Above is a picture of Nguyen Cao Ky huddling with Lyndon Johnson. Ky was one of our main Vietnamese lackeys during the midsixties, first as Air Marshall and then as Prime Minister.
Therefore, from the perspective of the U.S. media, he was someone to gush over. This CBS News segment appears in an obscure documentary about I.F. Stone
CRONKITE: Air Force Marshall Ky is a dynamic man—at 34, said to be one of the best public speakers in Vietnam. He gets to work around 7:30 in the morning, works late at night. He has broken the habits of siestas, there is none here. He doesn’t even go out to lunch, but like an American businessman, he eats off the corner of his desk. Ky is a hero to the Vietnamese people. We had an opportunity to talk to him today.
KY: We need more American troops, allied troops.
From the same period, here’s General Ky speaking in an interview with the London Sunday Mirror:
KY: People ask me who my heroes are. I have only one—Hitler. I admire Hitler because he pulled his country together when it was in a terrible state.
God damn that god damn liberal media!
In any case, this is why I say that Ahmadinejad’s statements about wiping Israel off the map (whether he said exactly that or not) have nothing to do with our policy toward Iran. All that matters is whether you take orders. If you do, you’re free to say or do anything you want. Grow a Hitler ‘stache while eating Hitler-flavored ice cream and screaming “I WANT TO BE THE HITLERIST HITLER OF ALL” and it’s perfectly okay. Knock yourself out.
(The Ky-Hitler quote appears in the documentary, but I was also reminded of it by Rick Perlstein.)