.

From 1971 through 1974 I served in the White House as a Special Assistant to the President. Part of my role involved the crafting of speeches arguing the case for staying the course in Vietnam. These speeches represented, in the aggregate, a monument to specious reasoning and a misapprehension of the imperatives of great power. President Nixon did not coin the phrase "I am not going to be the first president to lose a war." That self-regarding sentiment came from President Lyndon Johnson.

Still, President Nixon adopted it, and the popular wisdom of foreign policy "thinkers" reaching back to the 50s dressed it in the more presentable language of global realpolitik. If the communists took Indochina, Thailand would fall, then Burma and on across the Asian sub-continent. Jingoists, confused over which way the dominoes might fall, and never reluctant to send other people's sons and daughters to war, warned that if the communists weren't stopped in Southeast Asia we would be fighting them in the streets of San Francisco.

Establishment gray beards joined the chattering classes to insist that if the US withdrew from Vietnam, the US would lose its credibility, would cease to be a great power, its word never again to be trusted by its allies and others who looked to us for leadership in the struggle against global tyranny. It was all, as Neil Sheehan, writing about John Paul Vann, called it: "a bright shining lie." And the worst lie of all, in repeated appeals to the grieving hearts of our fellow citizens, was that we could only redeem the lives of our fallen by "winning" the war. Braced by that lie, we sacrificed more.

At length, President Nixon, the grand master of realpolitik, began the necessary process of extracting America from Vietnam. The fears we promoted in the speeches I and others wrote and promoted proved baseless. Inevitably, the angers set loose by our misadventure in Vietnam persisted for years.

In the end, it was John McCain, brutalized as a prisoner of war, who completed his Vietnam service by leading the fight to lance the boil of bitterness that disfigured the face of America in the aftermath of the war. It was John McCain, much honored for his wartime heroism, who brought further honor upon himself by standing for reconciliation with an old foe. Implicit in McCain's healing leadership was the understanding that our withdrawal from Vietnam, where our nation lost a war but our warriors never lost a battle, did not disgrace the memory of the more than 58,000 who died there.

If disgrace is to be assigned, it rests not with those who served, but with those who misused their service. The fighters of Vietnam, after all, defending their homeland, were only the instrument of our losses. It was America's misguided leadership that was the agent of those losses.

So, it is a sorrow now to hear John McCain, in pursuit of the White House, accusing Senator Barack Obama of dishonoring the sacrifices of American soldiers by calling for the withdrawal of US forces from a conflict promoted, as was Vietnam, by deceiving the American people. It is inexplicable, as the war in Iraq itself is inexplicable, that Senator McCain should charge that Barack Obama "is willing to lose a war in order to win the presidency." Buried near the surface of that discreditable allegation is the insistence that America must put still more of its best at risk in order to redeem those it has already lost.

The Senator insists we must win in Iraq. Yet, after a war that has lasted longer than World War II, and after the loss of more than 4,000 American lives, a definition of "winning" has still to be offered by the authors of this fiasco and their supporters. Senator Obama's fitness to be Commander-in-Chief is reaffirmed by his determination to end this folly, despite attacks on his motives and his patriotism. It was that determination that has served to persuade Iraq that it must now put its own house in order. And that is as close to "winning" as we are going to get in this war.

It is often said, and correctly, that Iraq is a very different war from Vietnam, but this much they have in common: American lives were wasted in Vietnam and they are being wasted in Iraq. However much American blood is shed in that sour soil, it will not be sweetened sufficiently to nurture up the seeds of democracy.

Noel Koch is a member of the steering committee of Vets For Obama. Visit their official site or join them on Facebook.

Comments

[demfriend]

For years I have been disappointed with John McCain. He started off in the Senate as a man who knew the failure of the government to do the right things in Vietnam and to leave his fallen fellow soldiers behind was something he could not live with. But over time he quietly as people looked away from his Senate service and just saw the "POW HERO" he was saying NO by voting againest the bills which would have improved the vets and the troops lives or he just didn't bother to show up to vote. He also did the same with women's issues to the point I have thought he plany doesn't like women except to use them. And now he has become a vile, vicious, hate-filled old man who will say and do anything in his quest to get elected. The sacrifice of truth for his gain has been evident more and more. He still has done in plain sight what he has been doing. He spoke out againest the new GI Bill and gave many falsehoods about why the troops/vets didn't deserve the education and how it would affect the military in an adverse way. Then he took the Kudos for supporting it from Bush and peaks like he always was for it. No one seems to care...

