lyndon johnson would have gone to vietnam? >> well, i can only say this i never knew during all that debate time about vietnam that president johnson knew that we made a dreadful mistake getting involved in vietnam militarily. you read a brilliant historian who is on the program tomorrow, mr. beschloss, who has written a book, not so much written a book, but published a book on the johnson tapes. i didn't even know that johnson had a tape recorder going either. i thought that was just nixon. [ laughter ] but anyway, here is -- here is the tapes. and he is talking to richard -- >> russell. >> richard russell of georgia, who is chairman of the senate formulations committee. and this is in the first days when president johnson was sworn in, after john kennedy's assassination. in those first days, he said dick, what the hell are we going to do about that mess out there in vietnam? we never should have gotten into that place. and dick russell, who i also didn't know felt the same way about it, he said i agree, it's a mess. i don't

getting involved in vietnam. militarily. you read the brilliant historian who is on the program tomorrow, mr. beschloss, who published a book on the johnson tapes. i didn't even know johnson had a tape going, i thought that was just nixon. but here is the tapes and he's talking to richard -- >> russell. >> richard russell of georgia. who was chairman of the senate foreign relations committee. and this is in the first days of when president johnson was sworn in. after john kennedy's assassination. in those first days, he said dick, what the hell are we going to do about that mess out there in vietnam? we never should have gotten into that place. and dick russell, who i also didn't know was, felt the same way about it, said, i agree. it's a mess. i don't know how you get out of there now. maybe one thing you could do, you could find those guys out there in saigon that got rid of old ziem. who was assassinated. and get that gang to send a communique' to us, asking us to leave. and he said, maybe, if our so-called allies are ask

i did not go into vietnam with her. but what she did was not do the photo op thing. she went to see the troops in the hospital, the wounded in the hospital, not for a picture. but the most important thing she did -- like i say, i didn't go with her. i was slightly wounded in vietnam. the persons who feel it most are the family at home. my wife and kids just got a telegram. and they were frightened to death to open it and treread th telegram. and then they get no follow-up. maybe you get a military guide reading a script saying everything is okay. but they're frightened. mrs. nixon went into the hospitals and took the names of all of the young men who were wounded in the hospitals, and when she went back to the united states, called their loved ones to say, i saw him.

in vietnam. now 17 years out to allow the search resumed and 47 years after the crash remains of the bodies of the crew been returned to the u.s. when the plane went down while it went down hard in the burnt periods >>> and carried a lot of ammunition. >>> yes its the termite my father and send me as they call them dragons. the player was called puff the magic dragon on a more than 50 transports armed with rapid-fire guns that port at 6000 bulletin minutes the the plane crashed and burned in burned so hot little was left of the air. >>> six people were on the plane they're able to identify it and the rest were able to identify. so they're going to have a group burial. at arlington national cemetery in london. the remains to be buried in a single casket's that's a picture of my father myself. using a draft notice in 1972. he says he was able to get a draft and rent the sons of those killed in action. and says vietnam taught america about respecting veterans. >>> troops the military but the allies

never to return home from the vietnam war. a place we called 'nam. the p.o.w./m.i.a. missing warriors table is reserved in memory and in honor of our missing comrades and loved ones, both men and women classified as our p.o.w. and m.i.a. the prisoners of war and missing in action of all wars. ordinary men and women who faced an extraordinary call. they are not and will not ever be forgotten. they are the veterans of the land, the air and the sea who gave up their tomorrows for our tod todays. our guardians of freedom. our nation's sword and shield. in a spirit of love, hope and remembrance, let us embrace their spiritual remembrance. [ bell ringing ] >> there were once young men and women who converted from school books to helmets, from sneakers to combat boots, when war shadowed our country and freedom was threatened, men and women rolled up their sleeves and answered the call. from gi joe to rosie the riveter, when our country was in need, no one stood at ease. from the tractor and plow, to jump boots and parachutes, from the great depression's threat to m-1s and ba

