forces from south vietnam and the possible or likely collapse of the saigon regime. the desirable thing would be to have an interval sufficiently long enough to mask the administration's role, if any, in saigon's defeat. those few authors, daniel elsburg, david landau, frank smith, who address the topic in the 1970s before the documentary declassifications of the mid-1990s and afterwards could only rely on memoirs, interviews and bits of bureaucratic information and surmise to inform their discussions. remember, i mentioned nixon and kissinger, you know, making the key decisions in secret intent. this absence of key evidence for these authors i mentioned unavoidably restricted their understanding of this byzantine counterintuitive and highly secret exit option. and i don't have time to discuss the misunderstandings. working with an abundant cache of declassified documents and tapes, i've argued from late 1970 to 1971 when the nixon/kissinger strategy had clearly failed to force the other side to make vital c concessi concessions, the ones nixon and kissinger wanted,

we packed up our duffle bag and flew down to saigon spent the night in saigon. the next day we were put in a jeep and headed out to thompson newt airport to get on the freedom bird. to go back to america. and we got the tom sob airport and it was bg being mortared. after all we had been through we thought, this is ironic to get killed or wounded in a mortar attack in saigon. so they sent us back to saigon and we were delayed on the airplane for two days and got on the airplane the next day. came home together. plumly is a piece of work. he doesn't give interviews. he avoids the press. but he is -- he and i are dead loyal to one another and he lives just my side of fort benning. sergeant-major plumley. and over the years, long gone by, my wife and i would go over to fort benning on occasion to visit my troopers at the cemetery. and her parents were very -- she's the daughter of a colonel. and on occasion, we'd visit. we'd sit down in this kitchen. we'll visit the sergeant-major, in the kitchen with his wife. and she'd always have a pumpkin pie, hot coffee. and we

only after saigon there was a crash i actually knew someone who loved saigon as a seven year old a month after we'd left and most of her fan. they've been murdered. do it the way that we pulled out of germany and. by saying with the marshall plan ok this is a country with a two billion dollar euro coffee that's their g.d.p. it was the second poorest country the world here's another two billion year old choices richer another four billion or ten we're spending fourteen billion dollars you are right now give them enough money that they can build themselves rather than making some mt in south carolina and shipping over there this makes sense but i'd love to dive and i actually lived in saigon vietnam during the war stepmother ran a plastic surgery unit for injured children and so we were there after the tet offensive and i think the marshall plan absolutely provides a clear example of how you can disentangle yourself from some of these things but lay the groundwork because clearly and unless we make some types of investment that are functional we're asking for trouble so we do need to make

forces from south viet nam and the possible or likely collapse of the saigon ray je r. a few authors who addressed the topic before the documentary declassification of the mid 1990's after, could rely on memoirs, interviews bureaucratic information and surmise, remember nixon and kissinger made the key decisions often in secret. this absent of the evidence for these authors i mentioned unavoidably restricted their understanding of this counter intuitive and highly secret exit option and i don't have time to discuss the misunderstanding. working with an abundant tapes, i argued from late 1970 to 1971 when the nixon-kissinger strategy had clearly failed to force the other side to make vital concessions, the ones nixon and kissinger wanted and nixon and kissinger prioritized the decent interval option. it had evolved, in other words, from one designed in 1969, for the purpose of providing two with, in kissinger's words, a decent chance of enduring for an in determi period to provide with sufficient military assistance and equipment to survive for in kissinger's words, a re

we went out on operations, i told the division public affairs officer to notify the news media in saigon. so every night, like when i was in operation white wing on the plains in january-march of '66, every night around 5:00, i would brief the press. and i had maybe ten or 15 journalists in the press tent. and i'd brief the press on what went on that day. and the results. and then i told them of my plans for the next day. so that they could determine if they wanted to go to this unit or that unit and then i cautioned them, don't put out information that would help the enemy. >> right. >> and they were like, no problem. and i said, you can fly in our helicopter anywhere you want. but don't interfere with -- if there's no room on the bird, don't push a soldier off. >> right. >> don't crowd somebody. if you want to get into the middle of a fight that's your call. but don't interfere with operations. which meant, also, do not go up to a company commander during a firefight and ask for an interview. i never had that happen. i'm a -- i think freedom of the press is one of the great freedoms of

