CBS has apologized after receiving criticism for a recent “The Amazing Race” episode set in Vietnam in which footage of a wrecked B-52 bomber was shown. The commander in chief of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, John Hamilton, wrote an open letter about the incident:

I hope you can understand our anger at a show that wasted a golden opportunity to educate as well as entertain. The scene with the B-52 wreckage could have been used to tell a story about what was then America’s longest war, about the 58,195 American names on the Vietnam Wall, about the 1,652 Americans still listed as missing-in-action, or about the fates of the multiple crewmen aboard each of the 17 American B-52s we lost in combat.

Or it could have been used to tell a story about yet another unjust American war, about 58,195 American soldiers who died for no other reason than to get their name on a wall, about 1,652 Americans still missing who never should have gone to Vietnam in the first place, or about the B-52 bomber crewman who terrorized the Vietnam from 40,000 feet.

If you are in doubt, see Nick Turse’s new book, Kill Anything that Moves: The Real American War in Vietnam.

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