Overview

In Don't Thank Me for My Service, the author recounts his tour of duty in Viet Nam, which provided a toxic shock and awakened him to the extent to which he and generations of American citizens had thoughtlessly succumbed to the relentless barrage of lies and propaganda that infest US culture—from the military and political parties to religious institutions, academic and educational institutions, sports, fraternal and professional associations, the scientific community, the economic system, and even entertainment—that seek to rationalize the US' otherwise inexplicable and morally repulsive behaviour around the world and at home. Indeed US American history reveals a unifying theme: prosperity for a few through expansion at any cost, to preserve the exceptional American Way of Life (AWOL). This has been structurally guided and facilitated by the nation's founding documents, including the US Constitution. From the beginning, the US was envisaged as a White male supremacist state serving to protect and advance the interests of private and commercial property, and this course has never been reversed, though the 1960s witnessed multiple aligned social movements. The US-waged war in Viet Nam is one of hundreds of examples in a long pattern of brutal exploitation. A quick review of the empirical record reveals close to 600 overt military interventions by the US into dozens of countries since 1798, almost 400 since the end of World War II alone, and thousands of covert interventions since 1947. This history overwhelms any rhetoric about the United States as a beacon of freedom and democracy, committed to promoting domestic and global equal justice under law. Such interventions have assured de facto subsidies for US American interests, regulated global markets on US terms, and provided access to cheap or free labour and to raw materials. Millions of people around the globe have been murdered with virtual impunity as a result of US interventions in a pattern that illustrates what Noam Chomsky calls the Fifth Freedom—the freedom to rob and exploit. This freedom is ultimately protected with use of force when a country or movement seeks to protect or advance the domestic needs and desires of its members or citizens for political freedom or economic wellbeing. This book provides an invaluable tool for today's activists, who may be similarly shocked into wakefulness—whether by war, economic dispossession, or loss of the freedom to dissent.

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9780999874738

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.. .an extremely important book complete with insights and history that make it imperative reading for every American citizen. I highly recommend it. -- Helen Caldicott .. .this is a MUST READ for all of us. The alternative is ever more dangerous perpetual wars. -- Daniel Ellsberg, The Pentagon Papers and The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner By providing the historical context for our involvement in Viet Nam, Willson pulls back a curtain on U.S. imperialism that cannot easily be closed again. -- Martin Sheen This gripping and carefully documented record of the US wars in Indochina, interlaced with vivid and tragic personal experiences, provides a unique and invaluable perspective on some of the most awful crimes of the postwar years. -- Noam Chomsky, Professor Emeritus MIT

Our country badly needs more truth telling. Brian Willson tells the truth about the Vietnam War and about the sordid US history of lies, war and empire: and he writes as one who courageously put his body on the line for these truths. A MUST READ for all of us. The alternative is ever more dangerous perpetual wars. -- Daniel Ellsberg, author of The Pentagon Papers and The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner Few people really understood the terror imposed upon innocent people by the US policies and Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Central America. Brian Willson, a lawyer and a scholar did and does. Not only has he given his body for his beliefs but he has penned an extremely important book complete with insights and history that make it imperative reading for every American citizen. I highly recommend it. -- Helen Caldicott This new book by Brian Willson, like his others, is a must read for anyone who cares about social justice and human rights. Willson does not mince words, but the truth is absolutely essential if we are to put a stop to the US killing machine. -- Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, Author, An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States.

Author Information

Author: S. Brian Willson commanded an AF combat security unit in Viet Nam. He has helped create a host of veterans' organizations, and as a lawyer critiques the US criminal justice system and its foreign policies.

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