narrator: oran0 er known as saigon.is the most densely populated area of vietnam, home to almost five million people. the city embraced the so-called "open door" policy introduced by the government in 1986 to stimulate the economy. daniere: ho chi minh city is the economic center of the country. hanoi is the potical, cultural, bureaucratic cente of the coury located thousands of miles away. building on its history of an economicenter, lsaigon-- and ho chi minh city-- has reemerged as a flourishing place to conduct capitalist globalization business. a mber of very large muinatnal corporatns, for example, have located in and around ho chi minh city and employ hundreds of thousands of vietnamese to work in their factories. vietnam has tried to encourage partnerships with vietnamese state-owned enterprises and private multinationals to set up jointly owned factories. shoes, clothing, paints, chemicals, radios-- i mean, you name it, they're doing it. narrator: ho chi minh city is the rice industry's center as well. rice from

honor, if you interpreted it in a particular way, it meant that we're not going to give up on the saigon government. now, if you were really savvy about this, you knew that's what the war was all about. it was about preserving the saigon government in connection with that issue of creditability and so forth. and as long as nixon said that, if you were savvy, uyou could project it wasn't going to be easy to get out of this war. but it was a good way of approaching the war, and i think nixon himself perhaps believed he could pull it off. >> katherine, john? okay. yes, ma'am. >> by name is gail kates and i wanted you to speak a little bit more about nixon's response to the leak of the pentagon papers being the downfall rather than the fact that if he'd just -- you indicated if he'd just let it go, maybe it would have not been so important. would you talk about that a little more? >> certainly. the pentagon papers as a study, as a military analysis, as a strategic study, were about decisions that had all happened in or before 1968, so they implicated presidents johnson, kennedy, eisenhower a

so how much longer are we supposed to stay there and isn't now the time to start thinking about a saigon like withdrawal just get the hell out joining me now from los angeles robert greenwald filmmaker activist and founder of brave new films and eli clifton national security reporter with the center for american progress as think progress in a new york studios welcome to you both. thank you thanks for joining us robert military suicides are up the accused gunman has a brain injury and u.s. soldiers are doing increasingly disturbing things like forming kill squads desecrating bodies burning korans now this is this is the result of war fatigue. there's no question that it's the result of the tea. i mean in some ways time in we all know that human beings a dot meant to go through this process we try to train them we try to teach them but year after year this gentleman i think you've been in iraq for two or three tours now he was in afghanistan to commit this extraordinary atrocity he clearly cracked the military no services set up to be able to train people to be murderers and then also tra

little saigon. glass of wine, arts and crafts.behalf of the apa heritage celebration committee, congratulations to all our recipients this evening, thank you for taking part. thank you to the volunteers of the planning committee, supporting organizations, and last but not least, the sponsors who made this celebration possible. great troubles, everyone. see you next year. -- great tavels, -- great travels, everyone. see you next year. >> i have 2 job titles. i'm manager of the tour program as well as i am the historyian of city hall. this building is multifaceted to say the very least it's a municipal building that operates the city and county of san francisco. this building was a dream that became a reality of a man by the name of james junior elected mayor of san francisco in 1912. he didn't have a city hall because it was destroyed in the earth wake of 1906. construction began in april of 1913. in december 1915, the building was complete. it opened it's doors in january 1916. >> it's a wonderful experience to come to a building

little saigon. glass of wine, arts and crafts.behalf of the apa heritage celebration committee, congratulations to all our recipients this evening, thank you for taking part. thank you to the volunteers of the planning committee, supporting organizations, and last but not least, the sponsors who made this celebration possible. great troubles, everyone. see you next year. -- great tavels, -- great travels, everyone. see you next year. >> the question when i started 11 years ago when i started doing resolution work is can anything be presented on a really low resolution device where it is potentially a digital image? can anything be presented that way? or will it feel cold and electronic? >> the imagery will change. there will be four different sets. it is a two dimensional image. it is stretched out into three dimensions. the device is part of the experience. you cannot experience the image without the device as being part of what you are seeing. whereas with the tv you end up ignoring it. i make gallery work more self and budget a

little saigon. glass of wine, arts and crafts.behalf of the apa heritage celebration committee, congratulations to all our recipients this evening, thank you for taking part. thank you to the volunteers of the planning committee, supporting organizations, and last but not least, the sponsors who made this celebration possible. great troubles, everyone. see you next year. -- great tavels, -- great travels, everyone. see you next year. >> you probably think you know all about the exploratorium. but have you ever been after dark? did you know there was a monthly party called after dark? science mixes with culture and adults mix with other adults. no kids allowed. every week there is a different theme. to tell us about the themes is melissa alexander. tell us about some of the previous themes we have had. >> we have had sex ploration, sugar, red, blue. many things. >> what is the theme tonight? >> rock, paper, scissors. we are having a tournament tonight, but we have also used as a jumping off point to explore lots of different ideas.

