Dear Friends,

CLICK HERE FOR THE PODCAST, WITH TOM HARKIN AND ED FALLON:

(01:15) Tom Harkin talks about the Vietnam War “tiger cages” — LISTEN
(27:03) Tom and Ed discuss the upcoming election — LISTEN
(38:29) Ed reviews some of the week’s top stories — LISTEN
(52:14) October garden Q & A, with Kathy Byrnes — LISTEN

If you’ve never heard former US Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) recount how he exposed torture in Vietnam, this week’s Fallon Forum is a must-listen.

Former US Senator Tom Harkin in the studio with Ed.

In 1970, President Richard Nixon assured the press and the public that the Vietnam War was going well. Troops were being withdrawn. There was real progress toward peace.

It’s probably no surprise that Nixon was lying. In April of 1970, he actually expanded the war into neighboring Cambodia.

(Imagine that. A US president lying about a war. Who ever heard of such a thing?)

Also in 1970, Tom Harkin worked as an aide to Congressman Neal Smith (D-Iowa). That summer, Tom joined a bi-partisan House delegation on a fact-finding mission to Vietnam.

At one point, Tom managed to break away from the official, sanitized tour to chase a rumor about “tiger cages,” where he’d heard that prisoners were being tortured.

What Tom discovered was truly horrific.

On an island off the coast, he saw cells housing hundreds of political dissidents, student protestors, and Buddhist monks. Prisoners were shackled in tiny, windowless concrete pits. They suffered from severe malnutrition and disease. They were routinely beaten with sticks and had caustic lime thrown on them to burn their skin.

It was state-sanctioned torture, period. And US officials were culpable. Frank Walton, the chief correctional advisor in Vietnam, assured the House delegation that a Vietnamese prison was similar to a Boy Scout recreational camp.

Tom managed to secretly take photos of the tiger cages. He recorded prisoners’ testimonies. When he joined back up with the official delegation, he hid the film so it wouldn’t be confiscated.

Returning to the US, he released the photos and recordings to Life magazine.

(I would include some of those photos, but they really are deeply disturbing.)

The story had a profound and transformative impact on Americans’ attitude to the war.

And Tom lost his job.

Four years later, Tom won a congressional race, and went on to represent southwest Iowa for ten years.

(Let that sink in. A progressive Democrat. Representing southwest Iowa. A mostly rural district. At the same time, another progressive Democrat, Berkley Bedell, represented northwest Iowa. Hmm. Maybe Iowa Democrats have been doing things all wrong these past few decades.)

Tom went on to win a seat in the US Senate — a seat he held for thirty years.

Ed and Kathy give Tom and Ruth Harkin a tour of Birds & Bees Urban Farm.

Tom relates the tiger cage story in detail in this week’s PODCAST. We also discuss the upcoming election. I welcome your feedback.

After recording the program, Kathy and I served Tom and Ruth lunch from the abundance of Birds & Bees Urban Farm. We also gave them a farm tour, and told them that, along with foraging, we raise half the food we eat.

Tom later wrote that he was amazed at what one can grow on a small plot of land. He asked what Iowa could do to get more people doing this across the state.

That’s a question Kathy and I work on every day. Along with many other grassroots agrarians committed to sustainable farming, we’re making slow but steady progress. It would be helpful if state and local governments were more actively and aggressively pushing for re-localizing food production.

Thanks for reading, listening, and taking action. And if you’re a central Iowa resident, remember to support the local businesses and nonprofits that help underwrite this platform.

Ed Fallon

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In addition to our PODCAST, listen to the Fallon Forum on these affiliates:

– KHOI 89.1 FM (Ames, Iowa)
– KICI.LP 105.3 FM (Iowa City, Iowa)
– WHIV 102.3 FM (New Orleans, Louisiana)
– KPIP-LP, 94.7 FM (Fayette, Missouri)
– KCEI 90.1 FM (Taos, New Mexico)
– WGOT-LP 100.1 FM (Gainesville, Florida)
– KRFP 90.3 FM (Moscow, Idaho)
– WGRN 94.1 FM (Columbus, Ohio)
— WJLQ 99.7 FM (Muskegon, Michigan)
— WRWK 93.9 FM (Midlothian, Virginia)
— WDRT 91.9 FM (Viroqua, Wisconsin)