PBS - The Vietnam War

[JohnTRourke]

During the early stages of the war he was always saying (and the political leaders believed) the end was "just around the corner." No need to change leaders when the whole operation will be ending soon, right?

Westmoreland was basically "kicked upstairs" after Tet and replaced by his own deputy.

Yeah I knew that and everyone agrees that Abrams had the chops and "saved" the army. But 4 years of idiocy? I mean are they just believing each other's BS? stroking each other off? Westmoreland had naked pictures of LBJ? 1 or 2 years I get, but after that, I don't get it.

[Rhino0427]

Yeah I knew that and everyone agrees that Abrams had the chops and "saved" the army. But 4 years of idiocy? I mean are they just believing each other's BS? stroking each other off? Westmoreland had naked pictures of LBJ? 1 or 2 years I get, but after that, I don't get it.

I think you need look no farther than Afghanistan to see the Vietnam mentality in practice to this day. I was there in '03-'04 and left thinking "I don't know what the Hell we're trying to do here. I just hope my son doesn't end up fighting my war." He was 6 at the time and is now 18 and wants to be in the military after college. The way things are going, he may get the exact same hootch I slept in.

Vietnams and Afghanistans happen when the military promises to win a political war. Vietnam was a civil war that we went over to fix and never developed an idea of how to win or even what "winning" looked like. So like a blind man in a dark room, we flailed about getting Americans killed and not really accomlishing anything.

Don't get me wrong. Afghanistan started as a "good war". However, as soon as we defeated the Taliban and brought some measure of peace, we should have claimed victory, came home to parades and left that hellhole of a country alone, never to be thought of again. However, we decided to build a peaceful, stable, harmonious democracy in a county that has NO interest in doing that. So, 16 years later, my son may get the "priveledge" of fighting my war. Sounds a lot like what happened in SE Asia.

[Martinjmpr]

I think you need look no farther than Afghanistan to see the Vietnam mentality in practice to this day. I was there in '03-'04 and left thinking "I don't know what the Hell we're trying to do here. I just hope my son doesn't end up fighting my war." He was 6 at the time and is now 18 and wants to be in the military after college. The way things are going, he may get the exact same hootch I slept in.

Vietnams and Afghanistans happen when the military promises to win a political war. Vietnam was a civil war that we went over to fix and never developed an idea of how to win or even what "winning" looked like. So like a blind man in a dark room, we flailed about getting Americans killed and not really accomlishing anything.

Don't get me wrong. Afghanistan started as a "good war". However, as soon as we defeated the Taliban and brought some measure of peace, we should have claimed victory, came home to parades and left that hellhole of a country alone, never to be thought of again. However, we decided to build a peaceful, stable, harmonious democracy in a county that has NO interest in doing that. So, 16 years later, my son may get the "priveledge" of fighting my war. Sounds a lot like what happened in SE Asia.

Sadly, I have to agree with this as well. Once we destroyed the Al Quaeda bases and put the Taliban on the run, we should have handed the keys back to Karzai and said "it's your baby now. But BTW if terrorist groups ever start setting up bases here again, we'll flatten them without a second's hesitation. Bye."

I was talking to my Dad about this and he used an analogy that I thought was appropriate: "Winning" in Afghanistan is like trying to nail jello to a wall.