"REMEMBER THE TITANS"
CHAPTER 13 - "A BRIGHT SHINING LIE"
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Even before the "Pentagon Papers" were leaked to the press, reporters like Neil Sheehan did not believe America was winning the war in Vietnam. As early as 1962-63, based on his own first-hand observations, Sheehan thought U.S. commanders in Vietnam "were lying to us." Later, he came to believe the generals who briefed reporters really did believe America could win - despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
Not all high-ranking military advisors thought so, however. Lt. Colonel John Paul Vann, the U.S. Army’s senior adviser to the South Vietnamese infantry division in charge of the northern Mekong Delta in 1962, argued the issue with his commanding general. (The link takes you to a picture of Vann, who is second from the right.) Vann said America was losing the war. His superior disagreed. Vann left the Army the next year. In describing what he had observed in Vietnam to an Army historian, Vann said: Vann returned to Vietnam in a civilian capacity. He died in a helicopter crash on June 9, 1972. On the 16th of June, his funeral was attended by high-ranking government and military officials. General Westmoreland was one of his pallbearers. Sheehan eventually wrote a book about Vann and the Vietnam war. He called it: A Bright Shining Lie. Were there other bright, shining lies about the Vietnam War? What about the Gulf of Tonkin incident? Were the targets real or not real? President Johnson is alleged to have commented on those targets in 1965: For all I know, our Navy was shooting at whales out there. |