vietnam, you know, the army had 12 months, the marines had 13 months. the psychiatric casualty rate dropped to something like 2%. but afterwards, the ptsd rates and all that stuff were just as rampant as they ever were. but it's because of that psychological thing. "there is a way out. all i have to do is survive this long." i think if a guy goes over there, he either can commit suicide or he can go crazy. >> i was going to ask you if you thought suicide was a way out in their minds? because as you probably know the rate of suicides of our troops is now back up. it's about one a day, so far this year. and that's higher than it's been in several years. now i know every example is different. but generally, from your experience, what do you think about the rising number of suicides in our troops today? >> well, i'm with you. i mean, who am i to say? but i have my theories. and i'll be happy to tell you. first of all, i think it is because we've laid an enormous burden on a tiny percentage of the population. i was at fort bragg -- actually, fayetteville, no

one, i think, died in vietnam who i knew. and i don't know if any -- i dot wi it any but the elites do not send their kids into the military anymore. >> i wonder if that has some effect on the suicides, the feeling, "what does it matter? you know, who cares?" because soldiers, i read, sometimes feel double crossed, twice. once when they go and discover they've been lied to about the war. and then when they come home and find nobody gives a damn about what it costs them. >> exactly. no, i think it does have an enormous amount of -- because it's the sense that you're carrying the entire burden. and no one is aware of it, no one wants to cop to it. i mean, you think about what it takes to get a soldier over to afghanistan. you and i have to pay taxes. people have to train scientists to build bombs. people have to finance factories to do the building. everyone in this country is involved in that war. what the soldier did is at the end of an enormous long chain, he pulled the trigger. that was his part. but we all like to believe

g: i ner a c-: wihe o okoumm c-: galnk okban -yal t n ur book a lot--that day in--back in vietnam at--is it pronounced schneuel or schneuel? general ed franks,o-author, cod"nedyn >>st'scaia 'sut 2lebo , ilersi odroe h vietnamese border. c-span: what happened that day, and wh date was it? >> guest: that was may the 5th, 1970. never forget it. of w segpog tat ti. and one thing led to another; we were attacking north vietnamese, we thought--intelligence said o mear tow hn. myadcode gray l. brookshire, was on the ground along with the regimental commder, don starry, and i was moving in a helicopter to help the squadron maneuver--time was tss--flve -aafsi twa ed i kicked out a smoke grenade, marked it; forces came over and wanted to--i landed because we bee neerreotthpriss ivnsthead vimeorwhrere oumao tond without harming civilians. so intelligence from the enemy was important. thrtetsedi ofuninuran sotsorsli away some logs and so forth from in front of the bunker, the north vietnamese threw a hand grenade out and landed nexto my foot. st, wae pu mrty of at o and that ended the war for me,

heroism as he served in the vietnam war. in his second tour in vietnam, he assumed command of his company when his platoon leader was wounded in open ground. he led his platoon to defeat a gun crew. another platoon moved to the area, and its leader was lead -- was wounded. he didn't hesitate to take over that and continue -- platoon and continue the fight. we are truly grateful for the brave service of nirk bacon and for all of those who serve and defend our nation every dayism urge my colleagues to joan me in strong support of this bill and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman reserves. the chair recognizes the gentleman from virginia. mr. connolly: i thank the speaker. as a member of the house committee on oversight and government reform i'm pleased to join my colleagues in consideration of h.r. 3870, to dez ig nate the facility of the

they are against china expanding its maritime presence, the philippines, vietnam, especially won the backing of the united states. on monday asean foreign ministers are working on a code of conduct. the focus of the asean meeting on wednesday is whether china accept's asean's position and whether china agreed to start discussing the code of conduct. >> what are the prospects of them reaching a deal? >> china is is expected to agree to start discussing the code of conduct to a wide criticism from the international community. but china's basic policy remains unchanged and what the dispute to be solved bilaterally. it could affect its claim to part of the south china sea. the approach of kwam boda will likely be critical. china is cambodia's leading economy supporter. china has invested a lot of amount of money to build infrastructure in cambodia and helped build the prime minister office where the current talk is taking place. so it's questionable how far cambodia can support other asean members like vietnam and philippines against china. the foreign ministry hinted that cambodia will

