You must view the movie, “The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers.” It is an Oscar-nominated 2009 documentary full of revelations on Vietnam, available on Netflix.

The film unveils and puts into perspective the series of political lies and misjudgments going back to Truman that resulted in the deaths of 2 million Vietnamese and 58,000 Americans, plus the as yet untold story of the collateral demise of two members of my own family. It is the tale of the daring illegal disclosure of the Top Secret Pentagon Papers that helped end the war. You’ll hear Nixon in his own words say things that should have put him on a guillotine.

I see more and more parallels to Afghanistan, and the sort of ingrown culture of lies and misjudgments that mislead and numb the vast majority of Americans to what WE are doing there, being paid for with YOUR MONEY and the LIVES of your friends and neighbors. As revealing documents and new perspectives come out on Afghanistan, now would be a good time to see this well done movie, or read the 2002 book on which it was based, and think about taking some contemporary political action on your own current observations and conclusions.

I served as a press officer in Vietnam, at the Department of Defense Information School and at the senior leadership organization in the military, The Army War College, and I didn’t know this much truth about Vietnam until I saw this film.