Etc.

Pictures

Chujoe Wiki


Others

Inside Higher Ed

Killing the Buddha

Projo Subterranean News

Seed Magazine

Spike Magazine

Textplanet

Third Factory

Thoughtcast


Short List

Bemsha Swing

Body & Soul

Burningbird

The Loom

Luca Antara

Oblivio

Open Brackets

Robert Peake

Pharyngula

Real Live Preacher

Silliman's Blog

Slacktivist

The Valve

Vitro Nasu

Wood s Lot

Yule's Log



Support Bloggers' Rights!
Support Bloggers' Rights!

Blog Flux Directory

Dishonor · Nov 1, 01:03 PM

You know those black POW/MIA flags you see flying over post offices & fire stations & that is the only flag other than the stars & stripes to fly over the US Capitol? It’s a Vietnam-era relic, the symbol of a cult of the dead that infiltrated the American government at its highest levels. The National League of Families of American Prisoners and Missing in Southeast Asia, created for cynical political reasons by the Nixon Administration, has haunted American politics ever since. The league is dedicated to the idea that American soldiers were intentionally left behind by the American government, in tacit collaboration with the Vietnamese, in order to put a quick end to the war. Never mind that the Nixon administration used the POW/MIA issue to drag out the Paris Peace Talks for several years in the hope of finding a way to beat the Vietnamese Communists. The league has continued to promote this fantasy of a US sellout right down to the present day, even getting Congress to pass a law in 1990 requiring the display of the flag under specific circumstances. The US government finds itself in the Kafkaesque situation of requiring Postmasters across the country to display a symbol that asserts the Government intentionally abandoned American combat forces in Southeast Asia for crass political reasons.

Why am I thinking about all this right now? Because yesterday the American government abandoned an American soldier in Iraq. Gives those black flags a whole new meaning.

==

Note: The best sources on the black flag movement are Arnold R. Isaacs’ Vietnam Shadows, especially the chapter titled “The Myth,” and the somewhat more polemical Vietnam and Other American Fantasies, by H. Bruce Franklin.

* * *

  1. The full account of the POW/MIA flag and movement is available in my M.I.A OR MYTHMAKING IN AMERICA (Rutgers University Press). This is the main source used by Arnold Isaacs, who refers to it as “intensively researched book” (Isaacs, p. 110).
    — H. Bruce Franklin    11/01/2006 02:05 PM    #
  2. Well, what a pleasant surprise to have H. Bruce Franklin himself show up on my humble weblog! Had I been writing in a more scholarly mode, I would have mentioned Isaacs’ source material. I agree, by the way, that both M.I.A. or Mythmaking in America and Vietnam and Other American Fantasies are “intensively researched._ I assume you do not object to my characterization of the latter as “somewhat more polemical,” which is certainly no slur. The Isaacs book, incidentally, is out of print & no longer available even used on Amazon.
    — jd    11/01/2006 02:41 PM    #
  3. I think some of the comments here are very misleading. Your “facts” are quite inaccurate.

    The League was not created by the Nixon administration. The League was incorporated in May 1970 in response to the lack of information being provided by the Nixon administration to the families with members that were POW or MIA.

    For the POW/MIA flag to be called a “relic” is lack of knowledge on the writers part. This is why there are so many different opinions about the flag, its meaning, and the League’s mission.

    The town of Batavia, Ohio does not see this flag as a “relic”. They see this flag as one of hope that Matt Maupin will be found and returned to his country.

    Tell the family of the first WWI soldier to be identified and returned to the US for burial with full military honors.

    Tell that to the returned POW’s from WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Somalia, ODS, and OIF. They will along with their families tell you your opinion is wrong, as it is.

    Most of the time these type of opinions come from people that have never worn the uniform of our country, or someone that has a personal gripe with the government during their service and hasn’t taken the time to clear it up or seek professional help to deal with it.

    It is important that we find answers today for our missing heroes and their families. It is important that we continue to educate the public that we desire the fullest possible accounting of ALL our missing, no matter what conflict.

    If the POW/MIA flag bothers you that much, look the other way when you see it, or take an extended vacation to North Korea to see if you like it there better.

