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The War on Terrorism Began in Vietnam
by Jacob G. Hornberger

Lest anyone believe that the war on terrorism began on September 11, 2001, take a look at this article from the July 20, 1959, issue of Time magazine, one of the premier examples of the establishment press in America. The article details the facts surrounding the deaths of the first two U.S. soldiers to die in Vietnam 50 years ago, Major Dale Buis and Sgt. Chester Ovnand.

According to the article, “six Communist terrorists crept out of the darkness” and opened fire on the soldiers, who were peacefully watching a movie in the mess hall at the base camp for the South Vietnamese 7th Infantry Division in the “sleepy little town of Bien Hoa 20 miles north of Saigon.”

“When Sergeant Ovnand snapped on the lights to change the first reel, the terrorists opened fire,” the article observed. Two Vietnamese guards were also killed and two other American officers were wounded. Two U.S. officers who had “drifted off to play tennis” survived the attack.

What the Time article failed to emphasize, however, is that even though those soldiers were playing tennis and watching movies, they were not visiting Vietnam as tourists. Instead, as military advisors to the South Vietnamese army, they were meddling in a civil war in a country they had no business meddling in, a country situated thousands of miles away from the United States.

The Time article stated that the American military presence in Vietnam was helping to keep the country “independent and free and getting stronger all the time.” Time was obviously referring to the autocratic and corrupt South Vietnamese regime headed by Ngo Dinh Diem, a brutal dictator who refused to permit opponents to challenge his rule by democratic means. Time also forgot to mention that the South Vietnamese government had violated the 1954 Geneva Accords committing North Vietnam and South Vietnam to nationwide elections that would unify the country.

Ironically, it would only be a few years later that the CIA would participate in a coup — yes, a coup — that succeeded not only in ousting Diem from power but also in getting him murdered.

That’s the “free, independent, and strong” South Vietnam that Buis and Ovnand and some 58,000 other Americans ended up dying for. And it all started with “communist terrorists” refusing to permit U.S. troops to be stationed in their country.

Jacob Hornberger is founder and president of The Future of Freedom Foundation, publisher of Your Money or Your Life: Why We Must Abolish the Income Tax by Sheldon Richman. Send him email.