Neil Sheehan: In Retrospect

[James DiEugenio]

For a long time, I have not been part of the liberal blogosphere. Ever since my blow out with Jane Hamsher and Marco Moulitsas.

One of their favorite books was Halberstam's obsolete piece of diversion, The Best and the Brightest.  I can do no better than to repeat what Warren Hinckle said about that junk pile:

"Its one of the greatest bullshit books ever written."

Another of their favorites is Neil Sheehan's A Bright Shining Lie.  I never fell for either author like so many had. But if you read this, you will understand why Sheehan was the main talking head on the Burns/Novick mediocrity The VIetnam War, for the Kennedy years. He and his buddy Halberstam were utter and complete hawks while Kennedy was trying to get out.. He then smeared Mark Lane while covering up atrocities in Vietnam.  So excuse me if I do not join the commiseration of Neil.  IMO, what he and Halberstam did in VIetnam was CYA.

https://kennedysandking.com/obituaries/neil-sheehan-in-retrospect

Edited January 18, 2021 by James DiEugenio

[W. Niederhut]

Very interesting article, Jim.

I wonder if both Sheehan and the NYT (in their published version of the Pentagon Papers) covered up the evidence about JFK's plans for a phased withdrawal-- and LBJ's reversal of those plans-- through an agreement with LBJ and the CIA's "Mockingbird" propaganda establishment.

It seems like LBJ, the CIA, Halberstam, and Sheehan all colluded in a cover up of LBJ's reversal of NSAM 263 by NSAM273  and escalation of the war after 11/22/63.

Hard to believe that Halberstam and Sheehan were not working with Mockingbird-type journalistic contracts.

Edited January 18, 2021 by W. Niederhut

[James DiEugenio]

I cannot say that for sure. But I can say the indications are there.

In the Ny TImes version of the Pentagon Papers, like I wrote, it says there was continuity between JFK and LBJ.  Yet, we now have it on tape with LBJ telling McNamara how he disagreed with the withdrawal plan but he remained silent. He then tried to place the blame for the war on JFK, that he was continuing what Kennedy did.  I mean what a xxxx.

What do you think about what Sheehan did to Mark Lane?  And that was in 1971.  Three years after My Lai.

[W. Niederhut]

11 hours ago, James DiEugenio said:

I cannot say that for sure. But I can say the indications are there.

In the Ny TImes version of the Pentagon Papers, like I wrote, it says there was continuity between JFK and LBJ.  Yet, we now have it on tape with LBJ telling McNamara how he disagreed with the withdrawal plan but he remained silent. He then tried to place the blame for the war on JFK, that he was continuing what Kennedy did.  I mean what a xxxx.

What do you think about what Sheehan did to Mark Lane?  And that was in 1971.  Three years after My Lai.

I didn't phrase my question quite right.

To rephrase-- Was the popular Halberstam and Sheehan fiction about JFK and Vietnam a result of shoddy journalism, (projected guilt, etc.) or deliberate collusion in an LBJ/CIA disinformation campaign?

My impression is that LBJ, et.al., worked very hard to disguise LBJ's reversal of JFK's Vietnam withdrawal policy, because they didn't want the public to discern a Deep State motive for JFK's murder.

Halberstam and Sheehan played an important role in bamboozling the public about NSAM263.

[James DiEugenio]

I can't answer the question one way or another.

I have not seen anything that lists them as part of Mockingbird.

But I will say this about Halberstam.  I think its quite odd that he never listed the interview subjects for The Best and the Brightest.  So we do not know who he relied upon for his information.

To be on the safe side, I wrote that they did what they did in order to cover the fact that they were utterly wrong and JFK was right.  In fact, JFK was so upset with Halberstam's writing in 1963 that he wanted him rotated out of Saigon.  And though I cannot prove it, I think McNamara vetoed Vann's briefing of the JCS.

Along with Sheehan, they were at cross purposes, to JFK on direct American intervention.  Kennedy turned out to be correct on Vietnam and they were disastrously wrong.   So they then tried to blame the war on him to detract from themselves.

Again, whether they were aided on this covertly I do not know. But Sheehan had the help of Breastrup and Loomis. There is little doubt Loomis was part of the hidden apparatus of media control e.g.  James Phelan, Gerald Posner for starters.

Edited January 18, 2021 by James DiEugenio

[Andrew Prutsok]

Always suspected Moulitsas was some type of intelligence agent whose Daily Kos site was set up to try to limit what was acceptable leftwing discourse/policy  to keep the Democratic party from drifting too far to the left. I became suspicious of when he came out hard against Dennis Kucinich, suggesting he be primaried, which seemed an odd position for a leftist. I believe I read years ago he was involved in Intel in the Army. He was a Republican before joining the military.

[James DiEugenio]

I had those same suspicions.  I mean if you looked at that site, somehow Halberstam's The Best and the Brightest was the definitive look at Vietnam.

This was after John Newman's JFK and VIetnam was on the market!

They also liked Sheehan's book on Vann, though not as much.

But the point is, Newman's book set a new paradigm with new evidence.  

You are right about Markos and intel, he was somehow associated and he admitted it. But I don't think he actually joined.

I came to the conclusion that Daily Kos was designed to capture the reaction to W's horrendous presidency and channel it into calm waters.  Primary Kucinich?  Perfect example. Halberstam and Sheehan, the same. Kennedy was no different than LBJ or RMN.

[W. Niederhut]

Published in today's New Yorker by Ben Bradlee, Jr.

The Deceit and Conflict Behind the Leak of the Pentagon Papers | The New Yorker\

April 8, 2021

Edited April 9, 2021 by W. Niederhut

[Guest]

Fascinating article. What a courageous/dangerous decision to make. 

[Richard Booth]

On 1/17/2021 at 5:20 PM, James DiEugenio said:

For a long time, I have not been part of the liberal blogosphere. Ever since my blow out with Jane Hamsher and Marco Moulitsas.

One of their favorite books was Halberstam's obsolete piece of diversion, The Best and the Brightest.  I can do no better than to repeat what Warren Hinckle said about that junk pile:

"Its one of the greatest bullshit books ever written."

Another of their favorites is Neil Sheehan's A Bright Shining Lie.  I never fell for either author like so many had. But if you read this, you will understand why Sheehan was the main talking head on the Burns/Novick mediocrity The VIetnam War, for the Kennedy years. He and his buddy Halberstam were utter and complete hawks while Kennedy was trying to get out.. He then smeared Mark Lane while covering up atrocities in Vietnam.  So excuse me if I do not join the commiseration of Neil.  IMO, what he and Halberstam did in VIetnam was CYA.

https://kennedysandking.com/obituaries/neil-sheehan-in-retrospect

Let's not forget their favorite essay. The one by Richard Hofstadter... a pile of garbage along with the other works you cite...