over the years, this monastery -- because they believed that to the saigon, this miraculous icon, was supposed to be a portrait of the virgin mary, the only one to have survived -- it attracted so many people up to this day and it can founded many because the icon is supposed to have healed the governor of cyprus in the 11th century. that is why he sent it to the island because his family wanted this icon here. >> inside the church is the icon. >> yes. inside the church is the guy,. >> and people, as we have seen, have come to kiss the icon, to pray before the icon. so this is a very special occasion for anybody that comes here. >> exactly. they do not come every day. you may come once in your life. and if you have some faith and you believe in all this, you want to make sure you take something back with you, like blessed oil from the oil lamp. >> in addition to the history, culture, and heritage of cyprus is the present-day political aspects of a successful, yet divided, country. what is the relationship between cyprus and the united states? >> we have enjoyed an excellent relationsh

of veterans of vietnam, they've taken, maybe to hanoi, to the museum won't be donang, the palaces, saigon, the roof on the care vel. and the outdoor roof on the hotel across the street, i forget the name of it. but they don't take them to -- sometimes, to play me. which is it is handy to get them to play me. you got to be careful when you walk around there with all the unexposed organs. if you push them they'll let a group go to play me but they don't let anybody out into is valley. >> do you think there's another run -- instead of the lack of access? >> well, i have always puzzled over this. i think there may be other reasons, including the presen

i knew that however the outcome of this battle, major decisions were going to be made in saigon and hanoi and washington. and i knew that we had to win. i knew we would. and general kennard wrote me a letter in recent years saying we had a lot of good battalions. it was the first cav division. i'm glad it was your battalion that ran into that hornet's nest which was a pretty good compliment from the commander general. >> yes, sir. >> but i've gone back to the battlefield twice, once with joe and i wanted to spend the night on the battlefield. the helicopter that took us in there, russian helicopter flown by two vietnamese pilots. they took the first lift out. but then the second lift, we were stranded by monsoon rain which pounded us for two hours, so we spent the night there. i was able to walk over to my command post and i visualized in memory that some of the dead that we were unable to get out that night. i could see them in my mind, boots sticking out at crazy angles from the ponchos. [ inaudible ]. i vis stead charlie company. specifically i found myself in the fox hole, what was le

what would a saigon-type pullout before afghanistan? it be like vietnam, 30 years later we are trading with vietnam? guest: very interesting. i'd do not think the united states military once in any way a repetition of the saigon pullout. america does not want to see a photograph on the front pages of newspapers of a helicopter on top of an embassy with people clamoring to get on and ride out with what we call today, even though we don't like to admit it, none of us in this country, defeat, even though we did not lose battles military, we lost these battles politically in vietnam. you have a serious problem here and i think the crucial thing to prevent a saigon-like exodus is to go to the heart of the taliban itself. it's not just negotiating with taliban leaders. this takes place in pakistan. why don't we go to pakistan and level with them about this? $400 billion is a tremendously large sum. i've been in the army. my sympathies are 100% with the gis on the ground. we're talking about all those troops to have been killed and how many ha

saigon return said gold sports teams i'm major winner tiger woods wins his purse p.g.a. tour stage and nine hundred twenty three days and makes his way back into the world's top ten. and that soft pack seven time grand slam winner and even some williams needs three sets to make it so round four of the sony ericsson open in miami. first to football where leaders any st petersburg have gone seven points clear at the top of the russian premier league despite being held one all and home so it's wise for the champions a routine as they need got their noses in france after thirty six minutes what it looked like the referee put a word them a free kick but play was in stealth and alexander cares a call pass the ball for subtle giusti to clinically finish off the move for the opening goal however nelson valdes grabbed a point for routine with a call eyes or just before they our seat belts and for the capsulize on the second play says cost to nil defeat at home silicon would seat on saturday but still remain on course to retain their sides all. the while spartak moscow moved some