you're a vietnam veteran, professor of chicano studies. you talk about the vietnam war. >> yes, i did. >> and we have this, we will talk about this in just a little bit, which is the reason why charlie is here. but tell us about your adventures. how are the locations going? give us an update, if you will. >> yeah, we have publications. it is going very slow right now. i have to readjust and redo the whole company because of the way markets are adjusting. but i will probably start publishing in a year or so again. >> you have to start tweeting and facebooking. >> facebooking and just the ebooks. and that kind of stuff. i'm also doing film and video. so that also -- >> because you were working on a documentary the last time we soak. >> yes, we spoke about a documentary on the mexican robin hood. >> right. >> and i haven't been able to get sufficient funds to finish it. but i've been working on that one. so i'm also trying to make a feature film of my novel "gone from illusion." we have some hollywood bites. so we are still working on it. i'm

mine was earned off vietnam in 1968. over the south pacific in 1943. i got mine in iraq, 2003. usaa auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation. because it offers a superior level of protection, and because usaa's commitment to serve the military, veterans and their families is without equal. begin your legacy, get an auto insurance quote. usaa. we know what it means to serve. >>> take a look at this scene. this is anaheim, california where protesters are reacting to a police shooting that killed a 24-year-old man. people were throwing rocks and bottles and setting dumpsters on fire. police responded with pepper spray and rubber bullets. a police dog got free and bites one person on the ground there in his arm. anaheim police chief apologized for the dog being loose and says the shooting is now under investigation. additionally here, kabc reports that it's not known if the man who was killed was armed. >>> a truck crash in south texas takes the lives of 13 people including two kids. there were 23 people inside this truck. this was an f-250 according to to

the blame for vietnam at least then was pinned mainly on the democratic party. democrats then went on to move left and nominate a very strong anti-war candidate in 1972, after richard nixon had won the election in 1968, and that was not -- that was not where the country was at that stage even though nixon had escalated a fairly unpopular war, security take root and also this notion maybe democrats aren't as strong as they need to be on national security and began to influence national elections. jimmy carter, who is not particularly experienced in foreign affairs, although he did serve in the navy, won a very tight election in 1980. excuse me. in 1976. you think about it, it should have been a route given the watergate and nixon resignation and then the very unpopular pardon, but he is generally perceived to have not been a strong candidate on national security. the response of the soviet invasion of afghanistan was seen as tepid and although carter increased spending and military during his four years in office, of course as you know over the last year it was m

fought in vietnam. you have been to south america. saw the drug cartels. had lunch with one of the bare yoens himself. do you think it would help if policy makers in america experienced war? >> i do. i think it would be -- i think world war ii generation, the korean war, these people were in congress and makes a big difference because they know war. and when you don't, you start to be like a bit of a chicken hawk. a lot of these neoconservatives that have started these wars in the last 20 years have no war record except for rumsfeld. he was the only one. cheney, rove, bush. it's not an attractive portrait of people who can call for other people to suspend their lives. also, well, the whole issue of vietnam, you know, the whole -- lyndon johnson never raised taxes. and bush jr. never raised taxes during the iraq war. so, you know, the whole idea of how to fight a war is what's weird in this country. we have to learn that it's a national -- if we go to war, it's a serious thing. >> everyone's in it togeth

china and vietnam are also at odds over the sovereignty of the disputed island groups. >>> vietnamese officials are looking toward other emerging economies to increase trade. they hosted a meeting with government and business leaders from latin american countries, including brazil and argentina. the prime minister says the vietnamese want to increase economic cooperation with the 15 visiting nations. he is hosting the meeting for the first time. >> translator: latin america has abundant natural resources and a population of 570 million people. it's an essential partner of vietnam's economic growth. >> the european debt crisis has been a drag on the economies of industrialized nations. vietnam has relied on its biggest trading partner, china, but government officials are trying to diversify the countries they trade with. they're finding interest among latin americans. many representatives say they hope to increase trade among emerging economies. rapid growth is boosting consumer confidence, and the trade between vietnam and latin america has been increasing steadily. >>> until recently

