As somebody already said, Nixon had no plan, and didn't want to end it. I think it actually all started with Ike,(with Nixon as VP) after the French were kicked out. It gets really complicated, and I am no student of the war (just what I remember), but, at one point, Ike wouldn't allow elections to proceed because it was clear Ho Chi Minh would win. As I said earlier, I have heard that JFK wanted to pull out when we had about 17K advisors there; (pity Nixon's father didn't pull out); the rumor was associated with the reason for his assassination. Johnson really got things going, lying about the Tonkin Gulf and getting authority to respond (Clinton's lie, which everybody gets so worked up about, cost him his girlfriend...Johnson's cost 50K lives).
Now I was one of the people in the Army of the Streets. If I could go back in time with the knowledge I gained over the last 35 years, including Johnson's newly released doubts, including McNamara's guilt/apology tour, including 10 years working at a VA hospital with a whole bunch of 'Nam vets, I would do it a little differently...instead of cheering when the Hell's Angels trashed peace marchers on their way to the draft center in Berserkeley in '64 or '65, I would have already hit the streets, instead of waiting 'til 69.
Knowing everything you do now, would you go back to Nam and fight?
TK |