america's confidence and role in international affairs following the collapse of cambodia and the fall of saigon. he was also able to focus the attention of the world and his country on other important matters. he persuaded israel and egypt to accept an interim truce agreement, the first ever for the two countries. he was the first president to begin to emphasize the need for regulatory reform and the first president to call for a national energy policy. he was an early supporter of majority rule in south africa, and he was a strong proponent of equal -- equal rights for women. did he accomplish everything that he set out to accomplish? no. but he reversed our course, and he moved the country forward against strong and difficult headwinds. if there is a tragedy in president ford's brief term as president, it is not based on anything that he did while he was in the white house, nor is it based on anything that he didn't do. no. the tragedy of president ford's service is that the american people did not give him a full term in office. had they done so, i am sure that his already sizable footprint

whereas in vietnam, as i understand it, joe six pack right off the streets of chicago could show up in saigon and get a press card. he didn't know the difference between a squad and a battalion or m-16 rifle and a mortar. if i were asked today to cover a rugby football match in redskin stadium, i wouldn't know what the hell i was looking at. that was the same with a lot of the journalists in vietnam. they didn't know what they were looking at. so consequently they took these -- they took the pictures and they reported graphic stuff, some of which helped the enemy. >> join us next weekend for more oral histories from the vietnam archive. that airs saturday at 8:00 a.m., sunday at 3:00 p.m. and monday at 4:00 a.m. eastern. for more information and to watch past oral histories, visit our website, c-span.org/history. >>> louisiana governor bobby jindal is scheduled to reveal his proposal for balancing the state budget for the next fiscal year to date, a budget, $900 million in the red. in shreveport it's mostly cloudy and 37 degrees at the airport, 38 at barksdale and 38 in men den. you're listen

i hadn't been that freaked out since the rockets were hit being saigon at night is the last time i was that freaked out. >> good news is that he does have insurance on the house and the damage was confined tonl his house, and not the houses on either side. the tree fell and his neighbors were just 10 feet away. back live here now they tell us there is nothing like a near-death exkbreerns to bring good neighbors together. >> wind, rain and age toppled this 80 foot monterey pine. the branches landed on the boulevard, blocking lanes of traffic. >> unfortunately we're going to see a third tree because of the damage, and safety hazards. >> despite these incident department of public works says it hasn't had reports of downed trees so far. and there is a leaky roof causing problems for a candy store owner. the owner found water leaking through the roof and damaged most of the candy. >> this is up believable. if there would have been one place two, i would have put a bucket but there 30 places water coming in and i couldn't help it. >> and he lost most of the merchandise. he estimates the dam

the image that keeps coming to my mind are the helicopters on the roof of the embassy in saigon.ope it doesn't come to that in this case. yeah, our credibility at this point is severely damaged and our ten ability certainly is as well. i don't say that with any pleasure. i'm a patriotic american. i love my country. i want to be proud of my country, not ashamed of my country, and i also want my country to not to be further damaged. we're doing a lot of damage not only to afghanistan by our presence there and by things like this incident, but a lot of damage to our own society as well. >> the damage here, i imagine we can survive but i think there we're hanging by a thread collectively in terms of afghanistan, and that country is always hanging by a thread. the president knows that. he has known that since the day he stepped into office. his characterization in afghanistan is looking to find the least worst outcome. but in the future relatable to this event, is there any way to repair the damage there just relative to this thing? >> you know, the really important thing in my articl

. >> isn't this kind of a political equivalent of a lapse out of saigon? he waits until it is complete. >> and will he campaign for him? how active is he going to be? florida is an absolute must win for the republicans. i think they probably will win it this year. and he will be key to that. >> i am looking for, bill, as you know gavin ross le of -- rossdale of from bush. >>> from primaries to pornography. should the prom queen be the star of porn scenes? dana says yes, but we disagree. a minnesota high school student allegedly lined up an adult actress to be his big date to the big dance. 18-year-old mike stone tweeted his plea to hundreds of naked glasses. two said yes including megan piper who agreed to attend if he covered travel costs from los angeles. but now the school nexted his chick. a school spokesman tells fox fox news.com that piper is prohibited because her visit would not be in the best interest of the district. the student who was trying to raise $400 for air fare couldn't be reached. he is probably masterbating. how raunchy are piper's adu

