From: Jasper
Date: 9/27/01
Time: 2:37:33 PM
Since Jane Fonda's first propaganda trip to Hanoi in 1972 the American people have had a hard time defining treason. Some Americans have insisted that anything anyone says or does in opposition to any American war effort is treason. Some Americans have insisted that anything anyone says or does to hinder resistance to the opposing side's war effort in the name of peace is perfectly all right.
Freedom means the freedom to disagree and to make your feeling known to your government and your fellow citizens. That's what some of us were fighting for. The doves were free to criticize us and we were free to criticize them. To the extent that we thought we were right, hawks and doves were all doing our patriotic duty. I hope that's clear so that there will be no mistake about what I say about Hanoi Jane in Invisible Warriors and what I have to say about her here. Treason is going to be an issue in this war and if we don't come to a common understanding about what treason means, the consequences could be deadly.
That's why I paid so much attention to Hanoi Jane in the book and why her example of "giving peace a chance" is so important now.
Jane Fonda was not a dove. She was a hawk fighting with the power of her celebrity status, her network of influential friends in the media and a considerable amount of her time and money to advance the strategic objectives of the North Vietnamese. Part of Hanoi authorities' program required good PR in terms of their treatment of American POWs. From time to time we got to see POWs playing volleyball and, in general, being treated well. The POWs who voluntarily went before the cameras to condemn the United States were treated well. The men who refused to do so were not treated well. Some of them weren't even listed as POWs.
When Jane went to North Vietnam with her "Peace" delegation and her FTA (Fuck The Army - the American Army) act, she announced that she was also going there to entertain the POWs and to show the world that they were being treated well. Come hell or high water, Hanoi was going to deliver, even if it meant subjecting the men to torture for refusing to appear on camera with Jane. Some of the men were tortured. Because many of the POWs where not officially acknowledged, no one knows how many were tortured to death.
I have, of course, omitted a hell of a lot of details that make the case against Hanoi Jane for treason. The one I hope people will think about is her stated intention behind her FTA act. She started over a year earlier in the States (I just missed her at Ft. Lewis before I shipped out) and had plenty of experience with the soldiers who appreciated her show (Vietnam Veterans Against the War) and the ones who didn't. Her objective was to bring as many American solders as possible over to her side - Hanoi's side. It was one thing when she pulled that stunt in the United States where servicemen were free to go or not to go to her show and to say whatever they wanted about it. It was something else when she took her act to captured American's in Vietnam, knowing damn well that she was literally performing for a captive audience and her message was going to be demoralizing to the men who didn't agree with her. That was treason. --Jasper