china and vietnam are also at odds over the sovereignty of the disputed island groups. >>> vietnamese officials are looking toward other emerging economies to increase trade. they hosted a meeting with government and business leaders from latin american countries, including brazil and argentina. the prime minister says the vietnamese want to increase economic cooperation with the 15 visiting nations. he is hosting the meeting for the first time. >> translator: latin america has abundant natural resources and a population of 570 million people. it's an essential partner of vietnam's economic growth. >> the european debt crisis has been a drag on the economies of industrialized nations. vietnam has relied on its biggest trading partner, china, but government officials are trying to diversify the countries they trade with. they're finding interest among latin americans. many representatives say they hope to increase trade among emerging economies. rapid growth is boosting consumer confidence and the trade between vietnam and latin america has been increasing steadily. >>> until recentl h

the first is the post vietnam generation of officials and political leaders who came of age in the 70's and 80's and even the 60's in the case of the late richard holbrooke but it's people like holbrooke, joe biden the secretary of defense, george mitchell who was the middle east peace envoy, i would call john kerry who wasn't in the committee but certainly in the administration's strong supporter of congress certainly a charter member of the vietnam generation. this doesn't mean that all of the members of this administration or the entire war democrats. holbrooke in particular had repeatedly at each juncture where there was an antiwar candidate he tended to be with the centrists to finance the the to denounce the candidate. that was true of mcgovern and of obama and so on. the more than any other generation, these members of this first generation have seen firsthand how the use of force can go disastrously wrong and it's something that they keep in mind regularly. this is a dominant issue for the democrats right through until the persian gulf war mack of 1991. when the democrats pred

i found a job working for a quicker organization in vietnam. they said, you cannot go to vietnam. that is too far away. the worsening everybody else to vietnam, but they said no. that is how i ended up working in philadelphia. >> how many battles have you been in as an embedded reporter? >> i have no idea. in 1977, i want to africa as time magazine bureau chief. most of what i wrote about was war. i had no preparation for it at all. it had never occurred to me or anybody else that if we send a void in to cover guerrilla wars, we might want to give him some training. i had nothing. i learned on the fly, and was very lucky that i never got wounded or was in serious peril. i came back to the united states in 1980 and started covering the pentagon. i soon found out that you could go out to be filled with the army and the marines. i spent pretty much the 1980's and 1990's either out in the field with the military or going on what were then military interventions. went to panama. went to bosnia. desert storm, of course. by the time 9/11 came, i had a lot of field time. and i had a lot o

i found a job working for a quicker organization in vietnam. they said, you cannot go to vietnam. that is too far away. the worsening everybody else to vietnam, but they said no. that is how i ended up working in philadelphia. >> how many battles have you been in as an embedded reporter? >> i have no idea. in 1977, i want to africa as time magazine bureau chief. most of what i wrote about was war. i had no preparation for it at all. it had never occurred to me or anybody else that if we send a void in to cover guerrilla wars, we might want to give him some training. i had nothing. i learned on the fly, and was very lucky that i never got wounded or was in serious peril. i came back to the united states in 1980 and started covering the pentagon. i soon found out that you could go out to be filled with the army and the marines. i spent pretty much the 1980's the1990's either out in field with the military or going on what were then military interventions. went to panama. went to bosnia. desert storm, of course. by the time 9/11 came, i had a lot of field time. and i had a lot of com

