Vietnam War

Without getting into the incident ....

The incident itself didn't became public knowledge in 1969, a year after it happened.

It immediately prompted widespread outrage around the world.

The massacre also increased domestic opposition to the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. The three U.S. servicemen who made an effort to halt the massacre and protect the wounded were denounced by U.S. Congressmen.

Calley was a scapegoat following orders. But it was the brutality of it that brings up questions.

Many of the victims were sexually abused, beaten, tortured, and some of the bodies were found mutilated.... between 347 and 504 people. Some of those American soldiers were animals ---- some cried while they killing them.

Major cover-up by the US Military. That sure as hell did nothing for the trust of the American people.

If the military would cover up something like this, to this extent, what else is it covering up?

The US government backed up the military 100%. Well, there went that trust too. What else is the White House covering up about Vietnam? Like the fact that we had been over there for almost 10 years now.

General William C. Westmoreland, congratulated the unit on the "outstanding job", Army's Stars and Stripes magazine, "U.S. infantrymen had killed 128 Communists in a bloody day-long battle."

What did this say? That either our top military commanders are either bald-faced liars or completely incompetent and clueless as to what was going on in their own command.

Here's a good one .....31-year-old Army Major Colin Powell, was charged with investigating. Powell wrote, "In direct refutation of this portrayal is the fact that relations between American soldiers and the Vietnamese people are excellent." Powell's handling of the assignment was later characterized by some observers as "whitewashing". Major Colin Powell was in the unit that was responsible for My Lai, supposedly he got there AFTER it happened.

The effects ....Some military observers concluded that My Lai showed the need for more and better volunteers to provide stronger leadership for the troops. As Vietnam dragged on, the number of well trained and experienced career soldiers dropped sharply. So, our army was uneducated.

Others pointed out problems the military's insistence on unconditional obedience to orders while at the same time limiting the doctrine of "command responsibility" to the lowest ranks.

Others saw it as a direct result of the military's attrition strategy, with its emphasis on "body counts" and "kill ratios".

The fact that the massacre was successfully covered up for 18 months was seen as a prime example of the Pentagon's "Culture of Concealment" and of the lack of integrity that permeated the Defense establishment.

The fact that Calley was the only officer convicted led many to see him as a scapegoat and belief that there was a lot more corruption and hidden agenda within the military and government than anyone ever thought.

Ernest Medina -- Captain, company commander ,who planned, ordered, and supervised the execution of the operation, after resigning from the army went to work at an Enstrom Helicopter Corporation plant owned by F. Lee Bailey.

Samuel W. Koster -- Major General, commanding officer, had actually been promoted to the Superintendent of the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1970, he got demoted one rank, to Brigadier General, for failing to conduct an adequate investigation and was reassigned to become deputy commander of Maryland's Aberdeen Proving Ground.

Four Star General William Westmoreland became the U.S. Army Chief of Staff.

Four Star General Colin Powell eventually ended up in the White House as the 65th United States Secretary of State (2001--2005), serving under President George W. Bush.

So, as you see, the "effects" didn't last that damned long. We have SHORT memories.

This is a prime example of the old saying ..."Those who do not know their own history are doomed to repeat it....."

If you remember the incident in Iraq with the US Army reservist who served in the 372nd Military Police Company, Spec Lynndie England, 1 of 11 military convicted in 2005 by the Army courts martial in connection with the torture and prisoner abuse at the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad during the occupation of Iraq. All while being witnessed by the CIA officers present.

This was under the command of a very close personal friend of President Bush and Colin Powell ---- She was the commanding officer of thel Iraq detention facilities, Brigadier General Janis Karpinski, was reprimanded for dereliction of duty and then demoted to the rank of Colonel on May 5, 2005 for a pending misdemeanor shoplifting charge filed years earlier.

Because wealthy children could afford to go to college; thus receiving a "draft deferment."

Most draft aged men had to work for a living, and couldn't afford to go to college, as that required carrying 18 college units to avoid the draft. 18 units was full time school.

So the men that couldn't afford college had to go to war instead.

Here is a list of some (I think all) of the cheat codes in the game along with a warning.

If you enable cheat mode YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE to unlock and more achievements ON THAT ONE file.


To turn cheat mode on: open up your PDA (back button) and then enter the following:
LB RB RB LB RB LB LB RB RB RB LB
And then close your PDA (back button).
To enter codes after it is enabled open up your PDA (back button) and then enter the code and close your PDA (back button).

