Politics is dirty business..

As if we didn't know it already, here is an example of how our leaders (of all countries), can say one thing in public and do another in private. The sad thing is that innocents get hurt in the process....

Vietnam War air force general posthumously exonerated
The disgraced commander of US air operations during the Vietnam War has been posthumously exonerated after secret files reveal the Nixon administration ordered him to carry out "rogue" air strikes.

John D Lavelle was demoted and forced to retire in April 1972 after being relieved of duty for violating presidential restrictions on aerial bombing during the Vietnam War.

He maintained his innocence during congressional hearings held after his dismissal and died in 1979.

Declassified documents and transcripts of President Richard Nixon's Oval Office audio tapes now show that more aggressive bombing in North Vietnam had been secretly authorised in early 1972.

Lavelle's family petitioned the Air Force claiming the Nixon tapes showed that he "was a scapegoat and in fact had acted within the authority expressly granted to him by the president."

An Air Force board concluded that "the White House, the Department of Defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff all possessed evidence which, if released, would have exonerated him." It also cleared Lavelle, known as "Smiling Jack," of ordering falsification of records designed to suggest the bombing missions were in response by hostile fire from North Vietnamese forces.

Lavelle's family are now pushing for him to be restored to the rank of four star general, after he was demoted to major general before his retirement.

Source: Telegraph