08-10-2007, 07:27 PM
Old case of US saying 'You're either for us or against us' to other people.
New Zealand situation:
http://www.tv3.co.nz/VideoBrowseAll/Nation...47/Default.aspx
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Secret Vietnam War files released</b>
Sat, 04 Aug 2007 06:12p.m.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->It has a video. Listening to it is better, but for those that can't or those not interested in loading it, here's a transcript. My stuff in purple. What's not purple is not mine - including the bits where the news channel is making fun of the US.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Anchor: "After 30 years of sitting in storage a series of top secret files from the Vietnam War era have been released for public viewing. The documents cover the first visit to NZ by a US president: Lyndon B Johnson in 1966. Briefing notes show the American president urging the NZ govt to support the US intervention in Vietnam. Stephen Parker has been looking at the files".<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->Reporter:<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Deep in the bowels of the national archives are documents that have been kept secret for 30 yrs and only now can be seen. They are a slice of NZ history marked 'secret and for NZ eyes only'. Some giving insights into the first ever visit to NZ by an American president.
Archive news reel: "The president is challenged and welcomed in the traditional way by a Maori party specially dressed for the occasion."
President Lyndon Baines Johnson was in town and he attracted plenty of protest. It was 1966 at the height of the Vietnam war. NZ had already sent a small force, but LBJ needed as much support as he could get for a war going badly wrong.
LBJ: "All I want to do, is not only to be the possessor of freedom and liberty, but I want to be (building to hysterical crescendo) the protector of it - not just for myself, but for mankind." (Applause)
<b>Yupp, he was from Texas, can't you tell.</b>
These documents reveal the blunt message the president had when he met the NZ Prime Minister Keith Holyoak and his cabinet behind closed doors. <b>It was part demand, part threat for NZ to keep supporting the war.</b>
Johnson said, "if NZ showed lack of concern as Neville Chamberlain had, the US would hardly wish to march its forces 10,000 miles to save us if we wanted to die anyhow. He had not come to seek further troop commitments in South Vietnam. It was a matter of NZ's conscience to whether or not we are doing as much as we can to protect our own freedoms - but the danger still existed of aggression spreading." (<- Video showing the archive document while audio has the reporter reading from it )
Historian: "It came as no surprise at all to Holyoak and the cabinet. Of course, Keith Holyoak was very intent on not increasing NZ's commitment too excessively. He was there to support the United States politically but he wanted to send as few NZ forces as possible."
Soon after, NZ increased its combat involvement in the war from a single artillery battery to sending infantry and SAS units. In 1968 there were 540 NZ soldiers in Vietnam. And our involvement ended in 1972.
The archives of NZ have millions of documents, not all are being made public. Government officials deemed it would take 30 years before these fascinating notes of Johnson's visit could be released.
Archivist: "Normally most things once you got 30 yrs down the track, our sensitivities tend to .... tend to have ... have waned."
<b>And doesn't it sound so familiar?</b> (Voice-over on video that includes Lyndon B Johnson's NZ speech footage side by side with Bush's war speech
<b>America in trouble with a military operation in a foreign country. And a Texan president urging other countries to support his foreign intervention. Which goes to show maybe history does repeat.</b>
Stephen Parker 3 News.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->American schools should teach their kids why US has for decades not been well-perceived or popular in other countries.
New Zealand situation:
http://www.tv3.co.nz/VideoBrowseAll/Nation...47/Default.aspx
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Secret Vietnam War files released</b>
Sat, 04 Aug 2007 06:12p.m.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->It has a video. Listening to it is better, but for those that can't or those not interested in loading it, here's a transcript. My stuff in purple. What's not purple is not mine - including the bits where the news channel is making fun of the US.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Anchor: "After 30 years of sitting in storage a series of top secret files from the Vietnam War era have been released for public viewing. The documents cover the first visit to NZ by a US president: Lyndon B Johnson in 1966. Briefing notes show the American president urging the NZ govt to support the US intervention in Vietnam. Stephen Parker has been looking at the files".<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->Reporter:<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Deep in the bowels of the national archives are documents that have been kept secret for 30 yrs and only now can be seen. They are a slice of NZ history marked 'secret and for NZ eyes only'. Some giving insights into the first ever visit to NZ by an American president.
Archive news reel: "The president is challenged and welcomed in the traditional way by a Maori party specially dressed for the occasion."
President Lyndon Baines Johnson was in town and he attracted plenty of protest. It was 1966 at the height of the Vietnam war. NZ had already sent a small force, but LBJ needed as much support as he could get for a war going badly wrong.
LBJ: "All I want to do, is not only to be the possessor of freedom and liberty, but I want to be (building to hysterical crescendo) the protector of it - not just for myself, but for mankind." (Applause)
<b>Yupp, he was from Texas, can't you tell.</b>
These documents reveal the blunt message the president had when he met the NZ Prime Minister Keith Holyoak and his cabinet behind closed doors. <b>It was part demand, part threat for NZ to keep supporting the war.</b>
Johnson said, "if NZ showed lack of concern as Neville Chamberlain had, the US would hardly wish to march its forces 10,000 miles to save us if we wanted to die anyhow. He had not come to seek further troop commitments in South Vietnam. It was a matter of NZ's conscience to whether or not we are doing as much as we can to protect our own freedoms - but the danger still existed of aggression spreading." (<- Video showing the archive document while audio has the reporter reading from it )
Historian: "It came as no surprise at all to Holyoak and the cabinet. Of course, Keith Holyoak was very intent on not increasing NZ's commitment too excessively. He was there to support the United States politically but he wanted to send as few NZ forces as possible."
Soon after, NZ increased its combat involvement in the war from a single artillery battery to sending infantry and SAS units. In 1968 there were 540 NZ soldiers in Vietnam. And our involvement ended in 1972.
The archives of NZ have millions of documents, not all are being made public. Government officials deemed it would take 30 years before these fascinating notes of Johnson's visit could be released.
Archivist: "Normally most things once you got 30 yrs down the track, our sensitivities tend to .... tend to have ... have waned."
<b>And doesn't it sound so familiar?</b> (Voice-over on video that includes Lyndon B Johnson's NZ speech footage side by side with Bush's war speech
<b>America in trouble with a military operation in a foreign country. And a Texan president urging other countries to support his foreign intervention. Which goes to show maybe history does repeat.</b> Stephen Parker 3 News.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->American schools should teach their kids why US has for decades not been well-perceived or popular in other countries.