THE VIETNAM WALL (National Park Service)
The long conflict between France and Vietnam came to
an abrupt end in July, 1954, when the French were soundly
defeated at DIEN BIEN PHU. The U.S. although defeated
in Korea, was eager to get involved in another war.
The U.S. felt it was their duty to interfere in the
Geneva accords to reunify the war torn country. President
Eisenhower created a government of South Vietnam. Controversial
from the start, the U.S. intervention accelerated when
in 1961 President Kenedy sent "advisors" to
straighten things out. The U.S. involvement was doomed
from the start. Buddhist Monks staged massive protests,
President Diem and his brother were assassinated, and
President Kennedy himself was assassinated. At that
time there were 16,000 "advisors" in Vietnam.
With the bungled handling of the situation by President
Johnson and Sec. of Defense Robert McNamara conditions
continued to deteriorate. Next came the controversial
Gulf of Tonkin incident. McNamara advised President
Johnson that we could send 30,000 troops and the war
would be over in 30 days. With no clearly defined objectives,
in 1965 Johnson sent the first combat troops to Vietnam.
This was the beginning of the end. American anti - war
sentiment erupted with the entire country against our
intervention in Vietnam. Eventually American troops
were defeated badly in the Tet Offensive and a disgraced
Lyndon Johnson declared he would press the communist
to end the war. President Nixon actually expanded the
war into Laos and Cambodia and increased the bombing.
In the meantime campus protests over our staggering
losses were having a terrible effect on our country.
On April 30, 1975, communist forces captured the Presidential
Palace in Saigon, and the war ended. In 1978 Vietnam
invaded Cambodia defeating the Khmer Rouge. On Nov.
11,1982, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, "The Wall",
was dedicated.
The war tore our nation apart. Was it worth losing
58,202 good men? Does anyone know what our policy was?
Most Americans and 82% of Vietnam combat veterans strongly
believe the war was lost because of lack of political
will.
ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETARY - VIETNAM
The Wall, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is a National
War Memorial located in Washington, D.C. that honors
members of the U.S. armed forces who served in the Vietnam
War. "The Wall" was designed by MAYA LINN,
a 21 year old Yale student. Her design was selected
from over 1,421 entries.
STATUE OF LIBERTY (Wikipedia)
The Statue of Liberty is a colossal statue given to
the United States by France in 1886. It stands on Liberty
Island, in the mouth of the Hudson River in New York
Harbor as a welcome to all visitors, immigrants, and
returning Americans. The copper statue commemorates
the Centennial of the U.S. and is a gesture of friendship
between the two countries.
TWIN TOWERS (Wikipedia)
The September 11, 2001 attacks on the twin towers consisted
of a series of coordinated terrorist suicide attacks
by Islamic extremist. 19 terrorist affiliated with al-Qaeda
hijacked four jet airliners. They crashed two of the
planes into the twin towers, one plane into each tower.
A third plane was crashed into the Pentagon. The fourth
crashed in Pennsylvania after the flight crew fought
with the hijackers. 2,749 people were killed. 15 of
the hijackers were from Saudi Arabia, two were from
the United Arab Emirates, one from Egypt, and one from
Lebanon.
It should be pointed out that more people were killed
in this attack than the Pearl Harbor attack. Immediately
after the Pearl Harbor attack the U.S. declared war
on the Japanese, who did the attack. In the Twin Towers
attack the U.S. did absolutely nothing. Thought provoking
!
STATUE OF LIBERTY AND THE TWIN TOWERS (Wikipedia)
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