The truth about Viet Nam, and life there today.

I have been to Viet Nam twice in the last two years. In fact I went with the son of someone who for a short period of time was the highest ranking representative of the South. The dirty truth is that we actually won the war MILITARILY and lost it due to politics and lies of the communist press here in the states. Walter Cronkite, a proclaimed communist, lied when he said after the “Tet Offensive” that we were in a quagmire. The truth is that we had just destroyed the Viet Cong. They spent several years and all they had at us, and we kicked their butts. In fact the communist were surprised that we did not declare victory then.

The US killed so many men during the war that women had to fight. Even today the ratio of women to men is about 5 to 1. (Many families sent their boys out of the country to work so they could send money home) In fact the country almost had mass starvation, due to the war and the stupidity of the Communist leadership. It was not until about 5 years ago that they have had enough rice and goods to export.

What happened is that the last leader of the South was a communist who basically gave the country to the North. The North Communist had estimated that it would take 3 to 5 years to take over the South. Because of the action of the South’s president, the Communists met little if any resistance and took the country in about 3 months. What is also not widely known is that Nixon’s Christmas bombing almost won the war. The communist leader in Hanoi, said that had the bombing continued for a day or two longer they WOULD HAVE GIVEN UP UNCONDITIONALLY.

In addition , the Wall Street Journal had an article about 8 years ago that talk brought up the “Domino Effect.” Because we fought the war for about 10 years, this gave surrounding countries the time they needed to become DEMOCRACIES. People in countries like Thailand, give us credit for wining the war and stopping the spread of communism.

The lesson of Viet Nam is that, you do not go to war with a country unless you plan to finish the job and win. Once we were committed we should have stayed and finished the job. And that we should always support our troops and explain to the public why we are fighting.

In addition, it has been pointed out that America ONLY spent about one or two hour total explaining to the GI’s why they were fighting. This compared to the Communist who spent nearly 4 hours a day, every day explaining to its solders why they were fighting. They told their soldiers that as poor as they were, the South was worse, because of US Imperialism the South did not even have bowls for their rice. That there was mass starvation and poverty. With stories like this many soldiers felt that their was great need to fight. So many were extremely surprised to find that it was all a lie, and that the South lived in luxury compared to them. Many said if they had known the truth they would have not fought or changed sides.

If you go to Viet Nam today you will find that the people love America and much of our culture. With the exception of the Government run War Museums, you will think the West won. Viet Nam has discos and night clubs where they sing American Songs, dress in American style clothes, and use cell phones. Although it always helps to be with someone who speaks the language, more people are learning English in Viet Nam then at any time in the past.

However, the county is very poor and change is slow because the old jungle fighters run the country, and they are extremely greedy. The average income is about $80.00 per month. When I was there I read a story about a family of four or five who got by on about $1,200 a year. The populace are fairly intelligent and realize that if they are to grow they have to get rid of Communist rule. Even though the government has repressed anti-government talk. It will only be a matter of time before even they ended up on the ash heap of history.

leadpenny if your referring to why I talked about the resort about a days drive north of Saigon, it was a response to KneelBeforeZod who said “Budget Travel had an article about little bungalows you can rent in Vietnam. Looked like a good trip”

If your asking why I did the original post. Well that is more complicated. It started as a reply to a post about a pole on the History Channel about was it worth us going to Viet Nam. Frankly, as an American Veteran of that era, I am sick and tired of self-righteous leftist liberals saying that the USA was criminal in fighting the war, and that Veterans were stupid for serving. I am sick and tired of feeling ashamed for serving my contry, while cowards like Bill Klinton strut around like peacocks, proclaiming they have superior morels, and that Nixon was worse than “LBJ how many Kids did you kill today.” There is a fact that Socialist Liberal Cowards fought the war and demonized the soldiers who fought it.. As late as 1984 a friend of mine was turned down on a job because he mentioned he flew cargo planes form the US to VN. They told him that they did not hire Baby Killers.

Illbay So What is your point? That we should let the lies of the Left continue? That we should just bend over and continue to take the abuse of the lying liberals? That those who proudly served should be ashamed for being Americans? What have you ever done for this country?

"The lesson of Viet Nam is that, you do not go to war with a country unless you plan to finish the job and win."

