Posted on 09/23/2011 4:43:16 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Hell, Ike never really even backed the French in Vietnam.
Not bloody well likely.
Uh, that would be the Vietminh, not the VC.
“Kennedy didn’t start Vietnam—France did.”
After WWII France intended to leave Indochina, they couldn’t rein in the natives after they’d seen France beaten, and the country lacked the money and the will to fight a war to keep it. The US insisted they fight to suppress communism, and armed them to the teeth to do it (French soldiers in the Indochina War look just like US troops in WWII - they have our weapons, helmets, etc.) - they didn’t even wear those French helmets with the ridge down the center that they used in both World Wars. Even as late as Dien Bien Phu the French still believed a massive intervention of US airpower would save them (in a battle they deliberately provoked to draw out the main enemy forces into an open fight). After being abandoned by the US, France went on to leave NATO, get the bomb, and has never been f@%&ed with since. We went on to spend another million South Vietnamese lives before we had enough as well.
Yes, he said towards the end, they would squeeze off a few shells to destroy the trees, and told the guv, “f**k you”...
You forgot to mention that Team Kennedy got us into Vietnam.
More than a million died, 60,000 of them American boys who did not think that adventure was a good idea.
Result: Utter Failure!
You say you disagree but nothing you say is in disagreement with what I said.
The Jupiter missiles were already obsolete, and were intended as stopgaps until the ICBM’s came on line. The PGM-19 Jupiter was above ground launched and stored, and was fueled by kerosene and liquid oxygen. The latter required a cyrogenic facility - high maintenance. Since these were in vulnerable above ground facilities, the Soviets already knew where they were. The facility in Italy was overflown by a Bulgarian photorecon MiG.
At the time, it was clear that if the balloon went up, the Jupiters might not even make it to launch time. Also, the LGM-30 Minuteman ICBM’s were coming on line, as well as the Polaris submarines. As for the latter, solid fuel, fired off within a minute of reaching launch depth, and then where is that sub (unless the likes of John Walker was filling them in)?
The Jupiters were already being considered for decommissioning because of this obsolescence. So this was a convenient point to do so. Plus it gave Krushchev some face saving.
Accurate History. However, we were told we were fighting communism, but I was never sure that we were sucked into supporting french business interests, as we are currently being sucked into Libya for the same reasons....
I don’t think “France” actually had business interests in Vietnam by the time of the US arrival; there were certainly Frenchmen doing business in the country, but they were operating under and taxed by the Communists. France had officially turned the country over to the Vietnamese themselves. I’d imagine you might be referring to a scenario where if the US bombed a BP facility in Libya as collateral damage in an unrelated event, there might be some restitution.
Every teenage idiot with a poster or t-shirt of this murdering commie pig should be smacked upside the head.
Yes, France owned the rubber trees, and in fact, that was the biggest source for Michelin for years. Google the history of Michelin if you are interested.
I understand, but at that point the Viet-Minh owned the rubber trees. The French companies that may have harvested/used them certainly paid the communists for the right to do so.
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