Big subject. Lies from the top to the bottom, and back. Some by the highest in leadership, some by the rank and file, and a lot in between...
How about Nixon, and how he colluded with Thieu to scuttle the peace talks in 1968 to hurt HHH's election chances.
Or the secret bombings in Cambodia, which he ordered and denied.
Or the secret bombings in Laos, started by LBJ.
encarta.msn.com
Or, the lies of the Gulf of Tonkin, committed by members of the NSA, and eerily similar to the intelligence failures that led to the Iraq war:
hnn.us
Or, the lies of the 'body count' and 'kill ratio', meant as a measure of success that eventually became a bad joke amongst the combatants:
members.aol.com
There are more - pacification lies, 'end of the tunnel' lies, vietnamization lies - again sounding very much like the Iraq war today. Yes, the scales are not the same - many more died in Vietnam, which was much more 'conventional' - but the stakes are higher this time. Can we afford to lie to ourselves again, in a conflict that has much more serious consequences? |
