America's Victory in Vietnam

The Washington Times ^ | April 30, 2010 | James S. Robbins

[Abakumov]

America won the Vietnam War. You hadn't heard? Then check out "The Politi- cally Incorrect Guide to the Vietnam War," Phillip Jennings' new entry in the popular Regnery series. Mr. Jennings wrote the book with a specific purpose: "To settle scores with the pernicious mythmakers of the Vietnam War." These include journalists, politicians and academics, who both created the myths of Vietnam and profited from them. For this group, Mr. Jennings has three words: "Shame on you."

Mr. Jennings' book is a well-researched, brisk review of the central myths of the Vietnam War, set in historical context. It is not a comprehensive history of the war, nor does it claim to be, but an all-out assault on the negative and misleading way in which the war has been portrayed....

This book offers common-sense, factually-based rejoinders to the mythmakers who continue to misrepresent the causes and course of the Vietnam War. It is ready ammunition for anyone faced with defeatist arguments comparing Vietnam to Afghanistan, Iraq or any other conflict. The book is also a public service. Former South Vietnamese Ambassador to the United States Bui Diem said, "History is written by the victors, but over time the truth comes out." This book is part of that continuing process of discovery. There is much yet to be learned - and unlearned - about America's just and heroic involvement in the Vietnam War.

[ETL]

From American Thinker, September 16, 2008
Article: Obama's Foul Weather Friends
By Scott Swett and Roger Canfield

"As a gesture of solidarity, the Vietnamese who [Bernardine] Dohrn met in Budapest presented her with a ring made from an American aircraft shot down over North Vietnam. Bill Ayers would receive a similar ring while meeting with Vietnamese communists in Toronto. He later recalled being so moved by the gesture that he 'left the room to cry.' "

http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/09/obamas_foul_weather_friends.html

[ETL]

"It was at the Chicago home of [Bill] Ayers and [Bernardine] Dohrn that Obama, then an up-and-coming 'community organizer,' had his political coming out party in 1995. Not content with this rite of passage in Lefty World — where unrepentant terrorists are regarded as progressive luminaries, still working 'only to educate' — both Obamas tended to the relationship with the Ayers."
Article: The Company He Keeps:
Meet Obama’s circle: The same old America-hating Left
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=YThjYTU1ZDBjNmQ2YzcwNzU1MmYwN2JiMWY0ZGI0NDA=&w=MA==

[liberalism is suicide]

This Vietnam vet says that communist-accomodating politicians lost the war for us,not our military. But I don’t see how it can be called a victory,when our politicians made it possible for the communists to seize South Vietnam. That’s a defeat—a defeat engineered by our treasonous political elites.

[ETL]

"Daniel Ellsberg (born April 7, 1931) is a former American military analyst employed by the RAND Corporation who precipitated a national political controversy in 1971 when he released the Pentagon Papers, a top-secret Pentagon study of government decision-making about the Vietnam War, to The New York Times and other newspapers."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Ellsberg
_____________________________________________________________

"As a response to the leaks, the Nixon administration began a campaign against further leaks and against Ellsberg personally. Aides Egil Krogh and David Young under John Ehrlichman's supervision created the 'White House Plumbers,' which would later lead to the Watergate burglaries."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Ellsberg#Fallout
_____________________________________________________________

So what is Daniel Ellsberg up to these days? Well, for one thing, he is an endorser of the Revolutionary Communist Party's "World Can't Wait" movement...

Click on the 'World Can't Wait' link just below and see: "Endorsers of the Call to Drive Out the Bush Regime Include" You may recognize a few other names as well, including the democrat chair of the House Judiciary Committee, John Conyers Jr. Conyers' name appears right after Ward Churchill's.
http://worldcantwait.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2538&Itemid=2
_____________________________________________________________

Endorsers of the [World Can't Wait] Call to Drive Out the Bush Regime Include:

