Ed Lansdale, prototype of the "Ugly American"

[Robert Reeves]

Lansdale receiving a medal from another warmonger

[Barry Pollard]

^For his work with and settling in Diem correct?  Around '56?
Tricky hadn't even gotten his pants off yet but yes.

Also Richard, I did just watch one of Max Boot's book talks on Ed so thanks for the heads up.
Max is easy to listen to which always helps, pehaps a wee bit conformist but what can you do?

[Robert Reeves]

^For his work with and settling in Diem correct?  Around '56?
Tricky hadn't even gotten his pants off yet but yes.

I'm not 100% sure which medal Lansdale is receiving from tricky dicky. A couple of obituary write ups mention Lansdale was awarded two Distinguished Service Medals.

Gen. Lansdale received two Distinguished Service Medals for work in developing counterinsurgency tactics in Vietnam and for services as adviser to Magsaysay in the Philippines.

above from wapo -- https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1987/02/24/edward-lansdale-prototype-for-ugly-american-dies/d2ff2042-05c8-4f1d-b12d-972bf8338b14/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.68356d6e4c99

below from -- https://valor.militarytimes.com/hero/48264

AWARDED FOR ACTIONS
DURING Cold War
Service: Air Force
GENERAL ORDERS:
Department of the Air Force, General Orders No. 69 (1956)

CITATION:
(Citation Needed) - SYNOPSIS: Colonel Edward G. Lansdale (AFSN: 2534A), United States Air Force, was awarded the Air Force Distinguished Service Medal (Army Design) for exceptionally meritorious and distinguished services to the Government of the United States, in a duty of great responsibility as Assistant to the Secretary of Defense in matters of great importance Indo-China during the period from 1954 to 1956. The singularly distinctive accomplishments of General Lansdale and his dedicated contributions in the service of his country reflect the highest credit upon himself and the United States Air Force.

Seeing that picture of Nixon doing the 'honors' of awarding Lansdale his medal kinda brings it home how chummy Nixon & Lansdale's relationship probably was. You don't really see it mentioned by anyone, the relationship between the two.

Nixon would have obviously been well aware of Lansdale's abilities for: 1. wiping people off the planet 2. being an expert Kingmaker.

[Richard Rubio]

I'm not 100% sure which medal Lansdale is receiving from tricky dicky. A couple of obituary write ups mention Lansdale was awarded two Distinguished Service Medals.
above from wapo -- https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1987/02/24/edward-lansdale-prototype-for-ugly-american-dies/d2ff2042-05c8-4f1d-b12d-972bf8338b14/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.68356d6e4c99

below from -- https://valor.militarytimes.com/hero/48264

Seeing that picture of Nixon doing the 'honors' of awarding Lansdale his medal kinda brings it home how chummy Nixon & Lansdale's relationship probably was. You don't really see it mentioned by anyone, the relationship between the two.

Nixon would have obviously been well aware of Lansdale's abilities for: 1. wiping people off the planet 2. being an expert Kingmaker.

Any backup to the above? That just seems like slander. Nothing to back this up except the words of people like Fletcher Prouty. If no backup, really, slander by the CTers; another thing that seems to make their views less viable.

[Richard Rubio]

Kennedy tried to have Castro killed, that is virtually undeniable, despite revisionism, some say he had Diem overthrown and if we throw out the same tawdry rumors as the CTers say, perhaps, we could say Marilyn was intentionally killed.

Most egregiously, in 1963, Washington decided to overthrow Diem, a nationalist if flawed leader. Lansdale had warned that years of political chaos would follow, as indeed they did.

Lansdale was onto something. For all his flaws, Diem probably would have led a more stable, tougher government than the ones that followed his. In this environment, the United States may have been less compelled to deploy hundreds of thousands of soldiers and Marines. ?At the very least the war?s loss would have been less painful all around if Lansdale?s advice had been heeded,? Boot writes. ?He had never wanted to see half a million American troops thrashing around Vietnam, suffering and inflicting heavy casualties. His approach, successful or not, would have been more humane and less costly.?

Boot?s broader message is that skilled, locally savvy advisors could have yielded better results not just in Vietnam ? but also in America?s more recent wars. A major shortcoming in Iraq and Afghanistan was the lack of on-the-ground leaders with Lansdale?s level of local knowledge and people skills, Boot contends. In his view, there was no Lansdale-like rapport with national leaders. In sharp contrast to Lansdale?s privileged ties to Magsaysay and Diem, the United States had poor relationships with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Afghan President Hamid Karzai, and it could not dissuade them from bad decisions that ended up fueling support for insurgents and terrorists.


https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/01/16/edward-lansdale-and-americas-vietnam-demons-vietnam-war-max-boot/

http://www.historynet.com/ed-lansdales-black-warfare-in-1950s-vietnam.htm

https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/books-and-monographs/Anthology-CIA-and-the-Wars-in-Southeast-Asia/pdfs/ahern-cia-ngo-in-dinh-diem.pdf

Real talk on the Kennedy/Johnson Vietnam war. Not nut job conspiracy.

[Robert Reeves]

Any backup to the above? That just seems like slander. Nothing to back this up except the words of people like Fletcher Prouty. If no backup, really, slander by the CTers; another thing that seems to make their views less viable.

I presume you take offence, in your silly passive aggressive post's, re my suggestion Lansdale was really good at having people killed?? -- even though you've been posting about Operation Mongoose ... which Lansdale was tasked with overseeing. Aka, the guy you take offence to being described as a killer was given the task to kill/remove Castro, by any means.

[Richard Rubio]

Per Michael Walton (forum member and from the other forum), the alleged Lansdale with the 3 tramps, well, that guy is wearing glasses, good luck if one can prove Lansdale wore glasses.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7Hr9Lrku-Cxczd5THIwOEpiY2c/view



Lansdale kicked Prouty back to the airforce.  Prouty may have had some sour grapes with Lansdale.  One would have to read into it. Any photos of Lansdale with glasses anyone?

What a sharp graphic, thank you Michael.