Download PDF of this full issue: v9n1.pdf (8.8 MB)

Fraggin'

By Bill Shunas

GRENADE Of The Month

The GRENADE OF THE MONTH goes to Nguyen Ngoc Loan. He's the former South Vietnamese general who became famous for drawing a revolver and executing a suspected "guerilla" with a shot to the head in Saigon ten years ago. A photograph and newsreel of the incident was shown around the world.

Now Loan is managing a restaurant in Virginia. He's in the news again because the U.S. government is talking about trying to deport him on the grounds that he is a war criminal for shooting the man without a trial.

A lot of people have come to Loan's defense saying that Loan is just another victim of the war and will be executed if he is sent back to Vietnam. They say that in the confusion of the Tet Offensive, what he did was acceptable. They say let bygones be bygones. After all, they say, he killed the enemy and that was his job.

But is Loan a victim of the war? Not at all. He was one of the people in a position of responsibility who caused many others to be victims. General Loan was Director of the National Police and high up in the political organization of Nguyen Cao Ky, sometime president. And as Director of National Police, Loan was in charge of counter-insurgency operations.

To finance the counter-insurgency operations and the Ky political machine, Loan used some interesting fund-raising methods, most of which can be seen on late night re-runs of the "Untouchables." Sale of government jobs. Graft, kickbacks, bribes. Theft of goods and payroll fraud in the U.S. financed military.

These enterprises picked up some revenue, but the big money raiser was heroin. General Loan was the man in charge of the operation that supplied the opium dens of Saigon. After the supply of poppies from Turkey dried up, the heroin on the streets of the U.S. cities came mostly from Southeast Asia and General Loan. When U.S. soldiers got hooked while in Vietnam, the heroin came from General Loan's operation.

Does General Loan deserve a break? Only if it's both arms, legs, and his neck. Shooting a man in cold blood isn't nice, but it's one of the least of his catalogue of crimes. Ask the survivors and families of those hit by the Phoenix assassination program, the hundreds of thousands tortured in his investigations or imprisoned at Con Son Island in the torture kept there. Ask the vets or their families—the ones hooked on cheap heroin to support Loan's political ambitions- ask them what he deserves.

Down in the Southwest the U.S. Air Force has created a little bit of controversy. F-15's flying out of Holloman Airforce Base, New Mexico, have recently expanded their area of operations. This has brought cries of protest from residents of Texas where the F-15's are now overflying.

However, the Air Force does have its supporters in the area—the local cattle population. It seems that sonic booms have a good effect on the animals' sex lives. One of the ranchers observing the phenomenon said that old bulls lying around while an F-15 flies over will stand up and say, "What was that?" while he's up, he'll go on over and get it on with one more cow.

The cattle aren't the only ones happy with the F-15 flights. The ranchers are happy because livestock production is up.

If you stop and think about it, this discovery has far-reach-implications. Take the Pentagon budget for example. A lot of people complain that the Pentagon spends too much money. Some malcontents like to point out things like the Navy buying 65,000 aviator glasses for 33,000 aviators each year or the 24 Coast Guard admirals who authorized government-paid trips for their wives. The F-15 can help them cut the budget and get the critics off their backs. You see, since the F-15 helps increase livestock production, the F-15 program can be taken out of the Pentagon budget and given to the Department of Agriculture. This would cut back a few billion dollars and the Pentagon would be able to claim its first budget cut in years.

Another great possibility is the scientific implication of the F-15. For centuries and centuries, scientists have been looking for an aphrodisiac, and this could be a breakthrough. At this point the only known successes have been with experimental animals (the Texas cattle), but some day millions of people may have the F-15 and its sonic boom to thank for a happy sex life.

So let's hear a great big MOO for the Air Force and its sexy F-15's.

Five years after Vietnam and the U.S. military seems to be itching to get going again. At the NATO maneuvers in Europe, 20 people got killed, including 7 civilians in these "peace-time" maneuvers. Then, out in California, Navy fliers dropped 32 bombs outside the town of Wonder Valley. These were A-6 Intruders and A-7 Corsairs off the U.S.S.Ranger aiming for the bombing range at 29 Palms. These were the same guys who had blown a tugboat out of the water off San Diego earlier in the year. Fortunately, no one was killed in either incident.

The Navy hasn't explained these incidents or placed the blame on anyone, but I can make a couple of guesses. These are probably some of the pilots in Vietnam who used to take target practice on water buffalo and farmers in the fields. Or maybe they're the pilots who dropped their payload on us when they were supposed to be aiming for the "V.C." Or maybe they just had defective aviator glasses, and that explains why the Pentagon orders so many every year.

Members of Congress have the privilege of using the U.S. mail free in order to conduct their business as legislators. Sometimes they get accused of using the free postal services for business other than their work in Congress.

Take Representative Daniel Flood of Pennsylvania for example. He recently used his mailing privileges to send out the six page American Legion bulletin on National Security and Foreign Relations I guess this is what is meant by abuse of mailing privileges.

What interests me about this is why the American Legion can't pay its own postage? Why do the taxpayers have to foot the bill? Isn't this the patriotic veterans' organization that stands for decency, honesty, justice and equality for all?