April 02, 2004


Iraq, Vietnam and history

From the Asia Times:

In Vietnam, Washington faced a similar predicament. There was an increasingly organized and brash guerrilla force preventing the United States from bringing stability to South Vietnam. Due to the massive technology gap, Vietnamese guerrillas and the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) stood little chance of defeating the US militarily. Just the same, however, Washington stood little chance of defeating the Vietnamese guerrilla movement militarily. While US forces killed and maimed large numbers of the Viet Cong, they never addressed the fundamental land and wealth inequality that led to the popularity of the Viet Cong and the National Liberation Front in the countryside.

The effective guerrilla tactics of the Viet Cong and the NVA were a military strategy in and of themselves, aimed at sapping the political will from the US public. This was well known at the time and was often articulated in the speeches of president John F Kennedy. Always aware of US public opinion, Vietnamese military and guerrilla leaders worked to undermine Washington. When they launched the massive Tet Offensive in more than 100 different cities of South Vietnam on January 31, 1968 - successfully storming and occupying the US Embassy in Saigon - the attack was orchestrated shortly after US military leaders and politicians claimed that the war in Vietnam was almost over.

Interesting words. Remember that with the execption of one term as Governor of Texas, Fearless Leader has never finished anything he started. When he loses interest, he drops his shiny new toys like a bored little child and looks for the next big thing. This toy has only cost human lives, where does he find his next big thrill? I shudder to think.
posted by Jo Fish on 04.02.04 at 12:37 AM





Comments:

I remember well my landing in the Republic on 17 January 1968. The news had been reassuring. We were going to get to help in the mop up. It was almost over. What a crock. It was the bloodiest year of the war and far from over.

The only way we are going to get out of this mess GWB has gotten us into is to get rid of GWB first. These pantywaste chickenhawks don't know what they are doing. This is something they don't know how to finish.

We'll paying in blood for this fool's actions for a long time to come. I hope he rots in hell.

 posted by: Lowell on 04.02.04 at 02:07 PM [permalink]

Let's hope that the history of 1992 is repeated this Fall: "2004: THE FALL OF BUSH II".

 posted by: Shag from Brookline on 04.03.04 at 07:40 AM [permalink]

Cautionary tale, but, like Clarke's book, the Tet offensive was supported by a year-long munitions buildup. I've been against the war, man and boy, since 63, but there's no need to embellish the humble pie we were served.

I remember my father's comment- seems kind of quaint now- after Tet: "It's wrong for them to try to influence a U.S. election." In retrospect he was probably right that the intent was to land the blow in an election year. And it's probably still a good idea to stay out of other country's elections.

 posted by: serial catowner on 04.04.04 at 12:17 PM [permalink]

Yeah, well the war was a mistake. I dont disagree that I raq is a threat to the civilized world, but so are many other nations, and terrorist. Lets do one at a time.

But, kicking BUsh out right noe and electing a Liberal would only be a mistake, and they would have no idea how to handle anything. We would be screwed electing a democrat right now. We need a strong military force to combat terrorist. That said, Bush is actually weakining the military strength against terrorism by putting troops in Iraq.

I say VOTE LIBERTARIAN.

 posted by: nick on 04.22.04 at 10:18 AM [permalink]

I think that you should add more about what went on in vietnam and tell more about the guerrillas and how the vietnamese defeated the united states in the conflict. This article basically has a whole lot of nothing. Wether or not this is a informational website, it still should be able to tell people what they need to know about vietnam and not iraq. if people wanted to know about irag, that would watch the news. Get some bette information and stop trying to compare two different wars.

 posted by: Seth Fitts on 05.10.04 at 09:39 AM [permalink]


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