the rockets were hitting saigon the last time i was that freaked out. >> the redwoods into the bedroom where the owner would normally have been sleeping. he was lucky tonight. >> i got here about two hours after. the whole bedroom area has spiked branches coming through the ceiling. >> reporter: into the. >> would have probably skewered me. >> they all feel fortunate right about now which is not a bad attitude in the midst of such sudden and certainly capricious misfortune. >> i'm happy to be here. >> or to put it another way there is nothing like a near death experience to bring a neighborhood together. the good news, mike does have insurance. the house which was built in 1908 will be repaired. in sonoma county, wayne freedman, abc 7 news. >>> so as you can see, weather had quite an effect around the bay area. round one is winding down. now, on to round two of the rain. let's check in with spencer christian tracking it all for us. >> dan, let's take a look at live doppler 7 hdr. in the north bay just about over since the afternoon hours. around san rafael a little light rain and some

s living saigon, and the best way to get a feel for the culture here is to taste it.the local markets. then i'm going to try to whip up some vietnamese cuisine in her cook class. it's part of a booming trend. culinary tourism. it ranges from classes like this to wine tasting and farm tours but it's more than about food. it's a way to get a taste of local life. >> it's impossible to separate food and culture. people sign up for cooking tours and class for knowledge. >> reporter: to make sure your taste buts are up for the adventure, do your homework. >> you've got to read the information and make sure it's going be promote for you. >> reporter: and most importantly, come hungry. >> of course, you're never forced to eat anything, but i really challenge you to try it because you might be surprised. >> reporter: it is sour. whew. >> it did look pretty yummy. >>> it's the kind of hype we haven't seen since "harry potter." >> each year the 12 districts of pan am will off up for tribute one man and woman between the ages of 12 through 18 to be trained in the art of survival

he covered the fall of saigon in 1975. phil is the author of a work sufficient including "crossers" which you will be talking about today in into man o' wars including a rumor of war, highly respected book about his service in vietnam and more works of nonfiction. he divides his time between connecticut and arizona and "crossers" is a novel about the border. he tells me is just back from france where "crossers" is in french and i'm dying to ask bill, what is the name of your book in french? >> it's all -- is called clandestine. i probably mispronounced it. >> has book has been called a blistering novel about brutality and beauty of life along the the arizona mexico border. i'm going to direct my first question to phil since he lives down in cochise county. >> santa cruz county. >> santa cruz county, okay, but down in the southeastern part appears on it. in march of 2010, robert printz was murdered on his ranch in cochise county. law-enforcement officials immediately suggested it might have been killed by a drug smuggler an

you take that same front page that shows the eddie adams saigon execution picture, there's a portrait--there's a one-column picture of richard nixon there looking like a fool on the other side of the page. and the reason that picture is there is that that's the day he announced for the presidency and that he would campaign for it, and--but the picture came from his campaign headquarters. it was his so-called campaign portrait. i think he looks like--i didn't--i was not a fan of nixon's, and--but i must say i was--i was pleased that--i was just as happy as not to run that rather stupid picture of him. i didn't--it was--the reason for running it, of course, was it was--it was the campaign picture. c-span: we get calls, though--on our call-in show all the time--people suggesting that newspapers are purposely running pictures to make somebody look real good or real bad. should they be suspicious? >> guest: i think so. i think--i think--but i also think picture editing has improved, has become much more sensitive. at the time i joined the new york times in 1967, it was the custom to put th

i think you have a real serious problem here and the crucial thing to prevent a saigon-like exodus is to the heart of the taliban itself. it is not just negotiating with the leaders. where does the taliban leadership make its preparation? it takes place in pakistan. we need to level with them about this. $400 billion is a tremendously large sum. i have been in the army. my sympathies are 100% with gi's on the ground and we're talking about those troops that have been killed. how many maimed? how do we justify this lawten- year plus time in afghanistan and not leave with our tail between our legs? we have to work it out with the taliban in the ground and have to negotiate something with pakistan and people don't like to hear this but iran has a tremendous influence in afghanistan, 20% of afgha ns are shia. iran will play a role one way or another and so will china and so will russia and so will india. this is a much larger think and just afghanistan itself. it will be very complicated but i do think -- i do not believe, as mitt romney has said, we must kill our way to victory. we must