1
00:04:18,710 --> 00:04:21,880
The most important
for me, if I were to be elected,

2
00:04:22,670 --> 00:04:25,590
and as I think for any future leaders,

3
00:04:26,390 --> 00:04:31,010
is, uh, to organize
the stronger political life

4
00:04:31,020 --> 00:04:32,600
in-- in Vietnam.

5
00:04:32,600 --> 00:04:36,140
Because, uh, if we have
a not stronger political life,

6
00:04:36,150 --> 00:04:38,310
we cannot win the war against Communists.

7
00:06:12,740 --> 00:06:16,620
When Mr. Thiệu became president,
I became his chief of staff.

8
00:06:17,460 --> 00:06:22,000
I was focused on how we could leverage
the help of the Americans,

9
00:06:22,000 --> 00:06:24,040
but also tell the Americans,

10
00:06:24,050 --> 00:06:28,470
"Let's agree on a common strategy
and how to execute that."

11
00:06:29,260 --> 00:06:32,180
But by that time,
the politics got involved.

12
00:06:33,180 --> 00:06:35,100
This fella, Thiêu, um,

13
00:06:35,100 --> 00:06:36,520
most of the people think--

14
00:06:36,520 --> 00:06:38,430
I'm not very good at evaluating,

15
00:06:38,430 --> 00:06:43,310
but most of the folks think,
Westmoreland and-- and Bunker and them...

16
00:06:45,190 --> 00:06:48,240
they think that Thiệu
is going to be better than Kỳ.

17
00:06:50,150 --> 00:06:53,070
And I've been suffering
a terrific onslaught.

18
00:06:54,450 --> 00:06:57,490
Our own people plucking
that we ought to get out of the war,

19
00:06:57,500 --> 00:07:01,160
and that they're not dependable,
and that the generals are taking over,

20
00:07:01,170 --> 00:07:05,750
and-- and, uh, it's been quite a problem
for me in my own group.

21
00:08:24,710 --> 00:08:28,880
Each side had self-declared a ceasefire

22
00:08:28,880 --> 00:08:30,130
for people to celebrate Tết.

23
00:08:34,510 --> 00:08:38,260
Half of the army was allowed
to go home on leave for the Tết holiday.

24
00:08:59,080 --> 00:09:02,950
At this time,
I was very well-versed in this mission

25
00:09:03,500 --> 00:09:07,330
because I was a liaison
for the Deputy Commander.

26
00:09:09,090 --> 00:09:11,710
The goal was eight points in Saigon.

27
00:09:12,960 --> 00:09:17,380
The attack on the US Embassy
was approved in the final days,

28
00:09:17,390 --> 00:09:22,100
so the ninth target was the US Embassy.

29
00:09:28,350 --> 00:09:32,520
All the entry points into Saigon
had many checkpoints.

30
00:09:32,530 --> 00:09:35,700
This was to tightly control
people coming in and out.

31
00:09:37,780 --> 00:09:40,910
Anyone who wanted to enter
needed identification documents.

32
00:09:42,910 --> 00:09:45,160
In just a short period of time,

33
00:09:45,160 --> 00:09:50,290
there were several hundred
fake ID cards to make.

34
00:09:51,840 --> 00:09:56,220
There would be major events happening.

35
00:09:58,010 --> 00:10:00,050
I had taken photos of each person.

36
00:10:03,180 --> 00:10:04,970
I had a premonition

37
00:10:04,970 --> 00:10:09,190
that this meeting with this person
would probably be the last.

38
00:12:06,390 --> 00:12:09,810
To prepare to attack
the US Embassy, we gathered 15 people.

39
00:12:09,810 --> 00:12:14,810
Seventeen, including a male driver
and a female liaison.

40
00:12:15,440 --> 00:12:17,980
If we didn't have
this woman guide to lead them,

41
00:12:17,980 --> 00:12:21,190
how on earth would they know
how to find the US Embassy?

42
00:14:46,170 --> 00:14:49,590
I don't think
it's a last-gasp, uh, action.

43
00:14:49,590 --> 00:14:53,600
I do think that it represents,
uh, a maximum effort

44
00:14:53,600 --> 00:14:56,680
in the sense of,
they've poured on all of their assets...

45
00:14:57,470 --> 00:15:00,060
It's-- It's largely a propaganda effort,

46
00:15:00,060 --> 00:15:03,270
and a publicity effort,
and I think they'll gain that way.

