As Bush Goes To Vietnam, WH Website Displays The WRONG Flag

[kpete]

As Bush Goes To Vietnam, White House Website Displays The Wrong Flag

Today, President Bush visits Vietnam for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, “looking to burnish his foreign-policy credentials.” He’s off to a miserable start.



Yesterday, the White House website featured a graphic with the flags of the three countries he’s visiting on his trip — Singapore, Vietnam, and Indonesia. One problem: instead of displaying the Vietnamese flag, the White House graphic featured the old flag of South Vietnam. That flag hasn’t been the official flag of Vietnam since South Vietnam surrendered to North Vietnam in 1975.

The display of the old flag is highly incendiary to the current Vietnamese government. NPR reported last year the display of the old flag anywhere in the United States — much less on the White House website — “could create tension amid warming relations between the United States and Vietnam.”

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/11/15/vietnam-bush-wrong-flag/

[sakabatou]

1. Oh my...

[bigtree]

2. figures

dumb fucks

[Buzz Clik]

3. Come on. Give them a break.

The admin didn't spend much time out of the country prior to 2001, and damn few ever made it to Vietnam.

[AdvancedProgress]

4. Hmm...

Nice. :sarcasm:

[SutaUvaca]

5. "Burnishing his foreign policy credentials"!!??

Burning them, maybe.
Gore Vidal said it earlier. "None of these fellows have read history."
Total screwnups.


Edit a word.

[lildreamer316]

6. Wasn't this a West Wing Epsiode?

Except the dignitaries were visiting the WH.
OH, that's kinda funny.

[gatorboy]

7. I guess they thought it was "Too Commie".

I'm surprised they didn't add a couple of bald eagles to it.

[Crankie Avalon]

8. The little draft doger FINALLY makes it to Vietnam and THIS happens...

...typical. Can this guy ever NOT embarrass America when he goes overseas??? :blush:

[alcibiades_mystery]

9. Totally deliberate

This is coded for the uber-right Vietnamese exiles and the right-wing segment of Vietnam veterans. They didn't do that by accident. Many of these people still go around with the flag of the old RVN on key chains and such.

The attention to domestic politics over foreign diplomacy is unbelievable. Even on the eve of this visit, they play to the right-wing base at the expense of their soon-to-be hosts. It blows the mind.

[Nikki Stone1]

14. I agree. The flag is for domestic consumption. We had a case in SoCal several years back

in which a shopkeeper caused an uproar in "Little Saigon" (a part of Orange County) when he displayed the new (Communist) Vietnamese flag at his shop. The Vietnamese immigrants in the area were vehemently opposed to the communist government and used the old flag in local shops and businesses. Local talk radio was torn between anti-communism feelings and the idea that a business had a right to do as it wished.

[4bucksagallon]

10. Most republicans didn't serve in Nam, so it is understandable they would be confused.

[derby378]

11. In our Vietnamese community, EVERYONE flies the old South Vietnam flag...

...but that doesn't give the White House clearance to do it as well. Sheesh.

[zbdent]

12. Bush, using current WH "intel" ...

"Are there Sunnis in Vietnam?"

[sinkingfeeling]

13. Continuing to be the Most Incompetent Administration in history!!

[bullwinkle428]

15. "All them flags look a-lahk over there anyway..."

"...that's what daddy said...heh-heh-heh..."

[Coexist]

16. lovely.