A Bright Shining Lie

John Paul Vann: Would you read the last entry? Lee: [analyzes page] "The Americans are here. They have brought tanks and helicopters. The young men are afraid but I tell them do not fear because the Americans are huang phi." [to Vann] Huang phi, it's a word that means soft. [rethinks] Well, actually... decadent. Do you understand? [reads] "They can never win because they use only those of our people who are also huang phi. The peasants are with us because they hate the huang phi." Vann: What do you believe? Lee: Oh, I'm not interested in politics, Mr Vann. Vann: What are you interested in? Lee: My school. I enjoy it. You know, it allows me to decide my own life and that's a very rare thing for a woman here.

A Bright Shining Lie, CC BY-SA 4.0

Stephen Burnett: So what's the truth? John Paul Vann: The most miserable damn performance I've ever seen. Burnett: Would you talk about this? Vann: Somebody has to. Burnett: John, you have a military career and if we do this thing, a lot of people are gonna read it. Vann: I understand. Start writing. South Vietnamese Command has no interest in fighting the Communists. The ordinary soldiers are willing but their officers' priority is to protect Diem's regime, rather than to stop Communist insurgency. Burnett: What about all those things that we get, the casualty figures, battle reports, the briefings? Vann: The numbers are all phony, they make 'em up. These battles are a joke. They attack areas that the VC have already vacated or they attack from one side and leave the enemy a wide-open back-door escape route. Burnett: Surely American assistance has made a difference. Vann: [sarcastically] Oh, yeah, that's helped. It's helped the Communists. We supply guns to the peasants and they turn

A Bright Shining Lie, CC BY-SA 4.0

Doug Elders: John. Come on. If you don't get moving, you're gonna miss the Tokyo connection. It's your mother, John, you owe it to her. John Paul Vann: That's funny. "I owe her." My mother was a whore and I'm her bastard son. You know what my birth certificate says on it? John Le Gay, a son of a bitch. That's why those goddamned WASPs at West Point wouldn't let me in. Fucking bunch of hypocrites. When I was a little kid growing up in Norfolk, I used to see her screwing them in their cars. Grunting and carrying on. You know how she died? Somebody cracked her skull open with a whiskey bottle. Elders: Go home and bury her, John. John Paul Vann: I don't care what he calls himself. He dodges the draft, no Negro soldier's gonna fight. Lock his ass up. Stephen Burnett: Hey, can I just say, John, what an extraordinary pad you've got here? Doug Elders: It's called "Harnessing the best houses in Saigon." Burnett: [snickers] That's the new USAID program. [he and Elders laugh] Vann: What the hell'

A Bright Shining Lie, CC BY-SA 4.0

Stephen Burnett: John, congratulations. John Paul Vann: Thank you. Burnett: I have something that might interest you. [gives Vann a newspaper clipping] Vann: [reads] "Former Vietnam veteran Douglas Elders claimed the US government has conspired to deceive the American people in order to pursue an illegal war in Vietnam." Well, I'll be dammed. Burnett: Well, at least someone's prepared to stop peddling the lie. Vann: Well now, what lie would that be? Burnett: That we're here to solve Vietnam's problems. We are the problem and that's the truth. Vann: Well, you see, Steven, there's your truth and there's my truth and they're two different things. All I know is up that road is old General Giap and when he and I speak to each other, we never lie. Burnett: General Giap and you? John, John, the war's not about warriors any more. It's about children and women and rice paddies, and you know who told me that? You did. You did. Vann: [contemplates] I gotta go. I got men holding the line up there.

A Bright Shining Lie, CC BY-SA 4.0