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->'''Creator/GoreVidal:''' People in the United States happen to believe that the United States policy is wrong in Vietnam and the Viet Cong are correct in wanting to organise their country in their own way politically. This happens to be pretty much the opinion of western Europe and many other parts of the world. If it is [[WeAllLiveInAmerica a novelty in Chicago]], that is too bad, but I assume that the point of the American democracy is that you can express any point of view you wanted--\\

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->'''Creator/GoreVidal:''' People in the United States happen to believe that the United States policy is wrong in Vietnam and the Viet Cong are correct in wanting to organise their country in their own way politically. This happens to be pretty much the opinion of western Europe and many other parts of the world. If it is [[WeAllLiveInAmerica a novelty in Chicago]], Chicago, that is too bad, but I assume that the point of the American democracy is that you can express any point of view you wanted--\\
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-->--'''Ralph "Sonny" Barger''', 1965

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-->--'''Ralph -->--'''[[Creator/SonnyBarger Ralph "Sonny" Barger''', Barger]]''', 1965
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'''Otto:''' ''[[IResembleThatRemark Shut]] [[BigShutUp up!]]'' We did not lose Vietnam! It was a ''tie''!\\

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'''Otto:''' ''[[IResembleThatRemark Shut]] [[BigShutUp ''[[BigShutUp Shut up!]]'' We did not lose Vietnam! It was a ''tie''!\\

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Changed: 182

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->'''Otto:''' ''Shut up''. We didn't lose Vietnam. It was a ''tie''.\\
'''Archie:''' I'm tellin' ya baby, they kicked your little ass there. Boy, they whooped yer hide REAL GOOD.

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->'''Otto:''' ''Shut up''. We didn't lose Vietnam. It was a ''tie''.You know what your problem is? [[SoreLoser You don't like winners]].\\
'''Archie:''' Winners like... North Vietnam?\\
'''Otto:''' ''[[IResembleThatRemark Shut]] [[BigShutUp up!]]'' We did not lose Vietnam! It was a ''tie''!\\
'''Archie:''' I'm tellin' ya baby, they kicked your little ass there. there! Boy, they whooped yer hide REAL GOOD. GOOD!
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-->-- '''Ho Chi Minh''', letter to LyndonJohnson, 1967

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-->-- '''Ho Chi Minh''', letter to LyndonJohnson, Lyndon Johnson, 1967
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-->-- '''Ho Chi Minh'''

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-->-- '''Ho Chi Minh'''
Minh''', letter to LyndonJohnson, 1967
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-->-- '''Creator/WalterCronkite'''

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-->-- '''Creator/WalterCronkite'''
'''Creator/WalterCronkite''' on February 27, 1968



-->-- '''Chris Hedges''', ''War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning''

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-->-- '''Chris Hedges''', ''War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning''
Meaning'', 2002
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-->--Journalist '''Michael Herr''', ''Dispatches''

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-->--Journalist '''Michael Herr''', ''Dispatches''
''Dispatches'', 1977



-->--'''Henry Kissenger'''

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-->--'''Henry Kissenger'''
Kissenger''', ''The Viet Nam Negotiations'', 1969



->We weren't on the wrong side. [[DefectorFromDecadence We were the wrong side.]]
-->-- '''Daniel Ellsberg'''

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->We weren't on the wrong side. [[DefectorFromDecadence We were are the wrong side.]]
-->-- '''Daniel Ellsberg'''
Ellsberg''', in the documentary ''Film/HeartsAndMinds'' (1974)



-->--'''Phillip Caputo''', ''Rumor of War''

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-->--'''Phillip Caputo''', ''Rumor of War''
War'', 1977



-->--'''Noam Chomsky'''

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-->--'''Noam Chomsky'''
Chomsky''', ''Class Warfare'', 1996
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->Nationalist triumphalism was shunned and discredited in America after Vietnam. We were forced to see ourselves as others saw us, and it was not always pleasant. We understood, at least for a moment, the lie. But the plague of nationalism was resurrected during the [[UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan Reagan]] years. It became ascendant with the [[UsefulNotes/TheGulfWar Persian Gulf War]], when we embraced the mythic and unachievable goal of a '[[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans New World Order]].' The infection of nationalism now lies unchecked and blindly accepted in the march we make as a nation toward [[TheWarOnTerror another war]], one as ill-conceived as the was we lost in southeast Asia.

