Noam Chomsky on U.S. Foreign Policy: Vietnam War, the Pentagon, and Public Opinion (8/8) (1995)

December 8, 1995 http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.... Watch the full program: http://thefilmarchived.blogspot.com/2010/10/noam-chomsky-and-christopher-hitc...

In February 1967, The New York Review of Books published "The Responsibility of Intellectuals", an essay by Noam Chomsky, one of the leading intellectual opponents of the war. In the essay Chomsky argued that much responsibility for the war lay with liberal intellectuals and technical experts who were providing what he saw as pseudoscientific justification for the policies of the U.S. government.

On February 1, 1968, a suspected NLF officer was summarily executed by General Nguyen Ngoc Loan, a South Vietnamese National Police Chief. Loan shot the suspect in the head on a public street in front of journalists. South Vietnamese reports provided as justification after the fact claimed that the suspect was captured near the site of a ditch holding as many as thirty-four bound and shot bodies of police and their relatives, some of whom were the families of General Loan's deputy and close friend. The execution was filmed and photographed during the Tet Offensive and provided another iconic image that helped sway public opinion in the United States against the war.

The events of Tet in early 1968 as a whole were also remarkable in shifting public opinion regarding the war. U.S. military officials had previously reported that counter-insurgency in South Vietnam was being prosecuted successfully. While the Tet Offensive provided the U.S. and allied militaries with a great victory in that the Viet Cong was finally brought into open battle and destroyed as a fighting force, the American media, including respected figures such as Walter Cronkite, interpreted such events as the attack on the American embassy in Saigon as an indicator of U.S. military weakness. The military victories on the battlefields of Tet were obscured by shocking images of violence on television screens, long casualty lists, and a new perception among the American people that the military had been untruthful to them about the success of earlier military operations, and ultimately, the ability to achieve a meaningful military solution in Vietnam.

Chomsky also participated in "resistance" activities, which he described in subsequent essays and letters published in the New York Review of Books: withholding half of his income tax, taking part in the 1967 march on the Pentagon, and spending a night in jail. In the spring of 1972, Chomsky testified on the origins of the war before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, chaired by J. William Fulbright.

Chomsky's view of the war is different from orthodox anti-war opinion which holds the war as a tragic mistake. He argues that the war was a success from the US point of view. According to Chomsky's view the main aim of US policy was the destruction of the nationalist movements in the Vietnamese peasantry. In particular he argues that US attacks were not a defense of South Vietnam against the North but began directly in the early 1960s (covert US intervention from the 1950s) and at that time were mostly aimed at South Vietnam. He agrees with the view of orthodox historians that the US government was concerned about the possibility of a "domino effect" in South-East Asia. At this point Chomsky diverts from orthodox opinion - he holds that the US government was not so concerned with the spread of state Communism and authoritarianism but rather of nationalist movements that would not be sufficiently subservient to US economic interests.

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[alexandertmackay]

@braydonthepirate No, chomsky has said, the US was not concerned about the threat from the Soviet Union. Since every sane person in the government knew the soviets would never attack the US. The US was concerned about the idea that state-based systems would spread throughout the 3rd world, Namely south America, because soviet style state capitalism was better than US style free enteprise state capitalism, for 3rd world countries. It would limit US influence in the world.

[UDSS]

Its all 1995 all over again. Today the Republicans and Democrats also talk about balancing the budget. Noam Chomsky is right in 1995 and right today ( 2012 ). Capitalists will always try to destroy anything that is a threat to their profits.

[comanchio1976]

@armidas200 I've been watching these over the past few days, and what I've found, as with other similar vids, is that there are several issues that seem almost directly relevant to what's going on today.

It's like we just keep going round-and-round in circles.

[armidas200]

the balanced budget part is surprisingly relevant today!

[fallenempireoverdrve]

hmm 1995

[ryler05]

the situation is getting much worse. sorry chomsky

[mattydoga]

I agree

[braydonthepirate]

Does Chomsky believe the US was not concerned with the spread of communism/authoritarianism because they believed it would not 'take hold' or 'catch on'?