James Abourezk, Aris Anagnos, Rocky Anderson, Anti-Flag, Edward Asner, Russell Banks, Ed Begley Jr., Harry Belafonte, St. Clair Bourne, Gabriel Byrne, Margaret Cho, Ward Churchill, Paulette Cole, US Rep John Conyers Jr., John Densmore, Jesse Diaz Jr., Michael Eric Dyson, Steve Earle, Niles Eldredge, Daniel Ellsberg, Eve Ensler, Laura Flanders, Jane Fonda, Martin Garbus, Senator Mike Gravel, Andre Gregory, Sam Hamill, Suheir Hammad, Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Jr., Mumia Abu-Jamal, Rickie Lee Jones, Sarah Jones, Brig. Gen. (Ret) Janis Karpinski, Jonathan Kozol, Rabbi Michael Lerner, US Rep. Cynthia McKinney, Robin Meyers, Mark Crispin Miller, Tom Morello, Viggo Mortensen, John Nichols, US Rep. Major Owens, Grace Paley, Harvey Pekar, Sean Penn, Michelle Phillips, Harold Pinter, Michael Ratner, Mark Ruffalo, US Rep. Bobby Rush, Susan Sarandon, Richard Serra, Jeff Sharlet, Rev. Al Sharpton, Cindy Sheehan, Martin Sheen, Nancy Spero, Gloria Steinem, Lynne Stewart, Serj Tankian, Sunsara Taylor, Studs Terkel, Gore Vidal, Kurt Vonnegut, Alice Walker, Naomi Wallace, US Rep. Maxine Waters, Cornel West, Ann Wright, Howard Zinn, and thousands more who have already joined us.

http://worldcantwait.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2538&Itemid=2
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World Can't Wait--Drive Out the Bush Regime is a Maoist-revolutionary movement organized by the Revolutionary Communist Party. (scroll down the list that appears (after clicking link) to find the World Can't Wait organization --rwor.org is the website of the Revolutionary Communist Party):
http://rwor.org/a/rwlink/links.htm
_____________________________________________________________

From David Horowitz's FrontpageMag.com /DiscoverTheNetworks.org:
Profile: World Can't Wait (WCW)

*Revolutionary communist movement that stages protests against the Bush administration

*Organizes college and high-school students

*Founded in June 2005 by Charles Clark Kissinger, a longtime leader of the Revolutionary Communist Party

http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=7213

[daniel1212]

From poster Marcus on http://www.militaryhistory.org/2009/05/vietnam-american-military-victory-or-defeat/

American soldiers fleeing onto helicopters - The war was over when this happened. The war ended in 1973 with a treaty between the US, N. Vietnamese, and an umbrella group representing the S. Vietnamese and partisans. After the war was over, there were no fewer than four attempts by the N. Vietnamese to sneak back across the border and follow through on their plan to seize S. Vietnam the way they had wanted in 1965. Each time the US bombed them back across the border. The 1975 fall of Saigon, the N. Vietnamese moved back into Hue and waited for about two weeks. When Ford did nothing, they began their attack. The residual force that the US still had (about 1,000) withdrew back to the embassy. Now, the whole scrambling aboard choppers and pushing them off the carriers. All US personnel were out in about two hours. They were pushing choppers off the ship because there were so many S. Viets trying to flee, that they were jumping on the choppers, overloading them, and choppers were landing on the carriers with no fuel, they couldn’t be moved, and space had to be made or else the next choppers was not going to have room, and would crash either into the water or onto the flight deck, killing the pilots and refugess, thus the men were ordered to push the choppers into the ocean to make room for these refugee flights. Also, many, many S. Viets were overloading boats, trying to get to the US Navy. In other words, the war had been over almost two years when this happened.

Actual battlefield dead statistics from the N. Vietnamese. In 1966 they took over 90,000 dead. During Tet ‘68 they took over 40,000 confirmed casualties in less than 24 hours. In 1966, The US had toe-holds in Da Nang and Longh Binh and Saigon. In 1967-68, the control had expanded and there was now fierce fighting in cities and towns. By 1969-70, GI’s could travel freely throughout the Mekong during the day hours without weapons. Also, by this time the VC (even according to Giap) had been annihilated. By 1971-73, the US had to go out into the mountains looking for the N. Viets. In 1973, the treaty was signed, the war was over, S. Vietnam remained soveriegn (the US’s ultimate goal), and the US went home, leaving behind a residual force of about 2,000, who were gradually rotating home. By 1975 there were about 1,000 left who were slated to go home that year. 18 months later, the N. Viets broke the treaty for the fifth time and took Saigon.

In response to Ap Bac, I would ask about the special forces fighting in the A Shau, when 13 Americans and about 100 Montagnards destroyed over ten Russian tanks, and collected a confirmed count of 1,000+ dead N. Viets before evacuating. Or Longh Binh when the VC were destroyed. Operation Hastings.

Based on minutes we have from meetings between Ho, Giap, and other top brass, in 1967 there was a large conference. All of them acknowledged they were losing the war. There were two plans put forth. Fall back and fight guerilla. But Giap said no to that. He decided that there must be a sweeping offensive across the country that could push the Americans back and cause a political firestrom in the US. The funny thing is, Westmoreland had them played. He knew a large offensive was coming. The first three hours caught the American forces off-guard. The “invasion of Saigon” which was actually twelve sappers who killed two Marines, and Cronkite’s idiotic broadcast were so premature. By the end of the day the N. Viets had been slapped…hard. Again, in minutes from meetings after the fact, they top Viet brass admits this, conceeding that Hue would also be lost soon. And Khe Sanh.

