there is no way we could have won against the Vietnamese unless we killed them all, in Stalin+Hitler style.
That simply isn't true. The South had a government and an army, that was never defeated by guerrilla action or insurrection. They where defeated by a massive invasion from another nation (North Vietnam) which we could have defeated in concert with the South Vietnamese armed forces, just as the first attempt at a massive invasion was defeated.
Since the local guerrilla forces were weakened to such a great extent, we wouldn't have needed to have any large ground presence in South Vietnam. And by now we might not need any.
The idea that Vietnamese or Iraqis or any people for that matter, would take it lying down
Many of the Vietnamese people where, and many of the Iraqi's are, on the side of the government we defended/are defending. We did not oppose the Vietnamese people, or the Iraqi people, neither situation was a war of conquest. We oppose those who follow, and would impose brutal totalitarian ideologies, in the first case communism, in the 2nd Islamic fundamentalism (and also some who would impose a new Baathist regime) |
