Missing in Action

[Max Sawicky]

My sense of this issue was that it was directly
exploited to attack Jimmy Carter and elevate
Ronald Reagan.  The noise about MIA's very much
died down in precisely the period when conservatives
controlling the Executive Branch of the Gov were in
a position to deal with the issue, such as it was.
It was a cultural scam to herd workers into the GOP.
It worked pretty well.

mbs

What is true, though, is that the POW/MIA issue had been exploited by 
the U.S. ruling class & governing elite to impose & maintain economic 
_sanctions_ on Vietnam _until very recently_, adding insult to injury 
so to speak.  Never mind _reparations_ for Vietnam!

The POW/MIA issue has become a medium of rewriting the history of the 
Vietnam War, portraying Vietnam as _victimizer_ & the USA as 
_victim_.  Working-class Americans have been asked to target their 
grief & anger not against the U.S. government but against the 
Vietnamese.  They are still lied to about the war.  They remain grist 
for the ideological mill that manufactures consent, as long as they 
think that it's appropriate to coerce the Vietnamese (& others) into 
_serving_ American & only American needs.

Yoshie