VIETNAM:GHOSTS OF WAR on History Television 1:00am ET

[ConcernedCanuk]

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That's History TELEVISION - not to be confused with History Channel




1:00 AM GHOSTS OF WAR ET (Eastern Standard Time)

Article: - The Haunting Ghosts of War

HistoryTelevision.ca: How did Vietnam: Ghosts of War evolve?

Michael Maclear: For many years, media colleagues had urged me to revisit Vietnam, given my many wartime visits to both South and North. A year ago I had the idea for a documentary pegged to the upcoming 50th anniversary of the battle of Dien Bien Phu (it began March 1954) as a means of seeing a half century of needless wars that Dien Bien Phu triggered. I believe a lot of people still see Vietnam as unfinished business, the more so since the questionable war in Iraq.

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HT.ca: Can you describe what it felt like to return to Vietnam? How different was it to go back after so many years? What was it like when you first reported the conflict?

MM: . . .

Now, back in Hanoi again, almost 30 years after the war had ended, the physical transformation not least expressed the futility of the 30 prior years of war. The city brilliantly blends Vietnamese culture and Western commerce. The moral here: nations must change from within; and in Vietnam it hadn't needed Western bombs to instill Western ways.

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HT.ca: What was the most difficult aspect of covering the entire history of the conflicts in Vietnam?

MM: The difficulty in "covering" Vietnam, that is, in the role of reporter, is much the same as our major issue: how to distill and convey the situation in the standard one minute, 10 seconds news report. Indeed, it was this frustration that in part led me to quit after 25 years as a network foreign correspondent in order to go into the independent documentary field.

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Fact is channels like History Television have kept alive and enhanced the Canadian documentary tradition...

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HT.ca: How important is it to contextualize current events in terms of past history as the documentary does by looking at the war in Iraq and comparing it to Vietnam?

MM: It's important to get people to continually ask on the issue of war: How crucial is this to the national interest? I'm not suggesting that Iraq is a repetition of Vietnam, but there are certain parallels, foremost the evolvement of guerrilla warfare and the public question on the true motives for war. Vietnam: Ghosts of War is a story of Great Power blundering and—whether the other side's cause is right or wrong—the failure again and again to understand the power of human resistance.

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HT.ca: In the documentary, you state that Vietnam "defines modern war." Could you elaborate further on that comment? How has war evolved into this century? What are the costs of modern war?

MM: I say Vietnam "defines" modern war because increasingly civilians are the main casualties of war and consequently the public over time becomes the main force for crying out "Enough." The American war in Vietnam (1965-on) coincided with the advent of satellite television bringing the so-called "living-room war" and it was this—not the myth of media criticism—which finally forced US withdrawal from Vietnam. It is one thing to send your son to war, quite another to actually see him/her die on the 6 pm news. It was only when the body bags started coming home in great numbers that the US public turned against the war—and it may prove the same in Iraq.



Logo above is link to the article(s)

Vietnam: A Short History

The Haunting Ghosts of War (source of above snips)

Canada and the Vietnam War: Controversy and Conflict


REALLY a must read for those that may not be able to see the show

Wish I had a VCR !

[DemoTex]

1. If ghosts have a chorus, they are screaming in Kissinger's ears.

Every night. All night. VC ghosts. NVA ghosts. And million of innocent civilian ghosts in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos.

[ConcernedCanuk]

2. last kick: on in ten minues for those that are interested

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:hi: