SI
SI
discoversearch

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor.  We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community.  If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.
Politics : View from the Center and Left
 Public ReplyPrvt ReplyMark as Last ReadFilePrevious 10Next 10PreviousNext  
To: ManyMoose who wrote (63699)5/6/2008 11:37:59 AM
From: Sam  Read Replies (2) of 542233
 
Fourth, once committed, go for victory not a humiliating exodus. Or fire JFK and LBJ before we even started.

I'm not sure why, but for some reason many people ignore the fact that the initial commitment was made during the Eisenhauer administration. John Foster Dulles and the "Who Lost China" crowd are the ones who are really to blame. At least until LBJ escalated.

Well, some of the people made it out. The people who didn't suffered great tragedy at the hands of the North Vietnamese. I don't want to repeat this in Iraq.

What really happened was that we stepped into the middle of a civil war between the French-backed Vietnamese and the nationalist Vietnamese. If we had just let it run its natural course after 1954 when the Geneva Accords were signed, there still would have been violence, but nowhere near what it turned into. The French-backed Vietnamese would have been dispatched pretty quickly, they were far far outnumbered. Instead, we stepped into the vacuum that the French left, and pretended that there some strategic reason to back the colonial interests. The endgame was pretty predictable from the start, but the anti-communist fog that was common the US in the 50s and 60s blinded many people to the reality of the situation. The situation in Vietnam was quite different from the situation in Iraq, despite a few superficial similarities.
Report TOU ViolationShare This Post
 Public ReplyPrvt ReplyMark as Last ReadFilePrevious 10Next 10PreviousNext  

HomeMailHotSubjectMarksPeopleMarksKeepersSettings
Terms Of UseContact UsCopyright/IP PolicyPrivacy PolicyAbout UsFAQAdvertise on SI
© 2025 Knight Sac Media.  Data provided by Twelve Data, Alpha Vantage, and CityFALCON News