DAN RATHER (MUST READ)
11thcavnam.com
Strictly My Opinion
By Eric Newton
CBS with Dan Rather produced the fraudulent 1988 documentary, "The Wall Within" which portrayed Vietnam veterans as seriously ill misfits, war criminals and losers. When confronted with evidence that the ex-soldiers that starred in this film were untruthful and most had not even served in combat, CBS refused to retract the story. The documentary was also included in a videotape collection on the Vietnam War produced by CBS and distributed to colleges as a factual history. After their misinformation was exposed, this tape mysteriously vanished from the shelves and is no longer available for purchase or included as part of the set.
In another CBS special which aired in 1993, "Schwarzkopf in Vietnam", the final scene showed one of our disabled veterans, minus a leg, as he walked with crutches at a beach in today’s Vietnam. Mr. Rather off camera, stated, "Veterans of the war bringing their memories back to the country where they fought and lost."
During the sit up close I can reach out and touch you part of interview with "Stormin’ Norman", Mr. Rather certainly didn't have the courage to look Schwarzkopf in the eye at close range and tell him he lost the war. Instead he chose to cower in the shadows of the studio and dub in his comment off camera. Have you kept tabs on how many times Dan takes cheap shots at both Vietnam Veterans and the military? Does Dan have some axe to grind? You be the judge.
Dan Irvin Rather
During the Korean War, when men could be drafted while in college, Dan joined the Army reserve while attending Sam Houston University in Texas. This removed the possibility of being drafted. Soon after the war ended Rather quit the reserves to enlist in the Marine Corps but never finished Marine recruit training. He had enlisted on January 22, 1954 and was cut loose four months later on May 11th for being unfit. Appears to me that he just used this as a vehicle to dodge the war and make his way back to civilian life when it was conveniently safe to do so. The same answers Rather asked for from an interview with Dan Quayle during his campaign.
Dan’s relentless attack on the military and America’s veterans may stem from his own inadequacies and failure to measure up to those honorable soldiers who risked their lives to give even unethical journalists freedom of speech. So what does one do who just can’t measure up to the rest - to get above this crowd of heroes. Make them look bad, create doubt, exaggerate myths and promote stereotypes even if you have to make it all up. Dan has used the public trust CBS once earned by being first to break the big stories to manipulate the thoughts of the viewers. In order to compete with the entertaining shows that air at the same time, CBS has been forced to sensationalize and manufacture stories in order to capture ratings. Some has been at the expense of veterans that make up less than one percent of the population. "Won’t catch much grief from them because they aren’t organized."
Believe it or not there are many more whose agenda is to discredit the service of Vietnam Veterans. Consider this. Put yourself in the place of one who either fled to Canada or deliberately or legally avoided the draft with one of many loopholes. For each man who escaped the military, one other unfortunate soul had to take his place that otherwise may not have been drafted. If that replacement draftee was killed, his death can be attributed to those who shrugged their responsibility. There is a lot of guilt to bear here for those with any conscience and the mental capacity to differentiate right from wrong.
Think of the American protester who after the fall of Saigon, viewed the scores of Vietnamese refugees fleeing Communist rule and imprisonment. Boatload after boatload preferring to risk death at sea rather than subject their families to the unmerciful treatment of North Vietnamese occupational forces and the atrocities they were committing against their own countrymen. Where were the anti-war protesters in 1975 after the fall of Saigon? Where was their concern for the people of Vietnam and Cambodia? That concern evaporated with the end of the draft when they were no longer at risk of having to serve in the military.
Even the National Liberation Front discovered that the final outcome was not the end of the rainbow they had envisioned. Millions killed in Cambodia. How many American protesters today boast of backing that bunch of butchers? They have some serious blood on their hands. So they are the ones that have to save face by discrediting you and I at every chance.
Some former war protesters today experience guilt-feelings over not having served. Some admit to admiration for those who served in Vietnam. Myra MacPherson gives an example in her excellent book, LONG TIME PASSING: VIETNAM AND THE HAUNTED GENERATION (Doubleday, 1984).
She reports that one protestor evaded induction by the inhalation of canvas dust "to revive a childhood case of bronchial asthma." Years later he is haunted by ambivalence: " ... as I survey my friends and acquaintances that have served, I notice something disturbing that makes me want to rethink the issue. To put it bluntly, they have something we haven't got. It is, to be sure, something vague, but nonetheless real, and can be embraced under several headings: realism, discipline, masculinity (kind of a dirty word these days), resilience, tenacity, resourcefulness ... I'm not at all sure they didn't turn out to be better men -- in the best sense of the word."
Intelligent Americans have come to realize that the media and early filmmakers are responsible for the negative stereotype image of the Vietnam Veteran immediately following the war. A survey shows that most Americans now hold Vietnam Vets in high esteem.
Now, I harbor no ill feelings toward those who for their own reasons felt they did not owe service to their country. They must themselves carry the burden of their decision.
Mike Wallace |
