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

[donheld]

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.”

Filed under: International Relations

Posted by Judd November 15, 2006 10:05 am


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


:eyes: :think: :wtf: :hurts: :grr: :eyes: :think: :wtf: :hurts: :grr: :eyes: :think: :wtf: :hurts: :grr:

[4morewars]

1. This country is being run by shitheads.

Absolute freekin imbeciles.

[Alamom]

2. Absolutely. n/t

[Syrinx]

3. is it incompetence or antagonism?

The administration is incompetent and antagonistic from top to bottom. I really hope they don't get us all killed.

[lapfog_1]

7. Somebody in the White House did this one on purpose

in my humble opinion. Simple google "flag of vietnam" immediately brings up the correct flag. In fact the first dozen or so sites referenced (including US gov sites) have the correct flag.

I'm guessing that there are a number of rapid anti-communist staffers inside the White House that don't really want W. to do anything good for Vietnam, and possibly hoped to sabotage the trip. I think there was even a West Wing episode like this (China and Taiwan flags swapped) which caused one side to take extreme exception. Anyway, there are a lot of "Bob Jones University" graduates working as flunkies around the White House, and this could have been a way to protest.

[tritsofme]

4. I can't imagine this wasn't intentional

Poppy and his Vietnam profiteers are running the show, and just for the past as the corpmedia would lead you on.

[lapfog_1]

8. But there are a large number of ideologues hired into the West Wing

and they may not be "clued in" about the BFEE interests in dealing with Communist Vietnam.

[Crim_n al]

5. When Bush came to Ausralia, he didn't know the name of our PM ...

n/t

[Anarcho-Socialist]

10. Wow really?

I hadn't heard about that. :D

[donheld]

11. If Mr Howard was smart he wouldn't have known the name of * n/t

[Crim_n al]

15. Sadly for Australia, Howard is even less smart

than the cane-toads he so closely resembles.

And probably less fun to lick, too. :eyes:

[newyawker99]

13. Hi Crim_n al!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Crim_n al]

14. Thanks, Newyawker99.

This looks an interesting place to hang out.

I've been reading some fascinating discussions, learning heaps.

:pals:

[LiberalPartisan]

6. How stupid are these people? n/t

[lapfog_1]

9. not that stupid. more likely intentional - n/t

[malaise]

12. This must have been

deliberate. There is no other interpretation that makes sense.