Invincibility - Up Down Left Down Right Right (one of my favs)


Infinite Ammo - Up Down Left Right Left Left (my fav cheat)

Give All Vehicles - Up Down Left Right Right Left


Give All Supplies - Left Right Right Left Up Up Left Up


Give All Airstrikes (except nuke) - Right Left Down Up Right Left Down Up

Give Nuke - Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right

Fill Fuel - Up Up Up Down Down Down

Unlock All Costumes - Up Right Down Left Up

Unlock Grapping Hook - Up Left Down Right Up

BTW you need to have your version updated first.

Enjoy!!

Causes: Both wars had their roots in anti-colonial nationalist movements. Both were affronts to the principles laid down in the American declaration of independence. In both conflicts, the ability to dehumanize the enemy is apparent as the fundamental error leading to the excesses that occurred.

The Philippine Islands:

The inhabitants of the Philippine Islands were in revolt against the Spanish colonial rule for several years prior to the United States military involvement. During this revolt, in 1896, the Philippines declared independence and set up a independent government. The revolutionary war was still in progress when the United States speciously entered a global conflict with Spain in 1898.

After the Battle of Manila, Admiral Dewey brought the political leader (President Emilo Aguinaldo) of the Philippine revolt back to Manila from his exile in Hong Kong. He may have thought that this indigenous leader would prove easy to control. In this he was mistaken.

The people of the Philippines had been given assurances, both explicit and more importantly implicit, that the United States (of all countries) would provide them with a road to independence from corrupt and dissipating colonial rule. Soon it became clear that this was not only not the case, but the United States set up their own colonial government.

Imperialism was controversial in the United States, many prominent people wrote lamenting the direction and excesses of this as foreign policy of the United States. The newspapers of the day reflected the misgivings of intellectuals and thinkers. Not withstanding this principled dissent, the imperialists prevailed in regards to the Philippines and elsewhere around the globe. Wilson's Principles of Self-Determination were not applied to people of the Philippines. (Or others around the globe that the US held as property)

From 1898 until 1945, the Philippines were United States territory. When Japan attacked the Philippines in 1942 following Pearl Harbor, they weren't attacking the Philippines...they were attacking the USA.

The Philippine people did not want US colonial rule (they felt, and rightly so, that they had been double crossed). In 1900, they continued their anti-colonial revolt, now against the US government.

This was both a continuation of the revolutionary war and an insurrection of the Philippine people against the new colonial government and the US imposed colonial governor. This war lasted for about 2 years, from 1900 to 1902.

It was the first conflict were the US marines were armed with machine guns and overwhelming force and novel tortures were used. It was far bloodier than the Spanish-American War that had preceded it. The documented stories of torture and war crimes are too horrendous to comment on here, research into them is left as an exercise to the reader. Still tens of thousands of people were killed in bombardments from naval vessels, and troop employments in what quickly became a guerrilla war by the revolutionists.

Vietnam War: Prior to the French colonization a single country (differently named) existed in the area of Asia we now call Vietnam. For various purposes largely involving their administration, the French divided "Cochin China" during their colonial period.

Promised independence by no less a person than Charles deGaulle during World War Two in return for loyalty against the Japanese Empire, the Vietnamese fought bravely and at their peril under Ho Chi Minh. When the Japanese surrendered in 1945, their army surrendered to and were interred by the Vietminh army.

With the United States support, the French reneged upon their wartime promises and sent force in 1946 to commence re-imposition of colonial rule. This began a protracted anti-colonial war against the French, ending in their defeat and withdrawal in 1954. During this conflict, the South Vietnamese province was established as a puppet state of western powers. Never the legitimate government of the people, it was subject to the manipulation (and even overthrow and assassination when it suited) of foreign powers.

The intent in all this interest appears to be the rabid anticommunism of the day.

Vietnam in its protracted fight against colonialism, sought benefactors and allies. The same forces in the world that supported Mao in China, gave some (small at first, more later) material support to Ho Chi Minh's nationalists. This support did have a price tag that was not fixed in solely monetary terms. Thus, unwillingly, Vietnam became a very hot battle front of the cold war.

The US dropped more tons of aerial bombardment on Northern Vietnam than were dropped in WWII! In addition it used massive chemical defoliants to poison the environment. (The Romans salting the lands of their defeated enemies never had this scale.) The US forces saw the Vietnamese civilian population were against them. It became commonplace to refer to the people as "gooks" even while employing "hooch girls" to care for soldier's "personal needs". It is estimated that the USA forces killed over 2 million Vietnamese people during the course of our involvement to "free the people of Vietnam".