because of vietnam and various -- i love asia. i feel calm when i'm in asia. i feel that calmness coming from her. >> are you calmer now? >> as a result perhaps of her, yes. i'm older too. you got to slow down. your testosterone drops a bit. >> i can't imagine you slowing down. >> thank you, it's kind of you. takes a lot to do. >> if you were describing yourself to somebody who had never heard anything about you, what would be the honest description? >> i'm equally astonished and disappointed about myself. >> why astonished? >> put it this way, i think this life is a mystery. it's also a hunt for the truth. a hunt for what works for you. you express yourself as you go sometimes badly, sometimes well. you got to take both. you take the good with the bad. as my grandmother used to say. >> why disappointed? >> in the same way, 'cause there are things i wish i had done better. >> are you the kind of guy that regrets? are you able to just say -- >> i regret too much. i don't think that's necessarily -- you learn from regret. if you repeat the emotion over and over,

and that is probably the only good thing that came out of vietnam. >> coming up on the consumer watch. she close her account but the bills kept coming and an at&t denied that they were even sending them. what to do when you're getting nowhere with corporate customer service? >> that is his passion. >> working towards earning his college degree and,,,,,,,,,,,,,, >> you close an account and you paid off, you expect the bills to stop coming but a northern california woman found out that is not always the case. julie watts explains what to do when that final bill is not final and the company won't help. >> i just want them to stop billing us. >> these bills from at&t, at&t claims they do not exist. she says that since february at&t has been billing her each month for long distance. the problem is that she closed her account last november. >> i think that they just expect me to pay them to get them off of my back and i'm not going to do that >> when she complained at&t center an e-mail saying that she has not received any charge, really? and how you explain these? >> no one wants to take r

i was in vietnam. i saw a lot ofood diets and three weeks here and never saw as many men injured so heinous we. the boys are ripped to shreds. e.oom room and you will ae hefath is here because the fathers are back home earning money or never been around. i am lucky. i was an executive at a bank. i retired year ago. i gotwo pensions. i can affo to mdeal re lk ter so i dos ths life. look at the mother's. some of them are married but you know the story. many of these boys are from broken homes and single mothers. these women thought they were gog tohion themsve ter . w dangvees einsr eest of their lives. he placed a hand on my shoulder and asked me to look after ery marine i could. a woman approached clutching copies of a newspaper artico r cht. is ithey n yeda tpe said. they captured him. couldn't speak but blinked his eyes and they captured his will. the woman began t cry and the marine that comforted her. they i give you one of these about my son? she asked me. id. i gnc athe tie. thongery h a color ph

america is always the eer avpe generation as result of the vietnam war. they saw very cang miit the onee en n te 1960s. i'm happy today with the finest men and women who are serving in the military that i have ever seen. 's aucceful nt forcand odles raavh esnder service quality generally odierno who ar outstanding leaders and got to the beginning maf fis tear andin vietnam. they serve with honor and end shannon and honor to be in the company of those who have. it inspires students stand up for e me nin i' eeny t this book, lee ellis spoke to my colleagues in the senate because l of us can never learn enough about leadership. congratulations. thank you all for being here. godbe. [applause] >> well, i have six pages of notes, which i'm no going to use. good evening,ve. k for coming. as i look around the room,veryo. thank you for coming. as i look around t room, i see people from my high school class to the united states senatand everything in between that hav crossed my path over theears and have inspired mad sothyoorn here. i hope to have the opportunity t

king increasingly started speaking out against the vietnam war. his inner circle say, don't give that speech at riverside church april 4th, 1967, a year to the day before he was assassinated in memphis. you have the president of the nine states behind to, got him to sign the civil rights and voting rights act they said, to dr. king. do not take him on and a war that is not ours. yet he defied them and said, it is. were you a part of that circle? what position did you take, john lewis? >> i supported the position of martin luther king, jr. as chairman of the student nonviolent coordinating committee, at the time, we had already taken the position against the war in vietnam. so many other young people that we worked with all across the south were being drafted and going off to vietnam. so we came out against the war. we came out against the wall or in january. it was january 1966. it was at riverside church. it was at 04, 1967 when he spoke -- it was april 4, 1967, when he spoke. a lot of people talk about the march on washington. it was a wonderful

