we didn't lose... we QUIT!!!
Posted on 07/22/2008 4:25:19 PM PDT by shrinkermd
Why did ted kennedy leave a young girl to drown,why did walter cronkite stand up and point at a map?
We lost in Vietnam because we took too long. The American people stuck by us for nearly eight long years as our government diddled (LBJ choosing which targets we could strike in the North, etc.), our combat leadership failed to adapt to the enemy's tactics or just reacted too slowly, and bit by bit, the enemy won the propaganda war by influencing the "peace" movement, our media, then the American people.
Our leaders completely underestimated the size, capabilities and resiliency of the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong and wasted incalculable amounts of lives and treasure by applying inappropriate weapons and tactics in what was a true counterinsurgency war. The South Vietnamese were good people and they deserved to be saved from the Communists but we did not succeed.
I will never regret fighting in the Vietnam War nor stop cherishing the fellow soldier, sailors and Marines that fought there with me, but unless we ferret out and face the truths of that war, we will not have faithfully served this generation of warriors.
After hearing that, "Uncle Walt" went on the air with his "Broadcast from Vietnam" and told the American people
We have been too often disappointed by the optimism of the American leaders, both in Vietnam and Washington, to have faith any longer in the silver linings they find in the darkest clouds. They may be right, that Hanoi's winter-spring offensive has been forced by the Communist realization that they could not win the longer war of attrition, and that the Communists hope that any success in the offensive will improve their position for eventual negotiations. It would improve their position, and it would also require our realization, that we should have had all along, that any negotiations must be that-negotiations, not the dictation of peace terms. For it seems now more certain than ever that the bloody experience of Vietnam is to end in a stalemate. This summer's almost certain standoff will either end in real give-and-take negotiations or terrible escalation; and for every means we have to escalate, the enemy can match us, and that applies to invasion of the North, the use of nuclear weapons, or the mere commitment of one hundred, or two hundred, or three hundred thousand more American troops to the battle. And with each escalation, the world comes closer to the brink of cosmic disaster.
To say that we are closer to victory today is to believe, in the face of the evidence, the optimists who have been wrong in the past. To suggest we are on the edge of defeat is to yield to unreasonable pessimism. To say that we are mired in stalemate seems the only realistic, yet unsatisfactory, conclusion. On the off chance that military and political analysts are right, in the next few months we must test the enemy's intentions, in case this is indeed his last big gasp before negotiations. But it is increasingly clear to this reporter that the only rational way out then will be to negotiate, not as victors, but as an honorable people who lived up to their pledge to defend democracy, and did the best they could.
This is Walter Cronkite. Good night.
Thus began the age of the MSM dictating US policy, both abroad and domestic having never been elected or appointed by the American people.
Ooo! Ooo! I know the answer to that one: Because Walter Cronkeit lied every night to SeeBS’s huge, gullible audience, telling them that the US was losing the war, thus eroding support of our military during wartime.
Giap couldn’t believe his good fortune in having dolts such as LBJ and McNamara in charge of the war, and the Left in charge of the rabble on both our coasts.
Why in the world would any sane voter put a Democrat in office as CIC after the disastrous experiences we have had?
Yes, the present divisions date from then, when the Dems were taken over by the McGovernites and threw out the Jackson Democrats.
Find out how someone feels about the Vietnam War and abortion and you pretty much know where they stand these days.
My opinion is not widely shared. But, the Dominoes did not fall. Communism fell.
It's kinda like their template for Iraq...
The real answer begins with a clear understanding that the ‘Vietnam War’ [sic] was actually the Vietnam campaign in WW III (a.k.a. the Cold War).
The campaign was a military success, but treasonous elements in the United States Congress prevented the accords which lead to the American withdrawal from being carried out: we were supposed to bomb the bejeezus out of North Vietnam if they invaded after we pulled out, and we didn’t.
As a result the fruits of the successful military campaign were lost and South Vietnam fell under Communist domination.
Again thanks to all WW III vets, whatever campaign you served in, and congratulations on whatever role you played in the victory we won with the collapse of the Soviet Union.
We fought the entire war on their rules. we could have won it easily and quickly but we simply refused to do what was necessary.
Sort of like trying to win a prize fight with one arm tied behind your back.
we didn't lose... we QUIT!!!
May I recommend the Soviet’s Afghan war as their high water mark, after which they fell?
Success against South Vietnam generally enhanced the Communists cause. Afghanistan crushed them.
Thanks Ronaldus Magnus, Maggie and il Papa.
I like your answer the best, but it needs some modification. Initially, the US public supports the military in a war, but that support is gradually undermined by the the traitors in our midst. Thus, we have a fairly limited opportunity to do whatever is necessary to defeat the enemy, before the guilt-trippers take over.
Clearly, we were not willing to risk nuclear war with the USSR over Vietnam. And short of that, we are stuck fighting a holding operation, that can only sap the enemy until political pressures from the traitors pull us out. We should have flattened Fallujah the very minute that pictures of dead burnt bodies of Americans were hanging from that bridge, the American people understood that.
The simple truth is, during the initial surge, you can get away with whatever you want, unless it would provoke an equal and opposite reaction from the other side. Any President who doesn't understand this has no business sending our armed forces into battle in a place that we have no intention of keeping.
Exactly right. The blood of those slaughtered when S. Viet Nam fell is on the heads of the Media Marxists and the Democratic Congress people who forced us into failure.
Thw war was lost because the Democrat-controlled Congress cut off all funding for it and left our South Vietnamese allies hanging, all the while USSR and the ChiComs were bankrolling the NVA. The Democrat-controlled Congress also threatened to cut off funding for US operations if there was no end to US involvement by the end of 1972 (the “cease fire” was signed in January, 1973). I remember that very well, because I was in the US Air Force, in Air Force Intelligence (it was called the USAFSS back in those days). The Democrats castrated our military and were complicit in the slaughter of the South Vietnamese. I have hated Democrats since that time.
Amen, bro.
To all you guys, thanks for the response, we know we won and history will show it someday. We may be dead and gone but history will show it.
Haiphong harbor is an unusual harbor. It is man made not natural. It needed to be dredged if large ships carrying the materials of war were to enter this harbor. All we needed to was BOMB THE DREDGING EQUIPMENT,and if it was replaced bomb it again. The politicians who were no more than traitors REFUSED to allow the DREDGING equipment to bombed. Our so called allies and who knows maybe traitorous profiteers among never lost the ability to provide the North war supplies through Haiphong Harbor.
Walter Crankcase.
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