Question #1 - Why has Vietnam become an analogy of the present war?
Answer #1 - Because our enemies within and without want a repeat of America's disastrous defeat in Vietnam. (Note: Afghanistan was the USSR's disastrous defeat.) America's Communist enemies saw the US damaged by the failure in Vietnam even as we saw the USSR destroyed by the conflict in Afghanistan. Although the USSR is gone, the US has plenty of enemies today who are hoping that Iraq will be a deadly "quagmire" that will sink America.
As a matter of self defence we must understand this and also -
Question #2 - Why did the US fail in Vietnam?
Answer #2 - I will begin by compiling a list of reasons as I see them. I am sure there are others. As these and other reasons are suggested and discussed I hope we can find the truth we need to know to defend America.
1. The Vietnamese Communists received enormous material support from other nations. In reality the War in Vietnam was a proxy battle between the Soviet Block and the West.
2. The Vietnamese Communists received enormous emotional support from worldwide propaganda, much of it generated and disseminated by western media sources.
3. Failure on the part of the US government to clearly define the purpose of the war to the rulers of America - the people. There was no pro-American "propaganda" to counter the flood of falsehoods and distortions.
4. Relativist intellectualism which could not discriminate between Democratic/Constitutional Capitalism and Totalitarian Communism. These muddled minds seized the universities, the media and pop culture.
5. Racism in at least two ways:
a) A struggle for civil liberties for minorities became confused, in the inequities of the draft, with the bigotry of segregation.
b) Prejudice against Asians - particularly South East Asians - which reduced the value of their lives and freedom in the eyes of many Americans who came to see the war as John Kerry described it, "the biggest nothing in history."
6. Politics:
a) Politicians, more interested in public opinion than in victory in war, abandoned the military and the war effort in order to garner votes.
b)Congress injected itself into tactics, calling bombings on and off and restricting targets. Legislators passed laws that made fighting for victory impossible for American troops and our Vietnamese allies. Our South Vietnamese allies were abandoned in the end by a congress eager to win votes from Americans.
7. Biased Media, unchallenged by any readily available oppositon press, choose to endlessly portray America as the villain in the "soap opera" production they cut, created, and pushed on the readers, listeners, and viewers of America.
8. The "Peace" movement, where celebrities and celebrity want-a-be's, such as John Kerry, misrepresented American service men, tainting the war in the minds of the masses for their own financial, political, and egotistical agendas. The commanding general of the North Vietnamese Army has said that the Communists could not have won without the support of the American anti-war movement.
9. Pop Culture - Rebellion, decadence, and drugs were made popular by the youth icons of the day. "Doing your own thing" became a code word for self indulgent rebellion.
10. The incredible brutality and violence which guerrilla terrorist enemies were willing to subject their victims. The use of children to deliver booby trapped explosives, mass slaughter of villages which the red hijacking of the struggle for independence allowed.
11. May Li Massacre - an actual atrocity that seemed to give credibility to the Communist and Relativist propaganda stream.
12. The clumsiness of the weaponry which inflated collateral damage and gave support to the claims of brutality leveled against US forces.
13. Corruption in the South Vietnamese government cost it its legitimacy in Vietnam and the US.
14. Lack of true support for the war in Europe and elsewhere. (Note: the support of our "allies" was luke warm at best. De Gaul's France was openly hostile. It was as if they feared we would succeed where they had failed.)
15. The drafted military for at least two reasons:
a) there was inequity and therefore injustice in draft requirements.
b) those afraid or unwilling to serve their country had no other way of staying out of the war than by forcing its end.
These challenges broke the American spirit and made it impossible for our nation to effectively and persistently prosecute the war. As a result we cut and ran and left Vietnam to the murder and slavery of Communism.
I think the only reason that we haven't taken the same road as Vietnam, in a more direct way, is because of our current leaders. Which includes the democratic populace, of course. We have had our share of anti-war protests, but we have those that see what needs be done and take efforts to make it happen.
ReplyDeleteBoth the English and Russians failed to achieve much in Afghanistan, according to what I remember of history lessons. In fact that was my sophmore World History teacher's biggest fear: that we would be stuck as they were, and fail.
I still don't see much of a counter argument in the mass-media. It has calmed down a great deal in comparison with the beginning of the war efforts, but for a long time all you seemed to hear is how horrible it was going, etc. It's mainly up to the citizen, such as you or I, to keep a counter argument in the public mind. Otherwise I fear that the country would have just listened to baseless slogans such as "War for Oil" etc.
As a matter of self defence we must understand this and also.
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