VLVL 4: Vietnam

[pynchonoid]

Otto:
> Doug, the differences are far greater than the
> similarities.

I respectfully disagree, along with many other
observers.

> Vietnam isn't such a big oil country like Iraq,

Perhaps not, but the need to secure the oil in that
region was explicitly stated by planners of the
Vietnam War at the time (although not publicly), just
as in the case of Iraq, and in the case of the planned
oil pipeline across Afhghanistan.  

Here are some links that might guide you to find out
more of the truth of this issue, if you're so
inclined:

extensive, annotated links at this site:
<http://servercc.oakton.edu/~wittman/histlink.htm>
"The History of the Vietnam War"

Historian, Howard Zinn:
[...] What was not talked about publicly at the time
of the Vietnam War was something said secretly in
intra-governmental memoranda -- that the interest of
the United States in Southeast Asia was not the
establishment of democracy, but the protection of
access to the oil, tin and rubber of that region. In
the Iraqi case, the obvious crucial role of oil in
U.S. policy has been whisked out of sight, lest it
reveal less than noble motives in the drive to war.
[...] <http://www.tompaine.com/feature2.cfm/ID/8206>

Here's a book about -- surprise! -- Shell Oil's
activities in Vietnam:  

_Fuelling the War: Revealing an Oil Company's Role in
Vietnam_ 
by Louis Wesseling 

<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN%3D1860644570/lewispublishingcA/104-1810149-3767141>

[...] This is the story of the role of oil in the
Vietnam war. What is revealed here for the first time
is how American oil suppliers also ended up fuelling
the communist armies--under the blind eye of
Shell--with shipments flowing through indirect
channels. The action takes place mostly in Saigon
among ambassadors, generals, politicians, bankers,
businessmen, CIA agents, spies and hustlers, and for
the first time unveils the behind-the-scenes
manipulation and skulduggery which formed the unknown
part of the Vietnam War. 
About the Author
Louis Wesseling is a law graduate from Leiden and an
USAF officer and pilot trainer in the USA. 

>From Publishers Weekly
As a Dutch business executive who ran Shell Oil's
operations in Vietnam from 1972 to 1975, Wesseling
offers a perspective that has so far been missing in
the vast Vietnam War literature: that of a
well-compensated, well-connected corporate higher-up
living and working in Saigon. Much of the book is a
re-creation of Wesseling's life and times among the
business, military and political elite in Vietnam
during the war's last three years. His well-drawn
portraits of some of the characters he worked and
rubbed shoulders with are among the book's high
points. Less successful are Wesseling's sketchy
history of Vietnam and anti-Communist critiques of the
way the French and Americans fought their wars in
Indochina from 1945 to 1975. The book's most notable
absence, however, is the lack of a full account of how
Shell and other oil companies actually fueled the
American war machine in Vietnam. Given the well-known
rampant corruption in South Vietnam during the
American war, the 7% of Shell Oil that Wesseling
estimates wound up in the enemy's hands seems low.
(July)  [...] 

Otto:
> economics were only
> secondary reasons. I still think that the crazy
> Domino-theory was the main
> reason for the war. 

Certainly this was a very important reason, but
containment of Communism was only the fig leaf to hide
the US need for imperialst expansion.

Otto:
>Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy,
> Johnson and Nixon knew that
> Ho Chi Minh would have been the elected leader if
> free elections had taken
> place.

Yes, that's why the US put a stop to that "happy
horseshit", to borrow some slang Pynchon uses in
Vineland (if I remember correctly).

Otto: 
> I hope it will not turn out to be such a nightmare,
> because the Iraqis
> deserve a better future.

Don't hold your breath, is my suggestion.  The US has
already killed uncounted thousands of innocents, and
has only itself to blame for attracting "terrorists"
in (if indeed that's what's happening and not an
internal Iraqi reaction to drive out the US and UK),
and it will be years before we can know with any
certainty what crimesthe CIA spooks are committing
behind the scenes. Soon, perhaps, the US will bail out
and leave the UN and the Iraqis to deal with the
bloody mess the US leaves behind. 

Otto:
> The Vietnamese are still
> suffering from a communist
> regime which has more power than it would have if
> the ruling party hadn't
> defeated the mighty USA. 

Perhaps, but now they get to drink Coca-Cola and earn
sweatshop wages to produce cheap sneakers for the rest
of the world. (Just like the Chinese under their
so-called "communist" regime.) That's why the US and
multinational corporations have been cozying up to
Vietnam in recent years -- first they earned war
profits, now they squeeze Vietnam workers and
consumers. 

Otto:
> The Vietnam War-crime was obvious even back in those
> days. The war was
> broadcasted all over the world,

The US military has learned to manage the news coming
out of each war since, increasing its control over
what the US (and to a lesser extent, the rest of the
world) sees in the war zone.  This has been especially
egregious in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Otto:
>Yesterdays mass demonstrations against
> the terrorists made me
> optimistic that Iraq will not fall into the hands of
> a bloody dictator
> again.

Assuming they can get out from under the US yoke, that
could happen.  Sadly, the US has been very efficient
at installing and supporting bloody dictators since
the end of WWII,  replacing them only when they no
longer serve US needs. 

-Doug

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