Trueblue,
I just saw your note about the specifics of Tet.
My point is that with the VC gone, had the US turned it's attention to the NVA with the intent of smashing them up, they clearly could have done so at that time. The NVA might have been tough, but they were out-gunned in a straight-up fight, as the war demostrated time and again. With the VC gone, the US had a window to turn the war into a conventional one, which they could have won, I think beyond any question...
They chose not too, perhaps because they didn't understand how completely they'd gutted the VC, or perhaps because they were just sissies responding to political pressure. In any case, they had a chance right there to win the war and keep South Vietnam, rickety as it was, intact in the deal, much as we have done in Korea, holding off China, a much more formidable foe. Look at South Korea now....We could have had a similar setup in South Vietnam....I'm sure the Cambodians would have preferred we stayed as well, but nobody asks their opinion because they're all dead....
No, at the critical moment, we chose to lose. In so choosing, they chose to lose a war that we'd spent lots of dead soldiers on, and a war which, at that point after Tet, was winnable. In spite of all the years of dreadfully cynical, murderous policy, they had a chance to win and they passed it up.
Consequences for me? Well, aside from a dead cousin or two, what I really meant was that since then, the US has been perceived as weak, contibuting mightily to the rise of terrorism against us....We are all paying for that, not only at the pump, but in civil liberties and tax load....
Most importantly is the loss of confidence in the culture as a whole, leading to an ethically deteriorating society, which is increasingly fractured, contentious, and dishonest....We're all paying for the loss in Vietnam...Many of us no longer believe we can succeed together....Defeat in Vietnam started that....
If we stick Vietnam out, terrorists do not try these tactics....they've said so themselves, that the unwillingness of the US to stick out Vietnam encouraged the attack on the marines in Beirut, and with that pullout they became certain that if they were violent and ruthless enough, we'd back off. We're all paying for that. The Dems and some Reps continue to give them encouragement, so the war goes on....We're all paying for Vietnam still...
So, that's my angle....We chose to lose, and in so doing, chose to become losers....At least, some of us did....
