The War We Could Have Won - (historical truths about the Vietnam War)

NEWYORKTIMESONLINE.COM ^ | MAY 1, 2005 | STEPHEN J. MORRIS

[CHARLITE]

THE Vietnam War is universally regarded as a disaster for what it did to the American and Vietnamese people. However, 30 years after the war's end, the reasons for its outcome remain a matter of dispute.

The most popular explanation among historians and journalists is that the defeat was a result of American policy makers' cold-war-driven misunderstanding of North Vietnam's leaders as dangerous Communists. In truth, they argue, we were fighting a nationalist movement with great popular support. In this view, "our side," South Vietnam, was a creation of foreigners and led by a corrupt urban elite with no popular roots. Hence it could never prevail, not even with a half-million American troops, making the war "unwinnable."

This simple explanation is repudiated by powerful historical evidence, both old and new...we need to recognize what a profoundly ideological and aggressive totalitarian regime we faced three, four and five decades ago. And out of respect for the evidence of history, we need to recognize what happened in the 1970's and why.

In 1974-75, the United States snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. Hundreds of thousands of our Vietnamese allies were incarcerated, and more than a million driven into exile. The awesome image of the United States was diminished, and its enemies were thereby emboldened, drawing the United States into new conflicts by proxy in Afghanistan, Africa and Latin America. And the bitterness of so many American war veterans, who saw their sacrifices so casually demeaned and unnecessarily squandered, haunts American society and political life to this day.

[CHARLITE]

Here is one member of the opposing army.

[risk]

Democrats.

[CHARLITE]

For your interest.

Char:)

[FlingWingFlyer]

The Socialist/Communist Left is trying to aid the terrorists in the war on terror in the same way that they aided the Communists in Vietnam. We have pinhead civilians who hate this country and our military who are out there telling the military how to conduct interrogations of monsters who are trying to kill us. Until we develop the testicular fortitude to stand up to the pot smoking, maggot infested Commies, we'll always fall victim to the so-called "Vietnam syndrome." It is none of these terrorist-loving maggots business what we do to interrogate people who are trying to kill us and destroy our country. We need to stand up to them and, like Bubba, tell them to "kiss it." If these so-called anti-war protestors are so concerned about the health and welfare of terrorist buddies, I recommend they suit up and join them in their war to kill Americans.

[Wiseghy]

This is totally true, and history will show it to be so.

The MSM, and to some extent the military itself at the time, misunderstood this as a popular insurgency, even as the NVA had 300K hard core regulars in the field. This was, in fact, a fairly conventional war, fought on extremely difficult jungle terrain with tactics that had not yet had a chance to evolve to the threat.

Ultimately, it was NVA tanks crashed the gates of Saigon in '75. Timid LBJ leadership and tremendous social and political change lost this war on the home front.

We are still too close to this war. Once the pain has past, it will be easier for historians and the country to embrass this emerging reality and take responsibility for it.

[CHARLITE]

For your interest.

Char :)

[Eric in the Ozarks]

The author overlooked the part Catholic vs. Buddhist played in this war. The first wave of refugees to arrive in the US were Catholics, never the majority in Viet Nam.

[norton]

I will not register to read the rest of this story but my first thought is 'what have the done with the real New york Times?'

[CasearianDaoist]

Is not the real culprit the defunding of it after 1970 by the democrats in congress? Yet there was mismanagement and misjudgment under Westmporeland,but Abrams had turned that around by 69-70. It is an old chestnut, I know, but it was not really lost in the field. It was lost on the Hill. Had the plans of Abrams been followed the war would have been won, or at least the South would have remained free.

[CHARLITE]

Thank you for your fine perspective. You're right. It was "lost on the Hill." They wouldn't even support our military with sufficient funding. Hence the "defeat."

Here is a fabulous tribute to our veterans. It is a new website with photos of the WWII Memorial in D.C. and great patriotic music.

http://www.wtv-zone.com/Mary/PASSINGOFGENERATION.HTML

[TNdandelion]

ping

[StonyBurk]

"Victory Denied:Why your son faces death in No-Win Wars"
by Major Arch E.Roberts ,Committee to Restore the Constitution,Howes at Oak Ft.Collins Colorado 80521,1966
The man who helped program the Citizen Soldier Code Blue
training that we still recieved fragments of in 1969
makes a compelling case,as to WHY we did not win them
S.E.Asian War Games.InSept.of 1961 the other JFK (the one
who was President) Had a State Dept. Document 7277 Living at
Peace in a world without War Plan to surrender American
sovereignty to the Extra Constitutional United Nations That
global entity that reflects the USSR in structure and goals. Too many Americans prefer to believe the LIE that we
are yet Free and that nation established 1776-1791.They are the blind leading the blind .

[Chi-townChief]

bump

[hosepipe]

WARNING: The New York Times WRONG even when they're CORRECT...
Its one of those crazy mouthpiece for the democrat party conundrums..
They can't do ANYTHING right.. especially being right..

[Grut]

Is not the real culprit the defunding of it after 1970 by the democrats in congress?

There were a lot of real culprits. The South's government was corrupt; our government was never really serious about winning - only about not losing; our tactics were frequently faddish; an emphasis on military management rather than military leadership alienated the troops; bright pronouncements of impending victory which went on for years led to disillusion at home... and it has to be said, the NVA was stubborn enough and good enough to take advantage of our shortcomings.

If we could have won the war we would have. But wars are between cultures and at the time our culture just wasn't good enough.

[risk]

And every time we were close to winning, we stopped the B52s.

[Intolerant in NJ]

The War We Could Have Won...we did win the war - militarily - anticommunist forces won every major battle in the campaign, including the infamous "Tet Offensive" which was a mile wide and an inch deep and set the North Vietnamese back two years - the war was lost, or rather thrown away, by Senate Democrats who, for sheer spite, refused to vote the funds promised and needed for arms and supplies to keep the South Vietnamese fighting after we withdrew........

[CHARLITE]

".......Senate Democrats who, for sheer spite, refused to vote the funds promised and needed for arms and supplies to keep the South Vietnamese fighting after we withdrew........"

If they had the same majorities as they had then, they would do the exact same thing to this country and our troops, both in Afghanistan and in Iraq. I have no illusions about that matter. They would allow those countries to sink into chaos, murder, beheadings in soccer stadiums..........and they'd blame the mess they created on Bush and Republicans.

[RippleFire]

bump