The democRATs wouldn't even let us try to win the war as it was. "No, you can't bomb Hanoi, No you can't mine Haiphong harbor, No you can't take out the Ho Chi Minh Trail, No you can't follow the little bastards into Cambodia, and you have to back the ships 20 miles off the coast so the North Vietnamese can re-supply their Cong fighters in the South.

Sheeeeesh!! Don't ever let a democRAT run a war for the U.S.A. unless you want our country to be utterly disgraced!

So What is your point? That we should let the lies of the Left continue?

What "lies"? You are promoting the "truth" that we "really won" in Vietnam?

Sheesh, give it a rest.

We might not have won but we certainly did not lose! To use a football analogy, we pulled the first team out of the game at the end of the third quarter and then the US congress took away the helmets, shoulder pads and shoes from the guys remaining on the field. Our congress sold out the South Vietnamese in a way that caused our "allies" to question our commitments for decades. Our enemies are still testing our national resolve.

Oh! OK. I apologize for sounding irritated.

To he!! with anyone who wants to criticize the military. I know what I did. I did what I was told to do. We did what we were told to do. Here in DC they play the LBJ tapes on weekends and evenings on C-SPAN Radio. I catch them sometimes. What comes through to me, loud and clear, is the image of a truly sick and disgusting power-hungry man. In my book LBJ did as much harm to this country, if not more, than WJBC did. I would urinate on LBJ's grave in front of cameras if I could get away with it. I blame no one else. Not Mcnamara. Not Westmoreland. Not the Chiefs of Staff. Not the American public or the media. It all comes down to the failed human being in the name of LBJ.

I checked my bookshelf. There's a book called 'Khe Sanh', volume 5 in a series called 'The Illustrated History Of The Vietnam war' written by Michael Ewing. In that book he says that at Khe Sanh the north vietnamese had both heavy artillery deployed, the best from the soviet arsenal, and Migs. He says they didn't know for sure, but they strongly believed it was russians piloting the migs. But, maybe they just used em in that 1 battle. Maybe they decided there was no fruit in sending them south of khe sanh which was on border between north andsouth. maybe russians decided it was suicide mission and stopped sending migs and pilots into battle.

Either way, I don't know if it was right or wrong for us to fight that war, I'll never know. But it was one heck of a war. And our troops performed so very well.

We might not have won but we certainly did not lose!

Anyone who tries to look at that conflict in only military terms is being myopic in the extreme.

Wars are not football games. The military exists to assert the will of the nation against its protagonists.

We "lost" in Vietnam because we had no will to win, and trying to "score" the conflict in purely military terms is preposterous.

We LOST that conflict, and we wasted many lives and squandered much political capital in the process.

Worst of all, we energized the coterie of dissident Leftists that still plague us today. That's perhaps the most telling sign of defeat of all.

"We LOST that conflict, and we wasted many lives"

Don't lecture me on what we lost there, I know up close and personal! "WE" had the will to win, our leaders did not. I know why the military exists and have lived it to the extreme.

My point is that if you consider that countries around Viet Nam did not fall to the Communist, and that Viet Nam did not fall until about two years after we pulled out, it can not be did that the USA lost the Viet Nam war. If you go to Viet Nam today and see who our life stile is copied, and how the people feel about the USA, WE DID NOT LOOSE. My point is that it is basically a Liberal wet dream that keeps bring up Viet Nam war as an example of our mistakes.. My point to that we cannot go to war against Iraq until we have the American people behind the President, and have shut up and locked up the protestors. AS A VETERAN, I WILL NOT LET WHAT HAPPEN TO ME AND OTHER VETS, HAPPEN TO SOLDIERS WHO FIGHT TODAY.

Here in DC they play the LBJ tapes on weekends and evenings on C-SPAN Radio. I catch them sometimes. What comes through to me, loud and clear, is the image of a truly sick and disgusting power-hungry man.

Ike's reaction to Kennedy choosing Johnson as his running mate was,

"He is not a big man. He is a small man. He hasn't got the depth of mind nor the breadth of vision to carry great responsibility."

From page 521 of the Stephen Ambrose 1990 condensed biography of Ike.

Why did the North have piles of tanks. Is it because the United Nations prohibited the US from attacking them in North Vietnam?

My understanding is that the UN cost us the Vietnam War moreso than the US media every did, what with them requiring our bombers to always use the same pre-determined approach paths and broadcasting all of our intended actions to North Vietnam.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.