In August 2013, I tried contacting the Vietnam War Commemoration Office to get some answers about the timeline. When asked about the entries for My Lai and Speedy Express, a spokesperson from the office said that they were written by an individual who no longer worked there, so no one could address specific questions. Next, I aired my concerns about the timeline to M.J. Jadick, chief of strategic communications for the U.S. Vietnam War Commemoration, and then followed up by email. I asked eight pointed questions about the entries on the Gulf of Tonkin Incident, My Lai, Speedy Express, Operation Menu, and other problematic information as well, and I didn't exactly pull punches. "It seems to me," I wrote her, "that some timeline entries are lacking pertinent information, are watered-down, misleading, and in some cases grossly disingenuous... The sheer number of examples suggests that this is something more than accidental."
Jadick answered none of my questions. "Our timeline is a work in progress and will continue to be reviewed accordingly," she responded. "I have forwarded your concerns to our Branch Chief for History and Education for review." When I checked back four months later on the results of that review, new procedures were indeed in place -- for media queries! Now, all of them were being forwarded to Lieutenant Colonel Tom Crosson at the Office of the Secretary of Defense.
Crosson? The name rang a bell.
In August, while writing an article for the BBC, I had contacted Lieutenant Colonel Crosson for comment about evidence of U.S. atrocities and Vietnamese civilian suffering -- much of it from long-classified U.S. military records -- that I present in my book, Kill Anything That Moves: The Real American War in Vietnam. Although decades had passed since the end of the conflict, he expressed doubt that it was possible for the military to provide an official statement in "a timely manner."
Not much has changed since then.
My follow-up request for answers to months-old questions was forwarded to Crosson in early December. A couple weeks later, I contacted him looking for a comment. More than a month has passed and I'm still waiting for an answer to any of the questions I first posed in August.
Welcome to 2053
In a presidential proclamation kicking off the 50th anniversary commemoration of the Vietnam War, President Barack Obama distilled the conflict down to troops slogging "through jungles and rice paddies... fighting heroically to protect the ideals we hold dear as Americans." He talked of "patriots" and "heroes," "courage" and "valor." He said the war was "a chapter in our nation's history that must never be forgotten."
A few days later, in a speech at the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C., Obama continued praising Vietnam veterans, lauding their "sacrifices" and "courage," their "valor," "patriotism," and "honor." He welcomed them home and commended them for helping "build the America that we love and that we cherish." He told the veterans present, "You earned your place among the greatest generations." Obama even gave a passing nod to the civilian toll "not just in Vietnam, but in all wars," even if he then followed it up with some eyebrow-raising lines. "We hate war," he intoned, though a history of almost constant warfare and overseas military interventions suggests otherwise. "When we fight," he continued, "we do so to protect ourselves because it's necessary." The tacit suggestion being that, somehow, barefoot Vietnamese guerrillas seeking national reunification also had designs on the United States.
"The task of telling your story continues," Obama told the Vietnam veterans present on the National Mall. "[A] central part of this 50th anniversary will be to tell your story as it should have been told all along. It's another chance to set the record straight."
Setting the record straight seems, however, to be the last intention of the United States of America Vietnam War Commemoration. When I called with my questions last August, the Commemoration's M.J. Jadick said, "This is something you should be able to get an answer for." Yet for six months, government officials have failed to provide me with any answers about the creation of their timeline, about its seeming lack of adequate context, about entries that are at best insufficient and, at worst, dishonest, or just plain wrong. And in that same period, none of the obvious errors and obfuscations I pointed out has been changed in any way.
The United States of America Vietnam War Commemoration website asserts that its "content will not contain misleading information or unsubstantiated claims," but instead be "evaluated for fairness and acceptability as being in the best interest of the public." The site goes on to claim that it will "provide the American public with historically accurate materials and interactive experiences," but the timeline suggests other motives at play.
You don't need cybernetic eye implants and immersive propaganda portals to alter history. You don't need a digital David Petraeus or a President Bush avatar to distract you from the truth. You don't need to wait decades to have disinformation beamed into your head. You just need a constant stream of misleading information, half truths, and fictions to be promoted, pushed, and peddled until they are accepted as fact.
Welcome to 2053. Mission accomplished.
Nick Turse is the managing editor of TomDispatch.com and a fellow at the Nation Institute. An award-winning journalist, his work has appeared in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Nation, on the BBC, and regularly at TomDispatch. He is the author most recently of the New York Times bestseller Kill Anything That Moves: The Real American War in Vietnam (just out in paperback). You can catch his conversation with Bill Moyers about that book by clicking here.
Follow TomDispatch on Twitter and join us on Facebook or Tumblr. Check out the newest Dispatch Book, Ann Jones's They Were Soldiers: How the Wounded Return From America's Wars -- The Untold Story.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
