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How America Won the Vietnam War, By Losing

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NNN0LHI Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-15-06 08:57 PM
Original message
How America Won the Vietnam War, By Losing
http://www.buzzflash.com/editorial/06/03/edi06020.html

A BUZZFLASH EDITORIAL

Nothing more symbolizes the decline of American leadership into a succession of failed, power mad, GOP incompetents than a recent comment by Al Haig at a conference to reassess the Vietnam War: "Former Nixon adviser Alexander Haig said Saturday military leaders in Iraq are repeating a mistake made in Vietnam by not applying the full force of the military to win the war. " snip

It's over boys! Vietnam is now a full-fledged member of the globalized world of capitalism. The only thing that the GOP corporate supporters have to worry about with Vietnam is how low they can get those slave wages to go.

America won the Vietnam War by losing it. The dominoes never fell, unless you count them falling toward Wall Street.

It was a stupid war fought by the Al Haigs of the world whose only concern was in beating the other side to a pulp. These Dr. Strangeloves have no sustainable military goals but destruction -- neither in Vietnam nor in Iraq.


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jeff30997 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-15-06 09:09 PM
Response to Original message
1. Yep,
America will be the laughing stock of the world for another half-century.
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Redstone Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-15-06 09:14 PM
Response to Original message
2. And the Vietnamese love Americans, for the most part.
even the ones who fought us.

Redstone
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NNN0LHI Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-15-06 09:26 PM
Response to Reply #2
3. They fought like whirling dervishes during WW II
And they were on our side to boot.

Don
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Redstone Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-15-06 09:37 PM
Response to Reply #3
4. Fought pretty fucking hard in April and May of 1972 as well.
Both sides did. I'll punch the next asshole who says the ARVN wouldn't fight.

Redstone
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Yupster Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-15-06 09:51 PM
Response to Reply #4
5. Agree Redstone
The war from the ARVN's point of view is the piece of history that is missing.

They took 50,000 deaths in 1972 alone which is as many as we took in the whole war. They are maligned not just here but everywhere.

I wish some former ARVN troops or officers would write books telling their side of the story.

The same with the Cambodian Army which tried to keep the Khmer Rouge out of Phnom Pehn and fought until their trucks ran out of gas and guns ran out of ammo.
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Redstone Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-15-06 10:04 PM
Response to Reply #5
6. Holy shit, you just made me shiver. Were you in Cambodia?
Your last sentence sounds like an eyewitness account.

ARVN 5 Div fought like tigers at An Loc. General Fucking Giap finally got to have the Soviet-style, set-piece battle he'd been dreaming of, and got his dick handed to him.

He hadn't counted on 1) The ARVN standing firm, and 2) The fact that we still had a lotta fuckin airplanes over there. Arc Light strikes get a whole bunch more effective if the other side conveniently masses itself right out in the open.

Redstone
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Yupster Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-15-06 11:24 PM
Response to Reply #6
7. No - not in Cambodia
Just an old history teacher.
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Redstone Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-15-06 11:42 PM
Response to Reply #7
8. You should write history books. You write well.
Redstone
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Yupster Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-16-06 02:04 AM
Response to Reply #8
10. As a matter of fact,
I am the author of the teacher's edition of a sixth grade history text for a major publishing house. That's been nearly 20 years ago though.

Thanks for the compliment.
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Elwood P Dowd Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-16-06 12:04 AM
Response to Reply #3
9. Then we sold them down the river
and the rest is history.

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