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Should the US have become involved in the Vietnam conflict?

The real question they should be asking and answering is, "Why did we have to become involved in the Vietnam conflict?"

Then they could start tracing the miserable effects of one foreign policy failure after another, starting with our role in the treaty that ended WWI.

The middle of the program could show how the Vietnam War was fought by politicians, with devastating results for 50,000 Americans.

The ending could depict how George Bush I and his grand UN Alliance fought a half-ass war that left a dictator in power and then fast foward to today, when his son has to clean up daddy's mess.

The French were embroiled in Viet Nam and fighting an action they couldn't hold or win. As usual we sent help which turned into troops and the French as usual pulled out leaving us holding the bag. Sfter President Kennedy was assasinated our President Johnson with no expertise micro managed a war that he screwed up very badly, lied to the people, lied about winning and deserves to rot in hell, right along with Mr. Carter,and Mr.
Clinton.

I spent nearly 4 years training young troopers to be Combat Engineers at Fort Belvoir between '62 and '66. Many of THEIR names grace that black monolith on the Mall. Some were friends.

Those of us who have never seen combat need to understand the horror and sacrifice of war and the love between the men who are sent by the politicians and bureaucrats to misadventures like Nam with one arm tied behind their backs. For a taste of what that’s all about, check out “We Were Soldiers.”

Robert STRANGE (he certainly is!) McNamara popped up on the book tour circuit a while back promoting his mea culpa on Viet Nam. Through clenched teeth, I watched him weep crocodile tears during one TV interview as he declared that he KNEW the entire exercise was wrong as it unfolded -- but did NOTHING to try to stop it.

They are excavating a new, lower level of Hell for McNamara as you read this. It is next door to LBJ's. My hope is that he and Johnson will spend eternity seeing the faces of the 58,200 and thousands more who still carry the physical and emotional scars of their blunders while they fan each other in a futile effort to cool themselves.

There must NEVER be another Viet Nam (or Somalia! -- thank you, Bill Clinton) -- EVER!

With a silent prayer for ALL those who fight and die for this country, I also pray that we never send our young people into harm’s way for any purpose but to preserve what remain of our freedoms and/or our deepest, most provable national interest.