The performance of journalists during the Vietnam war was absolutely disgraceful. No wonder their influence has dramatically fallen over the years to the point where they are now considered less trustworthy than politicians and used car salesman. It amazes me how things such as Sorell kept their jobs.

Oh yes we are the ones that suffered and became the victims!

The nightmare that was the American war against the Vietnamese hasnt ended at all for many of the people of Vietnam and Laos and Cambodia.

This article explains why and how.

http://www.alternet.org/story/76712/-51k

Thus there are many other references on this tragedy.

This article attempts to gloss over the rights and wrongs of the Vietnam. Even if, for argument's sake, it were possible to establish that Australia's intervention was carried out without the use of torture, the killing of prisoners or other breaches of International Conventions governing the conduct of war, the fact remains that the Australian military intervention caused death and destruction on a vast scale in an immoral war to prop up the corrupt unelected Saigon dictatorship.

As I have already pointed out a number of times before on OLO that dictatorship was imposed on the South after the country was partitioned as part of the unjust 1954 Geneva Peace agreement.

Even Australian Foreign Minister Casey at the time acknowledged that the Viet Minh would easily have won those elections in the South as well as the North.

In fact, war crimes were committed by Australian Forces in Vietnam.

Long Tan veteran Terry Burstall's "A Soldier Returns" cited documentary evidence of:

* Routine bombardment by Australian artillery of farmers and oxen in the 'free fire zones'

* The killing of unarmed woodcutters by SAS troops in one incident

Stuart Rintoul's compilation "Ashes of Vietnam" has first hand accounts of what, from my recollection, appeared to be cold-blooded killing of unarmed Vietnamese by Australian and New Zealand forces. In one account, when an Australian Helicopter pilot, sent in to pick up New Zealand forces, asked why they all weren't already there waitng for them was told that the rest were 'converting' enemy WIA's to KIA's.

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Even in the novel "The Odd Angry Shot" there seems to be evidence of a mindset in which brutality towards Vietnamese was considered acceptable amongst some Australians. Very early on in the novel there was an incident of brutality towards Vietnamese civilians by Australian soldiers -- the exact details of the incident escape me now. At the end the incident the Australians joked to themselves how their treatment of the hapless Vietnamese had created a convert to the cause of the Viet Cong, seemingly as if they actually welcomed the prospect of being able to fight and kill more Vietnamese.

Why such a novel was critically acclaimed and thought worth turning into a movie -- one of the most abysmal ever in every possible regard IMHO -- is beyond me.

I even spoke to a Vietnam Veteran once who actually told me back in the early 1980's that "he enjoyed killing those little monkeys." Perhaps he didn't mean what he said, but it sure seemed to me like he did at the time.

So, even if Australian forces stand absolved of John Sorell's allegations of having committed water torture, Sasha Uzunov's claim that Australia's conduct was otherwise clean and unblemished is contrary to the evidence.

Ho Hum, Friday, 24 April 2009 10:11:38 AM declared ;

American War ?

At that time Oz hadn't recovered from the devastation of the 2nd World War , we were suffering "Yellow Hoard" mentality , Algebraic Symbals at the back of everyone's brain seemed to be saying "Nip it in the Bud while we can" .

Meanwhile the Famous General Macarthur was warning "Never get involved in military operations on the ground in Asia". The American Politic was listening . So was Ming , (Menzies) Who immediately Winged it for Hollywood , florid news about Yellow "Communist" Hoards abounded , and the Imperialist Ming had his way .

So you can't call Nam "American War" without Ming's intersession it would not have happened .

Thanks for the feedback to my story. In Ref to Odd Angry Shot, the film based on the book of the same name was written by a character called by Bill Nagle, who it was claimed was SASR but in fact turned out to be an Army cook with an ear for a "good yarn".

http://australianscreen.com.au/titles/odd-angry-shot/