[truthynesslover]

Yet Kerry did vote for the veterans and they voted for Bush.Go figure.

[OldKnute]

Thank you dearly, Mr. Koch.

I was one of those in Service to America in Viet Nam. Navy Seals.

To those on the ground, this war was folly from the very beginning. Set on a foundation of lies (Gulf of Tonkin) and false claims of threat, the similarities are clear to Iraq. Once committed, the arguments for honor, redemption of the fallen and their sacrifice, Victory not defined or clear war aims, the drums of war that pull at our PRIDE and not the TRUTH,

Warn out arguments and this SAME demand for PRIDE today.

My view? A Pride that was the first casualty, the day this modern travesty was undertaken.

Calls to Honor the sacrifices of the fallen are powerful and drive deep patriotic fervor, but no accountability is found in asking our leaders,, how they have honored the dead by this misadventure, ALSO based on LIES and exaggerations?

Dear,, Dear Mr. Koch,, thank you for those whose names are on that wall, my friends, my comrades in arms and companions whose treasured loss and memory you tend to with such tenderness and dedication. Know their names. They LOVED America,, TO THE MAN.

I know, I had the honor of serving with many of them that names now bear, not so silent witness to overreaching ambitions of the FEW.

You have given them VOICE, Mr. Koch.

Not so silent at all.

THANK YOU!

All the best

Knute Neo-LIB

[Berettasskeeter]

The problem with your statement, and the author's, is that the war was NOT based on the Gulf of Tonkin lie. The escalation of the war was, but the war was based on defending against Communist agreession, ala the Korean War. You should remember this, and as a former SEAL always guard against the Left implanting false memories.
Semper fi

[gaebolgaes]

no..beretasskeeter...you are wrong. the vietnam war was based on cowboy, crusader mentality.there are some on this planet who have climbed on to their war steeds and pestered their neighbors with sharp sticks since time began. if the vietnamese wanted to be communists and live under a system even more screwed. up than a capitalistic system...well...that was their own damned business and no one elses. we lost the treasure of young american lives and the vietnamese like all humans... fought like tigers to make sure their country remained 500 years behind everyone elses.you can see this same stupidity in muslim countrys all over the world. they will never allow themselvest be dragged into the 20th centuryall those on both sides in any war do so because each buys into a lie...a scintillating iridescent, pulsating lie did any agressor in the history of the world survive history. all the great warmaking empires rome, persia, ottoman..have all crumbled into dust to be blown away by the howling winds.

[OldKnute]

Keeter, Brother,

I just wanted to thank Mr. Koch,, that’s all. Not re-fight a war here in front of our children.

Robert Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush 41, Clinton, Bush Jr. , McCain and 90% of Congress agree, Viet Nam was a needles, war fought for all the wrong reasons.

That your argument to those,,,, Geniuses.

I meant what I called you,,, to all it entails,,, BROTHER.

Semper Fi,, or as Seals put it,,, Hoooo Yaaa!

All the best

Knute Neo-LIB < -------- Look Keeter.

[1differentdrummer]

Sometimes overlooked is the oil under the South China Sea. Also sometimes overlooked was American neo-colonialism. That war, too, was a civil war we had no business going into. False memories? Did you forget the Republican domino theory? The Marines at Chosin Reservoir were fighting Chinese and still have no recognition of their frostbitten feet and legs, if they lived, as a service connected disability. Don't knock the Left, friend, although imperfect, it is the troops' best friend.

[rshrink]

First Berettasskeeter, Thank you for your service. You have my respect and admiration for your courage and strength. I am someone you would call on the left. I worked with many left leaning people who worked with Veterans of WWII and Viet Nam era. I first worked with Vets to help them get their benefits and make progress with that. Later, I helped with parole planning for those who served in prison and needed their GI benefits to get back on track. Then later yet, I helped those with PTSD to recover. I have friends, notice I speak in present tense, who died in Viet Nam. I remained friends with their family members and we all dealt with that. People create false divisions. We are all in this together. I have never served in battle and cannot fully appreciate how difficult that would be. My battles as a lefty have been always to try to help those who have not had the advantages and those who have paid a higher price than others. I think we can be mutually respective as leftys and wherever on the continuum you may be. Thanks, I hope you read this.