    You have the right to your opinion on the issue, but no right to attack the families who have missing loved ones from wartime.

    Mike Surles
    NC State Coordinator
    National League Of POW/MIA Families
    — Mike Surles    11/01/2006 11:20 PM    #
  4. Yeah, Mr. Surles. Thanks for dropping by to let me know people who disagree with you need to “seek professional help.” And thanks for telling me I ought to get out of the country & go to North Korea. I remember the America: Love it or Leave It days of Vietnam, so I know right where you’re coming from, Mr. Surles. Finally, thanks for letting me know I have the right to my own opinion, but you will have to show me exactly where I “attack[ed] the families” in what I wrote. Next thing I know, you’ll be telling me American veterans were spit on by anti-war protesters when they returned to the US.
    — jd    11/02/2006 08:22 AM    #
  5. How can anyone say that a humanitarian mission is a “relic”? Better yet, the “black flag movement” you speak of is a direct attack on the families of our POW/MIAs.

    Don’t you see it yet? Why would one even begin to think that this is a waste of time and money?

    People who disagree with this are not all classified in the “seek professional help” catagory. What is frightening is some are healthy with these types of views.

    I would like to bring it to your attention that there are still 1,797 missing from SEA and there are still 1,797 families (going into the third generation now) waiting for answers from our government.

    What would you tell them? I’m interested to hear that.

    Mike Surles
    — Mike Surles    11/04/2006 10:13 AM    #
  6. The US & the Vietnamese have recovered more dead from SEA than from any previous American war. But there is something about VN that sticks in your craw, isn’t there?

    It is an unfortunate fact of war that not all bodies get recovered. That is indeed sad, but your organization has preyed on the sadness of families who lost brothers & sons in order to advance a political agenda. The idea that there are living American POWs, or were when the war ended, is a fantasy (see Franklin’s & Isaacs’ books noted above). What is really “frightening” is that you & the members of your organization continue to perpetuate an unreal myth for political purposes.

    What would I tell them? I would tell them that the answers they seek from the government have already been given—the problem is that they have been unwilling to accept the reality of those answers. I would tell them that the US sent their loved ones to die in a misbegotten cause that never should have been fought in the first place, but that joining a death cult that hangs onto a conspiracy theory & promotes the idea that Americans were knowlingly abandoned in SEA is simply delusional. I would tell them the truth: that there loved ones are dead & that their bodies are for the most part unrecoverable & that the Vietnamese are in fact continuing reasonable efforts to recover bodies that can be recovered.

    Here’s a question for you: Do you know how many unrecovered bodies of Vietnamese victims of the war there are?
    — jd    11/04/2006 04:17 PM    #
  7. What political agenda do YOU say the League is trying to advance?

    How can you state that the League is preying on the families?

    What do you REALLY know about this issue?

    Your comments are those that have been heard for decades from people that will not look at the entire issue.

    Today it is about the recovery of remains. Give the families more credit than you do as they have accepted that their loved ones are dead.

    Stick to the issues at hand and leave the families alone. Of course, this seems to be your only angle.

    I would challenge you to get up to date on the issue by visiting the League’s website and do a little reading of your own.
    — Mike Surles    11/06/2006 02:22 PM    #
  8. What political purposes? To keep the specter of Vietnam as a glorious victory denied & a noble effort derailed floating in the American consciousness; in order to promote military symbols as fetishes, thus preventing a realistic & sober reading of history. History strongly suggests that the American War in VN was both unjust & unwise. Very much like the one the current draft-dodger-in-chief is now waging in Iraq.

    As a matter of fact, Mr. Surles, I have both visited the League’s website & done a great deal of reading on my own. I teach a university course on Vietnam, the country the culture & the war.

    I also take note of your highly defensive tone & non-specific accusations, Mr. Surles. It is certainly ironic for someone living so completely in the past to advise others to “get up to date.” It is in the nature of cults to emphasize side-issues & to use vague language, as you do, Mr. Surles, does in all your posts.
    — jd    11/07/2006 12:42 PM    #