:52:02
We called them "gooks,'' "slopes.''
:52:05
Their lives weren't worth anything to us
because we'd been taught to believe...
:52:09
that they were all fanatical
and that they were all V.C...
:52:12
or V.C. sympathizers,
even the children.
:52:15
Many of us, however,
began to understand...
:52:17
through our personal
experiences in Vietnam...
:52:20
the depth of the lies and deceptions
practiced upon us,
:52:23
and the American people,
by our country's leaders.
:52:27
It was they who trained us
to kill without question...
:52:30
and to hate our enemy--
the Vietnamese.
:52:34
They concocted such phrases
as "kill ratios,'' "search and destroy,''
:52:38
"free fire zones,''
"secure areas,'' and so on...
:52:42
to mask the reality
of their combat policy in Vietnam.
:52:47
I make no apology
for this act of resistance.
:52:50
I could do nothing else
at the time.
:52:53
But underground life
has become intolerable to me.
:52:56
So I'm here today to draw attention
to the true facts concerning my case...
:53:02
and the cases of tens of thousands
just like me.
:53:06
We are not criminals
to be hunted and imprisoned.
:53:09
Over a half million of us
have deserted the military since 1965.
:53:15
Most of us have already returned
to the military...
:53:17
to be punished with jail
and bad discharges...
:53:20
that will be carried around
for the rest of our lives.
:53:23
And it is a supreme irony
to be prosecuted by the very same men...
:53:28
who planned and executed
a genocidal war in Indochina.
:53:32
Now, inside this hearing room,
Eddie Sowders has surrendered himself.
:53:36
Urged on, he says, by a hand-to-mouth
underground existence...
:53:40
that still nags at many
of his fellow deserters...
:53:43
who continue to look
over their shoulders.
:53:45
Paul Udell,
NBC News, Washington.
:53:51
- How was your sound?
-[Man] One more time.
:53:53
[Speaking Vietnamese]
:53:55
-[Translator] Let me respectfully
tell the American people...
:53:58
that this is their dirtiest
and longest war.