[JiminNC]

Sign the petition at Vets for Obama.

[JenniferInMO]

Thank you, Mr. Koch. That was beautifully written and expressed much of what those of us who haven't served might want to say, but do not feel like we have the right to say.

During Vietnam the troops were targeted by those against the war. I think most of us have learned from that. We have learned to respect what our troops sacrifice and face for us. Unfortunately, those in power have used that painful issue against Americans by calling us "unpatriotic" or "against the troops" when we speak out against those who misuse our troops for personal gain.

It is our men and women in uniform who are doing their duty by performing their job and not questioning the reasons. They have courageously accomplished the goals and missions given to them even when they were not provided with accurate intelligence, equipment or supplies.

It is our job as civilians to make sure our leaders do not abuse the awesome power and loyalty of our troops. On that count we have failed our troops miserably. If we truly want to "support" our troops it is OUR duty as American citizens to vote for those who will not abuse the loyalty of our troops. It is OUR duty to place pressure on our lawmakers to pull our troops out and never again sacrifice one American soldier or one civilian for the personal gain of corrupt politicians.

[FearlessFreep]

"During Vietnam the troops were targeted by those against the war."

That's a myth. There isn't one documented case of an anti-war protester spitting on a returning veteran.

[beaupritchard]

A testimony ... naively I use to believe Presidents wrote their own speeches.

What of the speech writer tasked to write a speech he doesn't believe in ... what options does he have ... write a bad speech ... write a speech coded in a way to be able to disclaim later that it said what it said ... quit.

The proverbial rock and a hard place.

[Liberoservative]

Believe it or not...
O ba ma writes his own speeches....

Sure, he runs them by his troops to see if they sound right and true, but he writes his own speeches...

Oh... and his speech writer on other occasions.. is a really cute guy that used to work for John Kerry, I think..... but for the really important events.....

Those are O's words and thoughts you are hearing and no one else's.......

[Brokenhand]

It appears that McCain is trying to emulate Bush in his zealous support of big oil and thinking that past personal issues can be resolved using the military. Bush getting even for daddy and McCain wanting another shot at a war--since he failed so miserably his last time around.

[PAposter]

Thank you sir for expressing the sentiment of many Americans.

[xandix]

Well said.

[jfor]

Vietnam and the men and women who served there are the most overused and abused people in our country when it comes to politics, especially conservative, Republican politics that supposedly are all about God, flag and country.

In each and every election cycle since Vietnam the Republicans have touted their particular brand of pro Americanism and patriotism by denigrating the very people who served there. These people are the ones who did not allow their daddies to pull strings for them, they did not look for loopholes, they did not seek deferment after deferment, they sucked it up and served their country in a time of need.

In return our Republican elected leaders repay these men and woman by viciously attacking them for no other reason than the political designation behind their names. How many democrats who served thier country honorably will be smeared by the likes of Karl Rove or the surrogates of John McCain, How many veterans of the war on terror will be smeared by these very Republicans again for choosing to be part of a party that is in their interests and the interests of the children these veterans will have in the future.

Republicans dishonor our soldiers and veterans each and every day with their lies, partisanship and incompetance.

[FOXYLADY]

McCain dishonors hisself by making that kind of statement. It seems that John McCain has turned bitter and is not thinking before he sends out campaign advertisements or even when speaking.

[landoffools]

Senator John McCain !!!

Once again proving that he IS an American embarrassment !

[karela]

Bravo! A moving and poignant article.

[in4success]

mccain is an empty suit...a myth -- he is the "celebrity." the one with no substance.

[RJKruger]

Thank you for your thoughtful, insightful, and factual article. Please NOTE:

Removed from John McCain's website: reference to McCain being a "political CELEBRITY."
http://209.85.215.104/search?q=cache:Y9cUrjxnT4cJ:www.johnmccain.com/informing/News/NewsReleases/b1b85afb-cd0c-4a74-997d-dfee1a3f8098.htm+celebrity+mccain+-obama&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=17&gl=us&client=firefox-a

[RadCenter]

This campaign gets more Orwellian by the minute.

[Saitia]

Your links don't work.

[edwarvir]

Great ! Great piece I want this war to end and for our children to come home soon.