"What we still don't understand is why you Americans stopped the bombing of Hanoi . You had us on the ropes. If you had pressed us a little harder, just for another day or two, we were ready to surrender! It was the same at the battle of TET. You defeated us!
We knew it, and we thought you knew it.
But we were elated to notice your media was helping us. They were causing more disruption in America than we could in the battlefields. We were ready to surrender. You had won!"
General Giap has published his memoirs and confirmed what most Americans knew. The Vietnam war was not lost in Vietnam - it was lost at home. The same slippery slope, sponsored by the US media, is currently underway. It exposes the enormous power of a biased media to cut out the heart and will of the American public.
A truism worthy of note:
Do not fear the enemy,
for they can take only your life.
Fear the media,
for they will destroy your honor ! ! !
.
You should run these things through Snopes before you post them. This is an internet urban legend, it other words it's not true.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.snopes.com/quotes/giap.asp
While this may or may not be reliable one thing is certain, SNOPES is not a reliable source of information for the purpose of critiquing accuracy though it may be correct in this instance.
ReplyDeletePlease provide your source.
Let me work it - my source said he checked Snopes beforehand, and I've heard this quote somewhere else, somewhere reputable.
ReplyDeleteI will do the homework; in the meantime even if this is not a direct quote, I believe this is quite accurate; that Giap said words to this effect.
More on this.
All Google Quots or Forums are just about identical on Giap except maybe the odd one from left field. Can anyone give catagoric, definitive statement with reference/s that what is being stated is true and correct. Australian Vietnam Vets have picked up what Giap has supposedly said in these mysterious memoirs and are running with it.I have a learned friend who has researched Giap and says that Giap was willing to fight to the last man or woman if necessary!WHAT IS THE TRUTH? GW.
ReplyDeletea legend....General Giap.
ReplyDeleteI was a job counselor to returning Viet Nam veterans just after the Viet-Nam war. I have only my memory of what my veteran clients personally told me. On both the bombing of Hanoi and the Tet offensive, we were winning. And I personally remember the negative reporting of the American media, which I believe lost the war for us in our living rooms.
ReplyDeleteWhether the piece reportedly by Giap is true or not, I believe the substance of it is true.
I am 80, and over the years I have checked all emails I have received that have been evaluated by Snopes, and I have found errors, most little technical errors, but enough to cast doubt on the story. Snopes can not be totally trusted.
As a researcher, I check all emails I receive, and do not re-post most of them, as most can not be verified as true. It is too bad that most of them from the right can also not be trusted. This is the world we live in.
The quote attributed to Giap is a myth, just as is the myth that the US was in Vietnam to protect the Vietnamese. It was a brutal and unnecessary war that resulted in the death of millions of Vietnamese, and delayed their aspirations for a unified country for twenty years. The media was pro-war initially, but some of the media eventually came to understand the reality of the situation and ensure Americans were informed. Honor is about protecting people from harm, not inflicting it. All these years later is it not time to understand?
ReplyDeleteI respect all the Americanmen and women and Hmong, Laotian etc.. who gave their life during this war against the Communist Ho Chi Minh. We all have different views of the war. But I am glad that God brought me here. I don't know why so many deaths occurred but I know that Communist is not the friend of humanity as Islam is not as well. God bless you all.
ReplyDelete