COURAGE NEEDED
In the Press, the Pulpit, the Politicians & the People
I fought in two wars and I have two grandsons who
are combat veterans
of the Iraq War. One is Air Force security man and the other
is an Army paratrooper, once wounded in action and now back in Iraq
with his buddies. Our armed forces are the bravest and the best and we need to
back them in what they do.
In my book, Expendable Elite - One Soldier's
Journey Into Covert Warfare, I write about my year in Vietnam (Dec 65
to Dec 66) as commander of an independent force of Green Berets and Buddhist
irregulars who fought the enemy along a 30 mile stretch of border with
Cambodia. The well armed enemy, who outnumbered my forces four to one, operated
out of what had been their safe haven inside Cambodia. That sanctuary ended the day I took command,
but continued in all other areas - giving the enemy the advantage over our
forces.
President Johnson had ordered that safe havens
be provided the enemy all along the Cambodian border with South
Vietnam. General William Westmoreland,
rather than resign and tell the American people the truth, secretly made
certain the enemy was allowed their safe havens from which they attacked our
forces, killing and wounding thousands, while General Westmoreland played
tennis in Saigon and steered clear of controversy. He did nothing to prevent the continued use
of the Mekong River
by large foreign ships to carry enemy war goods into Cambodia
for them to turn on our forces and shoot with impunity. How many suffered and
died because of those actions?
General Westmoreland corroborated
these facts in his biography, A Soldier Reports. I quote him in my book, telling how he was
"ordered" not to tell Congress or the media about the enemy
safe-havens.
My publisher, Kris Millegan, and I were
taken to Federal Court in Charleston, SC in January 2006 in a vain attempt by
the Special Forces Association to bankrupt us and prevent us from publishing more
truth about illegal covert operations, aiding the enemy, CIA retribution
against Americans and allies, and how our government covers these actions with
lies or subterfuge. We won our battle in court with five days of testimony and documentation. We proved that my book, Expendable Elite - One Soldier's
Journey Into Covert Warfare, was an honest portrayal of events in An
Phu, South Vietnam. The jury took less than two hours to
deliberate and reach a unanimous verdict in our favor.
You might ask "This happened
forty years ago. Why should we
care?" If you care about our men
and women who are now in the armed forces you should get up the courage to demand
action by the White House, Congress and the Department of Defense to make it a criminal act to ever, regardless
of the situation, aid the enemy. I
pray that you ask that myself and MSG Gerald Willsey be called to testify
before a Congressional hearing regarding covert operations which no doubt
persist to this day as we continue to bury those valiant warriors who fight a
tough war in strange lands.
ASK YOURSELF:
Why has the World Press refused to publish the truth about our aiding the enemy?
Why have most pulpits lacked courage to demand that Christians act to support our troops and deny the enemy any choice other than defeat?
Why has Congress permitted the aiding of our enemies?
How many of our present day military leaders permit the enemy any advantage over our forces?
©2007 LTC Daniel Marvin, US Army Special Forces
(Retired)
