When we talk about the Vietnam War, we often talk about the draft, protestors, a no-win situation, and veterans’ rights. But something we don’t always give attention to is this question: Who or what is a Vietnam vet? It’s a question that’s haunted thousands of Hmong-Americans, who were trained, armed and paid by the CIA to fight for the U.S. in Vietnam. These soldiers, who hail primarily from Laos, consider themselves vets. But the law prevents them from being buried in national or state veterans’ cemeteries.

China has existed as an independent state for close to 4,000 years. After a decline in the 20th Century, the large nation has risen to the ranks of a global superpower in recent decades, replacing the USSR as U.S. rival; but it has also been a partner. Many would argue that Dr. Henry Kissinger is the man to thank for China's current relationship with the West, and particularly the U.S. He joins us for more on that subject and his new book "On China," and also admits to mistakes in strategy by the Nixon Administration on the war in Vietnam.

In wartime, there is at least one clear moral imperative: spare civilian life. This is a strategic imperative as well. A new paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research shows that by sparing civilian lives in Afghanistan, U.S. and NATO forces will suffer fewer revenge attacks by insurgents.

The Department of Veterans Affairs is set to issue new rules, as early as Monday, which should simplify the way veterans receive compensation for post-traumatic stress disorder. PTSD is one of the most common psychological injuries afflicting veterans today and creating new regulations for treatment is an attempt to break some of the barriers to treatment.

Afghan presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah announced yesterday that he would not participate in a runoff against incumbent president Hamid Karzai, originally scheduled to take place six days from now. This morning, Afghanistan's election commission officially cancelled the election entirely.

This morning we're comparing two conflicts involving electoral politics and counterinsurgency strategies from today and over 40 years ago: Afghanistan and Vietnam. We talk with Gordon Goldstein, author of "Lessons in Disaster: McGeorge Bundy and the Path to War in Vietnam," and Fotini Christia, Afghanistan analyst and professor of Political Science at MIT.

Halliburton may be the most famous corporation involved in the war with Iraq, but by no means is it the only one. Corporate involvement in times of war did not start in Iraq - nor did alleged corruption or rumors of war profiteering begin there. James Carter is a professor of history at Drew University and author of a book called “Inventing Vietnam: The United States and State Building, 1954-1968.”  He joins us with a look at the legacy of war as an economic engine.

We're joined by Peter Baker, White House correspondent for The New York Times, to talk about similarities between the continued war in Afghanistan and other ill-defined conflicts in America's past. He outlines this in his article for The New York Times, "Could Afghanistan Become Obama's Vietnam?" 

 

During the Vietnam War, the directors of the museum in Hanoi decided to hide their nation's valuable art work to keep it safe from the war. But they wanted to maintain their cultural pride. So they came up with an ingenious plan: hide the originals and fill the museum with well-crafted copies or forgeries. Now, curators at the Museum of Fine Arts in Hanoi have found that their walls are still covered with fakes. Where are the originals? We turn to Lawrence Pollard, BBC arts correspondent.