TV personality Anthony Bourdain was allowed space for his “scathing Kissinger views.” Did Bourdain’s cooking show from Vietnam in 1999 qualify him to critique Henry Kissinger? On the same page another pontificator avows, “… no dominoes fell.” Can you not spell Cambodia or Laos?
In 1968, I was on Hill 37, near Da Nang. One night, to escape being slaughtered by the Viet Cong, the villagers below us crammed up next to our combat wire. Our kids, at great risk, repelled the murderous attack. No villagers died. The kids in the trenches never got to tell their stories, but they’re in my book, “Shut UP and Take Notes: It’s My Turn to Talk about Vietnam!” Kissinger and our troops knew that saving lives was why we were in Vietnam.
After we left, it became tragic. The Viet Cong immediately assassinated 20,000 Vietnamese, 300,000 spent decades in concentration camps, 150,000 drowned while escaping as part of the Boat People flotilla, 2 million Cambodians were slaughtered in the Killing Fields and the counting isn’t finished.
To Kissinger’s critics and skeptics, it will be my honor to introduce you to some survivors, but please hurry. I have a deadline. I’m 80 years old.
