As I sit here with a new Morning Sun shining into the room....coffee cup steaming away....i am considering what has been written in this thread. Having been tangentially involved in the goings on in Vietnam all those years ago but only being a very remote spectator on the current War in Afghanistan....I feel obliged to make a comment or two.
Vietnam was a war of Re-unification for the Vietnamese and seen as a fight against Communism by the Americans in general. What the true reasons for our support of the French then later our direct involvement in Vietnam escape me. Despite serving two Combat Tours there and much reflection over the years enhanced by multiple visits back to that country and its people....I still have no clear understanding of why my government sent me there to fight a War.
I am now of the view we should have assisted Ho Chi Minh and his countrymen in ridding the place of the French. I also firmly believe if FDR had lived or his policies had been carried on....we would have done exactly that. FDR as you recall intended for the Second World War to be the end of Colonial Europe and be the catalyst for freeing the Colonies of the European powers. What motive that drove his thinking remains unclear. As we had already determined to end our colonial rule of the Philippines I assume it was not to take on other Colonies at the expense of the European Powers.
The Vietnam War was grossly mis-managed.
We had a tremendous failure of Military Leadership at the highest levels, our Political Leadership under LBJ was the major cause for our defeat. We fought the War on the Maintenance budget of the Military, pissed away lives and equipment, and used exactly the wrong tactics and strategy to fight the War.
Westmoreland adopted a "War of Attrition" strategy where he traded American Lives for Vietnamese Lives and took on an enemy that had something to die for....while we on the other hand were the outsiders.
We had "Air Supremeacy" down South....but not up North. We limited ourselves to tactical targets rather than Strategic Targets. We did not mine the harbors or attack shipping until very late in the War and then only did so after warning the foreign powers that were supporting the North Vietnamese and then never attacked ships transporting goods to North Vietnam. We had excellent intelligence capabilities we are told yet when we went into Cambodia we never found the COSVN Headquarters but did uncover huge logistical bases which had not been reported ever.
TeT was an abject failure for the North Vietnamese and VietCong. They were soundly beaten militarily and psychologically. Their plan was calculated to generate a general uprising by the South Vietnamese who did not rise up. If we had taken the War north....mined the harbors, sent ground forces into North Vietnam, we would have been able to win the War militarily. Our National Leadership did not have the courage or inclination to do so.
We hear of My Lai, where 300-500 Vietnamese civilians were murdered by US Army Troops from one Infantry Company....a massacre that was stopped by other American troops yet we hear nothing about the slaughter of over 5,000 Vietnamese by North Vietnamese Communist Cadre in Hue during Tet? There were War Crimes done by both sides....and if one considers the North Vietnamese were murdering their own people....then perhaps there is some blame needs be affixed to them as well as the Americans.
Afghanistan has gone on way too long. The American People are tired of the War, the loss of lives, the expense of treasury. Much as in South Vietnam, we see a corrupt government, a minority that refuses to surrender, that has a will to remain unchanged no matter the force applied to it. We are foreigners there and the goals we have change with the administrations back in Washington.
The Obama Administration recently announced the end of the "War on Terrorism". If that is the case....then the War in Afghanistan is over. The reason we went there was to rid the place of Al Qaeda and other Islamic Terrorist groups and end Afghanistan being a Sanctuary for them. The Taliban were in charge there and were facilitating the Terrorists. It is time for us to remove our Troops, end our financial support for the Afghani government. They have called upon us to leave....time to do so....immediately.
Last thoughts....pissing on dead enemies, posing for photographs with corpses of Suicide Bombers, even the murder of seventeen Afghans by a single US Army Soldier does not in any way suggest the American Military is coming apart at the seams. The Troops still get up every day and take the fight to the enemy, take their losses, and keep on doing their duty. War is a nasty business and bad things happen. The vast majority.....for all intents and purposes...all of our Troops conduct themselves with dignity, honor, and valor. The myths of Vietnam....seem to live on in the minds of some despite being disproved by multiple research studies. Did we not just a couple of weeks ago hear about an American Soldier who was killed saving a young Afghan Child from being run over by a tracked vehicle?
All of the Troops that have served in Afghanistan deserve our unlimited appreciation and admiration as they have done and are doing an outstanding job. I saw my generation's service be denigrated and care not to see this generation of War Fighter be treated the same way. There are bad Apples in every barrel...no matter which Army, which Country, no matter which War but they are the exception. Don't impugn the Honor and Service of all by painting them with the same brush as you do the few.