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->Nationalist triumphalism was shunned and discredited in America after Vietnam. We were forced to see ourselves as others saw us, and it was not always pleasant. We understood, at least for a moment, the lie. But the plague of nationalism was resurrected during the [[UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan Reagan]] years. It became ascendant with the [[UsefulNotes/TheGulfWar Persian Gulf War]], when we embraced the mythic and unachievable goal of a '[[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans New World Order]].' The infection of nationalism now lies unchecked and blindly accepted in the march we make as a nation toward [[TheWarOnTerror [[UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror another war]], one as ill-conceived as the was we lost in southeast Asia.
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-->-- '''General William Westmoreland''', in the documentary ''Hearts and Minds'' (1974)

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-->-- '''General William Westmoreland''', in the documentary ''Hearts and Minds'' ''Film/HeartsAndMinds'' (1974)
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-->-- '''S. Vietnam general'''', ''Vietnam War'' (Netflix series)

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-->-- '''S. Vietnam general'''', general''', ''Vietnam War'' (Netflix series)
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->In the villages, Americans are unable to differentiate friend and foe. If you kill one Viet Cong, your enemy count reduces by one. If you kill one wrong man, your enemy count increases by 10. Mostly they kill the wrong man.
-->-- '''S. Vietnam general'''', ''Vietnam War'' (Netflix series)
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-->-- ''Go Tell The Spartans''

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-->-- ''Go Tell The Spartans''
''Film/GoTellTheSpartans''
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->The draft is white people sending black people to make war on the yellow people to defend the land they stole from the red people!

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->The draft is white people sending black people to make war on the yellow people to defend the land they stole from the red people!people![[note]]This may be a paraphrase from a speech by [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stokely_Carmichael Kwame Ture.]][[/note]]
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-->What I attempted to do before the Scranton Committee was to explain what could motivate someone to blow up a building. I did not say I endorse this, and if you read my testimony quite carefully, you'll know that I didn't. And it's this type of just picking up on what allegedly I said instead of really studying what I said that really disturbs me. ... You're making people afraid of their own children. Yet they're your children. They're my parents' children, they're the children of this country, yet you're making people afraid of them, and I think this is the greatest disservice. There's an honest difference of agreement on issues, but when you make people afraid of each other, you isolate people. And maybe this is your goal, but I think this is - this could only have a disastrous effect on the country.

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-->What ->What I attempted to do before the Scranton Committee was to explain what could motivate someone to blow up a building. I did not say I endorse this, and if you read my testimony quite carefully, you'll know that I didn't. And it's this type of just picking up on what allegedly I said instead of really studying what I said that really disturbs me. ... You're making people afraid of their own children. Yet they're your children. They're my parents' children, they're the children of this country, yet you're making people afraid of them, and I think this is the greatest disservice. There's an honest difference of agreement on issues, but when you make people afraid of each other, you isolate people. And maybe this is your goal, but I think this is - this could only have a disastrous effect on the country.
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-->What I attempted to do before the Scranton Committee was to explain what could motivate someone to blow up a building. I did not say I endorse this, and if you read my testimony quite carefully, you'll know that I didn't. And it's this type of just picking up on what allegedly I said instead of really studying what I said that really disturbs me. ... You're making people afraid of their own children. Yet they're your children. They're my parents' children, they're the children of this country, yet you're making people afraid of them, and I think this is the greatest disservice. There's an honest difference of agreement on issues, but when you make people afraid of each other, you isolate people. And maybe this is your goal, but I think this is - this could only have a disastrous effect on the country.
-->--'''Eva Jefferson (Paterson)''', Northwestern University student body president, debating Vice President Spiro Agnew on ''The David Frost Show'', September 26, 1970
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-->--John Musgrave, Marine veteran, counselor and poet, on the struggles veterans faced upon returning from the war, in the 2017 Creator/KenBurns documentary series ''Series/TheVietnamWar''

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-->--John Musgrave, -->--'''John D. Musgrave''', Marine veteran, counselor and poet, on the struggles veterans faced upon returning from the war, in the 2017 Creator/KenBurns documentary series ''Series/TheVietnamWar''
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->The peace movement, for a while, got real nasty, calling veterans "baby killers." It did more than piss us off - it broke our hearts. What were they thinking? You don't turn your back on your warriors. I didn't trust anyone anymore - just my family.
-->--John Musgrave, Marine veteran, counselor and poet, on the struggles veterans faced upon returning from the war, in the 2017 Creator/KenBurns documentary series ''Series/TheVietnamWar''

->I don't want these fucking medals, man! The Silver Star--the third highest medal in the country--it doesn't mean anything! Bob Smeal died for these medals; Lieutenant Panamaroff died so I got a medal; Sergeant Johns died so I got a medal; I got a Silver Star, a Purple Heart, Army Commendation medal, eight air medals, national defense, and the rest of [[MedalOfDishonor this garbage]]--it doesn't mean a THING!
-->--'''Ron Ferrizzi''', Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW) member and former helicopter crew chief, on April 23, 1971, just before [[InsigniaRipOffRitual hurling his medals onto the U.S. Capitol Steps]]