47
00:15:03,270 --> 00:15:06,270
I imagine our people across the country
this morning will-- will feel

48
00:15:06,280 --> 00:15:09,360
that, uh... that, uh, they're much stronger

49
00:15:09,360 --> 00:15:12,240
than they had previously
anticipated they were.

50
00:15:12,240 --> 00:15:14,530
And in that sense, I think they gain.

51
00:19:32,790 --> 00:19:36,040
Thanks to the strong support of the US,

52
00:19:36,040 --> 00:19:39,340
Huế was able
to successfully push out the Communists.

53
00:19:41,130 --> 00:19:46,390
Huế suffered the most
during the Tết Offensive.

54
00:19:49,730 --> 00:19:54,310
The fighting in Huế was the most horrific.

55
00:24:51,150 --> 00:24:53,650
I don't admit
that this is a Communist victory.

56
00:24:53,650 --> 00:24:56,490
And I don't think anybody
but a goddamn Communist admits it.

57
00:24:56,490 --> 00:24:58,410
- Yeah.
- That's what I think.

58
00:24:58,410 --> 00:25:02,080
And I just think they're using us,
just playing games around us...

59
00:25:02,080 --> 00:25:04,410
And nearly everybody I talk to
tries to find out

60
00:25:04,410 --> 00:25:07,710
what's wrong with our boys,
our country, our leadership, our men.

61
00:25:07,710 --> 00:25:10,550
Our president's a liar.
Westmoreland's no good.

62
00:34:18,630 --> 00:34:21,800
I was born
in the village of Sơn Mỹ.

63
00:34:27,140 --> 00:34:30,350
I had just turned 11 years old.

64
00:34:37,700 --> 00:34:39,660
I was 13 years old.

65
00:34:40,160 --> 00:34:43,120
I lived with six siblings

66
00:34:43,120 --> 00:34:47,000
and an older sister
who had business far from home.

67
00:35:39,510 --> 00:35:43,260
The US Armed Forces
bombarded the village

68
00:35:43,260 --> 00:35:44,930
with their artillery.

69
00:35:46,010 --> 00:35:49,560
First, they started killing people
walking on the road,

70
00:35:49,560 --> 00:35:52,600
people going to school,
people going to the market.

71
00:35:54,400 --> 00:35:56,610
After that,
they marched in a horizontal line

72
00:35:56,610 --> 00:35:58,280
and advanced into the village.

73
00:36:00,030 --> 00:36:04,360
As they entered each house,
they killed everyone in it.

74
00:36:04,370 --> 00:36:10,160
They consolidated people
and began to kill everyone.

75
00:36:47,330 --> 00:36:49,200
They captured our relatives

76
00:36:49,200 --> 00:36:51,330
and led them to Mrs. Ly's ditch.

77
00:36:53,870 --> 00:36:57,130
The ditch was completely full
of blood and dead people.

78
00:37:01,210 --> 00:37:05,680
They captured 102 people and led them
to the watchtower at the village gate,

79
00:37:06,260 --> 00:37:11,560
and they killed them there
in Mr. Nhiều's rice paddy.

80
00:37:11,560 --> 00:37:13,520
All 102 of them.

81
00:38:15,750 --> 00:38:19,250
At eight o'clock in
the morning, soldiers came to my family.

82
00:38:20,250 --> 00:38:25,880
They sat us in the front yard
and killed three cows in the barn.

83
00:38:26,470 --> 00:38:29,590
They proceeded to burn
our house and our barn.

84
00:38:29,590 --> 00:38:31,970
They shoved the six of us,
including my mother,

85
00:38:31,970 --> 00:38:33,350
into an underground shelter.

86
00:38:35,180 --> 00:38:39,600
In the moment, my mother sensed
the Americans' intent to kill.

87
00:38:40,100 --> 00:38:43,480
So, she told us, her children,
to go down to the shelter first.

88
00:38:43,480 --> 00:38:46,650
She would enter behind us
to shield us from bullets.

89
00:38:48,110 --> 00:38:51,990
Once everyone was inside,
they threw in grenades to kill us all.

90
00:38:53,160 --> 00:38:56,950
I fainted and blacked out.

91
00:39:01,710 --> 00:39:04,880
I had my four-year-old niece,
my older brother's daughter.

92
00:39:04,880 --> 00:39:07,050
The bullet entered here.
I still have the scar.

