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Vietnam War "Refought", System Rewrites History

By VVAW

It's been here years since the liberation of Indochina. But 1978 has been decreed the "Year of Vietnam." After three years of hoping that the memories of the Vietnam War would fade away, the people who run this country have decided to take aim on the war and blast away.

• Ten Movies, good and not so good, are due out in 1978 describing the experience of Vietnam - and sometimes the experience of Vietnam vets.
• As series of books, out last year in hardcover, will hit the paperback stands in huge printings.
• A TV series is being projected for the fall season.
• Ex-general Westmoreland tours college campuses to "explain the Vietnam war to the new generation."
• Newspapers run large think pieces on the problems of Vietnam vets.
• History is re-written - for instance the Tet Offensive in 1968 now becomes an "American victory" which was turned into a loss by the media.

Why? The lessons of Vietnam are not just fading away. The rulers of this country look into their future, see that they want us to fight another of their rotten wars a couple of years down the road; but first they've got to clear up Vietnam. So it's time to, in President Carter's words, "heal the wounds of Vietnam." Translated, that means trying to bandage over the scores of the system which were so nakedly exposed during that war.

Their scheme won't work. Our memories are still vivid. We don't intend to forget our buddies who died for corporation profits, or forgive the rich who sent us there and now are trying to throw the survivors on the dung heap here. For veterans particularly, the experience and lessons from Vietnam have led us to say "Fight the Rich, Not Their Wars!"

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