separate, and then it was not long before i was in vietnam and a marine and all these things. i miss the family live and i am trying to reconstitute one to some degree. >> your mom, has she been your biggest fan and critic over the years? >> she thinks so. >> i have an interesting relationship and on going one. it's contrairy. families are difficult. >> what do you think you got from your parents, both of them? let's get the politics. >> from mom, i got a great sense of love, emotion, affection. universal forgiveness. and my dad, i would say i got a sober intelligence, a sense of looking at things and not falling into the fashion, but

i was, in fact, conceived when my father was on r and r fro vietnam. my mother got a call one day, and someone told her to jmp pltv a e neaynd mt h sbd in honolulu who had a week off from the war, and i was the result of that. so my childhood was very much colored by my father's vietnam war experience. it wasn't something he really lked aulyea ccna mehiiewoo over, and they would convene in the backyard, and there would be, you know, men talking, and i wasn't allowed into that circle. at the time i joined the marine corps because, you know, se of retedre gs were doing it, andy letc is tebo the possibility of, you know, serving my country and also of, you know, escaping this town that i'd grown up in. so, and i was -- it was a al to iof tarvthmen tad tirl vin the marine corps. >> when you're in the marine corps, does anyone ever bring up the litery tradition of the marine corps, the books and the itthmemhe neps tpaf ma c adition? >> it wasn't part of my tradition. [laughter] i was just a grunt. there wasn't a lot of reading. i was the weird guy who would

the blame for vietnam was pinned mainly on the democratic party. democrats went on to move left and nominate a very strong anti-war candidate in 1972 after richard nixon won the election in 1968. that was not where the country was at that stage, even though nixon had escalated a fairly unpopular war, national security began to take routes and this notion that maybe democrats are not as strong as they need to be on national security. it began to influence national elections. jimmy carter, who is not experienced in foreign affairs, although he did serve in the navy, won a very tight election in 1976. it should have been -- given watergate-nixon resignation and the unpopular pardon, but he is perceived to not have been a strong candidate on national security. the response of the soviet invasion of afghanistan was deemed as tepid. carter increased spending in the military during his four years in office. he was mired with the iran hostage crisis, which continued until the very day that he stepped down from office after losing the 1980 election to ronal

cronkite within the 60's and seventies in vietnam and the kennedy assassination and watergate and all the rest. those things are important, don't get me wrong but i think if mr. cronkite were with us, he would say world war ii where we defined him and chip i will defer to you if you want to -- >> all these guys, few of them went to vietnam, and they asked why and too again i don't remember who was asking why in korea. but, the general who took over for westmoreland was associated, a friend of my dads from dad's from the battle of the bulge, creighton abrams with whom he had dinner before he left on his fact-finding trip or mood finding trip in february of 1968. >> the tet offensive. >> after the tet offensive he goes to, to check it out for himself and has dinner with his old. abrams who apparently is saying the same thing, that my dad and subsaying a few days later, that this is all fouled up and there is no good way out and there are other people saying it, but because there were was so little other internet noise, he was left with the responsibility to, my dad, to say it out loud t

west of vietnam. a may day call was the last anyone ever heard from them. their families say that for seven years they believed the airmen might have survived. but when the vietnam war ended at long last, the chances of their return grew slimmer it wasn't until 1995 that search crews found the crash site. they recovered one singling tooth which matched one of those airmen. the evidence of other remains largely circumstantial. none the less, the crew buried today with full military honors. jennifer griffin is live at the pentagon tonight. jennifer, they there are still 1824 servicemen missing in vietnam. >> yes, but today at least there was a degree of closure for six families who had been waiting 50 years to find out what had happened on christmas eve, 1965. colonel joseph christian know, colonel derek jeffers, lt. colonel dennis airlines and jeff master sergeants william cardwell, hassinger and william thornton were buried in the same casket at afterton national cemetery. at first the families say they had hoped they had been taken prisoner. and when the p