93
00:39:07,050 --> 00:39:10,840
I picked her up, and her head
was twitching as the bullet went in here.

94
00:39:12,510 --> 00:39:13,800
I just laid there dazed,

95
00:39:13,800 --> 00:39:16,720
and the American soldiers
thought I was dead.

96
00:39:16,720 --> 00:39:18,180
There were no more stray bullets.

97
00:39:19,060 --> 00:39:21,100
Only after they passed me,

98
00:39:21,100 --> 00:39:26,230
I was able to crawl
under the body of a woman.

99
00:39:28,070 --> 00:39:28,940
Sorry.

100
00:40:59,120 --> 00:41:01,080
After the Americans withdrew,

101
00:41:01,080 --> 00:41:03,040
relatives from another village came.

102
00:41:05,670 --> 00:41:07,960
When I came to,

103
00:41:07,960 --> 00:41:13,630
I saw the bodies
of my mother and siblings lifted out.

104
00:41:13,630 --> 00:41:16,260
We staged the parts
in a basket in the yard.

105
00:41:16,260 --> 00:41:18,600
We picked up flesh, arms, heads, legs.

106
00:41:21,390 --> 00:41:25,690
No one was left intact.

107
00:41:27,270 --> 00:41:31,230
I was very emotional
and at a loss for words.

108
00:41:32,900 --> 00:41:34,150
I could only cry.

109
00:41:41,660 --> 00:41:44,250
At whatever time of day it was,
the Americans left.

110
00:41:44,250 --> 00:41:45,500
When I met my brother,

111
00:41:45,500 --> 00:41:48,710
he told me he heard our father died
in the ditch by the tree.

112
00:41:48,710 --> 00:41:53,590
He was shot dead
where the gas station is right now.

113
00:41:56,180 --> 00:42:01,180
When I arrived,
I carried my niece back home.

114
00:42:01,890 --> 00:42:06,310
We buried her, and I notified others.

115
00:42:07,650 --> 00:42:13,280
There are things that I have forgotten,
but my mind will never forget that event.

116
00:42:13,860 --> 00:42:17,360
The utter destruction,

117
00:42:17,360 --> 00:42:21,280
annihilation, and death was horrific.

118
00:42:50,350 --> 00:42:54,820
To our knowledge,
no opposing force fought against them.

119
00:42:54,820 --> 00:42:58,860
There wasn't a single semblance
of resistance.

120
00:43:08,460 --> 00:43:13,670
To me, if you say
this village was Việt Cộng,

121
00:43:13,670 --> 00:43:15,050
they weren't here.

122
00:43:17,010 --> 00:43:21,840
If it was Việt Cộng, shoot the Việt Cộng.
Why would you shoot the villagers?

123
00:43:21,840 --> 00:43:25,220
And the little babies in their cribs,
why were they shot?

124
00:43:25,720 --> 00:43:27,890
The cows were not Việt Cộng,
but they were shot.

125
00:43:27,890 --> 00:43:30,440
The pigs were not Việt Cộng.
Why'd they shoot the pigs?

126
00:51:24,660 --> 00:51:27,620
I'm afraid the people
are going to interpret this

127
00:51:27,620 --> 00:51:29,960
as representing a change in strategy

128
00:51:29,960 --> 00:51:32,250
and tactics and everything else...

129
00:51:32,250 --> 00:51:37,920
I've got to find some alternatives to turn
some of this thing around a little bit.

130
00:51:37,920 --> 00:51:41,300
If we don't, uh,
we're going to be in trouble,

131
00:51:41,300 --> 00:51:44,300
and Vietnam is the only thing,
and it's just murdered me.

132
00:54:17,210 --> 00:54:19,330
He's mean, bitter,

133
00:54:20,090 --> 00:54:23,460
a vicious... animal, in many ways.

134
00:54:24,210 --> 00:54:27,220
He's got this other side of him
in his relationship with human beings,

135
00:54:27,220 --> 00:54:29,970
which make it very difficult
unless you want to kiss his behind

136
00:54:29,970 --> 00:54:31,430
all the time.

137
00:54:33,220 --> 00:54:35,640
All of it makes Bobby look
like a great hero

138
00:54:35,640 --> 00:54:37,390
and makes me look like a son of a bitch,

139
00:54:37,390 --> 00:54:40,900
and 95% of it is completely fabricated.