->On the one hand I did think the war was less than righteous. On the other hand I love my country. And I valued my life in a small town and my friends and family. So I wrestled with what was, for me, at least, more torturous and devastating and emotionally painful than anything that happened in Vietnam. Do you go off and kill people if you're not pretty sure it's right? And if your nation isn't pretty sure it's right? If there isn't some consensus, do you do that? In the end, I just capitulated, and one day I got on a bus with some other recent graduates, and we went over to Sioux Falls about sixty miles away, and raised our hands and went into the Army. But it wasn't a decision; it was a forfeiture of a decision. It was letting my body go, turning a switch in my conscience, just turning it off, so it wouldn't be barking at me saying, "You're doing a bad and evil and stupid and unpatriotic thing."
-->--'''Tim O'Brien''', Army veteran and author of ''Literature/TheThingsTheyCarried'', in the 2017 Creator/KenBurns documentary series ''Series/TheVietnamWar''
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->More recently, we (the John Birch Society) have been emphasizing [[WhatASenselessWasteOfHumanLife the horror of wasting American lives in Vietnam]] in a stage managed exhibition carried on by Washington for the political advantages of being at war and without any will to win.

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->More recently, we (the ([[TheExtremistWasRight the John Birch Society) Society]]) have been emphasizing [[WhatASenselessWasteOfHumanLife the horror of wasting American lives in Vietnam]] in a stage managed exhibition carried on by Washington for the political advantages of being at war and without any will to win.
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->"You cannot defend to the death, when every week you hear from your family that they don't have enough food to eat. And you look to Saigon the rich had food, liquor they have money, they relax, have a good time. Why fight to the death? For whom?" as an ARVN Marine said to the RAND Corporation's survey for the U.S. Department of Defense.
-->--'''Bui Manh Cuong''', ''[[http://vnafmamn.com/abandoned_soldier.html The Forgotten Soldiers]]''

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->"You ->You cannot defend to the death, when every week you hear from your family that they don't have enough food to eat. And you look to Saigon the rich had food, liquor they have money, they relax, have a good time. Why fight to the death? For whom?" as an ARVN Marine said to the RAND Corporation's survey for the U.S. Department of Defense.
-->--'''Bui Manh Cuong''', ''[[http://vnafmamn.com/abandoned_soldier.html The Forgotten Soldiers]]''
whom?
-->--'''ARVN Marine'''



->More recently, we (the John Birch Society) have been emphasizing [[WarIsHell the horror of wasting American lives in Vietnam]] in a stage managed exhibition carried on by Washington for the political advantages of being at war and without any will to win.

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->More recently, we (the John Birch Society) have been emphasizing [[WarIsHell [[WhatASenselessWasteOfHumanLife the horror of wasting American lives in Vietnam]] in a stage managed exhibition carried on by Washington for the political advantages of being at war and without any will to win.
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-->-- ''The Boys in Company C''

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-->-- ''The Boys in Company C''''Film/TheBoysInCompanyC''
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->Nationalist triumphalism was shunned and discredited in America after Vietnam. We were forced to see ourselves as others saw us, and it was not always pleasant. We understood, at least for a moment, the lie. But the plague of nationalism was resurrected during the [[UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan Reagan]] years. It became ascendant with the [[TheGulfWar Persian Gulf War]], when we embraced the mythic and unachievable goal of a '[[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans New World Order]].' The infection of nationalism now lies unchecked and blindly accepted in the march we make as a nation toward [[TheWarOnTerror another war]], one as ill-conceived as the was we lost in southeast Asia.

to:

->Nationalist triumphalism was shunned and discredited in America after Vietnam. We were forced to see ourselves as others saw us, and it was not always pleasant. We understood, at least for a moment, the lie. But the plague of nationalism was resurrected during the [[UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan Reagan]] years. It became ascendant with the [[TheGulfWar [[UsefulNotes/TheGulfWar Persian Gulf War]], when we embraced the mythic and unachievable goal of a '[[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans New World Order]].' The infection of nationalism now lies unchecked and blindly accepted in the march we make as a nation toward [[TheWarOnTerror another war]], one as ill-conceived as the was we lost in southeast Asia.
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-->--'''Music/TomLehrer''', "Send The Marines"

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-->--'''Music/TomLehrer''', "Send The Marines"
Marines", ''Music/ThatWasTheYearThatWas''

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