on that battlefield in vietnam. he started really serving the united states when he joined the united states navy right out of st. thomas high school in houston, texas. he did two tours of duty in the korean war. and after leaving the navy in 1953, he joined the united states army and was one of the first 500 so-called advisors sent to vietnam by president kennedy in 1962. the acts that earned mcnerney the medal of honor came on his third tour of duty in vietnam. and after he received the congressional medal of honor, first sergeant david mcnerney from crosby, texas, volunteered for another tour of duty in vietnam. mr. speaker, amazing men that served america in the vietnam war. first sergeant mcnerney served with thousands of other vietnam troops and generally were not appreciated by america when they returned back home after doing what their country asked them to do. after he retired from the army in 1969, he worked in the customs service at the port of houston until 1965 or ex excuse me, 1995. he served his count

and i was in vietnam right after -- this takes this -- i'm taking too long. i'm branching out from your -- i'm going to do it, anyway, because i'm long winded. in, i think it was '65, '66, maybe, lindyndon johnson went i hawaii and said we're going to win the vietnam war with village elections. i asked, when in the middle of the iraq war, i was in a meeting where they sent somebody from the national security council to explain how we were going to win iraq war. i said, sounds like you have a plan, you're going to keep applying it until you find some place where it works. we ordered the government, we ordered them to have village elections. so they went. and our greatest allies in vietnam -- and i raise this question in an argument with frank who was a leading neocon -- is. i was at a -- our greatest allies were the montinyard tribesmen. not even vietnamese. their polynesians. nobody knows why they're even there. they're up in the mountains. they were rebelled by the regimentation of the communists as they came down. they became our really strongest allies in

attacks during the vietnam war even though laos was officially a neutral country at the time between nine hundred sixty seven and nine hundred seventy three the u.s. dropped two hundred sixty eight million cos the bomb submunitions on it more than was dropped on germany and japan combined during world war two the us bombed laos so hard that it became the most bombed nation per capita in history and average of one ton of bombs was dropped for every man woman and child in laos now the grave part is that it's not over yet a third of the bombs they did not explode and still continue to kill washington is that considering a long term commitment to spend ten million dollars a year to clean up laos from those unexploded american bombs aid was estimated at that rate it will take over a thousand years for laos to be decontaminated about why ten million why not more i spoke with author and activist fred brafman take a listen we are spending one hundred two million dollars on them in the city and only ten million dollars on saving people's lives and this new industry is not needed there is less

he wrote a memo to then president johnson as the new vice president warning him about the war in vietnam. it's one of the most prescient, carefully reasoned possible documents for the president to read. and the president took it as an insult and froze humphrey out of any meaningful involvement in the johnson administration for the better part of half a year. humphrey felt it deeply. and i feel that humphrey went around and to do even better at supporting the war to try to get back into the president's graces. humphrey writes about this in his own autobiography. it's really a painful couple of pages. and a i don't think humphrey -- humphrey loved johnson, but i don't think he ever got over that treatment. tell one story. in order to get an airplane to fly the vice president, humphrey would have to send a note in to johnson and say i need an airplane for this. and then two blocks, yes or no on there. and sometimes the letter would come back no. no explanation. this sort of thing was painful. >> he was a man capable of grand gestures and small cruelties. >> on humphrey, he told a story once

and i was in vietnam right after -- and this takes this fight -- and i'm taking too long, i'm branching out from your -- but i'm going to do it anyway, because i'm long-winded. but i think it was '65, '66 maybe, lyndon johnson went to hawaii, and basically said, we're going to win the vietnam war with village elections. i asked, when we were in the middle of the iraq war, i was in a meeting where they sent somebody from the national security council to explain how we were going to win the iraq war. i said, it sounds like you have a plan, that you're going to keep trying it until it works. we ordered them to have village elections. and so they went, and our greatest allies in vietnam, and i raised this question in a conversation with the leading neocon, i was -- our greatest allies were the montagnard tribesmen. not even vietnamese. their polynesians. nobody knows why they're even there. they're up in the mountains. they were rebelled by the regimentation of the communists as they came down. they became our really strongest allies in the war. the vietnamese army showed up at this village