But what Giap hoped would be a great victory was the most decisive, crushing defeat that is possible in military matters. But because of premature and self-righteous broadcasts, it sparked a firestorm in the US. The Viets were systematically driven back from the very edges of the Da Nang perimeter to hiding in the A Shau valley. At no one year in the war did the Viets ever make gains against the US.

And last but not least…the US “pulled out” because a peace treaty was signed. The images of Saigon happened two years later.

[nkycincinnatikid]

mark

[chris_bdba]

I heard earlier today that it is the 35th anniversary of the fall of Saigon. I remember being 14 and sitting in front of th TV crying at what I was seeing. I think that is really the first time I realized really that the rest of the world was not like the USA.

[dfwgator]

I heard earlier today that it is the 35th anniversary of the fall of Saigon. I remember being 14 and sitting in front of th TV crying at what I was seeing. I think that is really the first time I realized really that the rest of the world was not like the USA.

And then there was the horrible C-5A plane crash of the orphans, around that time.

[Defiant]

We left.

After we had won militarily. The Dems tried to do it again in Iraq, take a war that had been won and turn it into a loss. They may still do that.

On the other hand, as Sun Tzu and other theorists will tell you, the definition of winning a war isn't necessarily who won all the military victories, but who won the political battle when all was said and done. In that respect, North Vietnam may be said to have won (or the alliance of Soviets, Chinese, North Vietnam and global communism won) through manipulation of the American media, Congress, and Democrat party into siding with the communist side and withdrawing from the conflict.

[A_Former_Democrat]

Ironically, I had a Vietnamese gf here in the 1990’s who’s family did just that. It was bonechilling to listen to them tell the story of escape in a brother’s boat, not knowing what was going to happen. Fortunately Ford had dispatched US ships to search for refugees and they were rescued.

My gf was in Canada at the time and went for a long while not knowing what happened to her family.

[Defiant]

I was 15 and I remember being real pissed off that we were letting the place fall to the commies. I didn’t think Ford would just let it happen. I guess he figured his hands were tied by Congress.

[Pining_4_TX]

The Vietnam war was not worth the loss of so many lives.

[dfwgator]

Ford was an idiot, he didn’t think the Soviets dominated Poland.

[Eagles6]

Dang! She was on of the lucky ones. That was one of the most shameful periods in US history.

[A_Former_Democrat]

Indeed. Hearing the fall of Saigon on the radio and then 20 years later, hearing personal stories face to face . . .memorable.

[BIGLOOK]

This lost the cause and severely damaged our efforts in Viet Nam.

Their troops and air force were decimated to the point of capitulation but our domestic propagandists snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.

[ansel12]

Put the blame where it belongs, the politicians. The people that ran America and ran the military.

From JFK to Nixon, and the Congress and Senate, and the Supreme Court, it was like everyone over fifty went insane from 1959 to 1979.

It was bizarre.

[onedoug]

The Vietnam (to them, the American) War yet goes on. Only the theater has changed. Go there and see it for yourself.

If we ultimately win the War On Terror I’m convinced that Vietnam will dump communism and become the dominant Asian powerhouse so fully within its potential.

If we lose the WOT then America will be finished, and the world will become darker and darker.

[Grampa Dave]

ASA Vet and others with boots on the ground reality know that we didn’t lose in the TET offensive nor did we lose the war.

The pro communist/hate Americans in our mass media and in congress made Americans believe that we lost the war.

They, also, turned loose a wave of hatred for those of us in uniform (active or reserve duty) during that time. John Kerry, Jane Fonda, Ted Kennedy were the leaders of the hate Americans in the military at that time.

[Grampa Dave]

“Can you imagine piling into a little boat and heading out to sea, to anywhere else because, because you knew what the evil bastards were going to do to you and yours and anything was better than that? The lucky ones were picked up by the US Navy, some made land somewhere, many were victims of pirates and many disappeared.”

Death at sea was a better fate that what was in store in the socialist paradise.”

We know two young Viet Namese Ladies in their late 30’s. They don’t remember their parents escaping Nam with them and other family members and heading to sea in small boats. They have heard their parents and older relatives tell about those horrible times.

Apparently their families and they were picked up at sea, and they ended up in California. None of their relatives nor they ever were on welfare.

Last year one of the young ladies went back to Nam to visit relatives, who didn’t escape. She doesn’t want to talk about it, but she had some severe health problems after her trip. We feel that she had some type of PTS triggered by her trip back. She will not go back as long as the communists are still in charge.