Jeff Stein joins the show to discuss his latest article “Vietnam War: New Ken Burns Documentary Dismisses the Origins of the Futile, Disastrous Conflict” critiquing Ken Burns’s latest documentary series “The Vietnam War.” Stein reflects on his time in Vietnam as an army intelligence case officer and reviews and critiques Burns’s documentary series, which he says is well worth watching, but is not without its flaws. Stein then explains why French colonialism in Vietnam created a false premise in Vietnam—that there was ever a good reason to join the conflict—dooming the war from the outset and explains why the same parallel exists in the ongoing war in Afghanistan.
Jeff Stein is a national security correspondent and author of the SpyTalk column at Newsweek. He has written three books including “A Murder in Wartime: The Untold Spy Story That Changed the Course of the Vietnam War.” Stein spent a year as an army intelligence officer in Vietnam where he was awarded the bronze star. Follow Jeff on Twitter @SpyTalker.
Discussed on the show:
- North Vietnamese Army (People’s Army of Vietnam)
- Viet Cong
- U.S. Army intelligence School (Fort Holabird)
- Kill Anything That Moves: The Real American War in Vietnam, by Nick Turse
- “Nixon Tried to Spoil Johnson’s Vietnam Peace Talks in ’68, Notes Show” (New York Times)
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