What a terrible, terrible event in our history. How did we get in that mess in the first place? Hindsight is perfect, and one hopes we took away a lot of lessons. I think the most important lesson is: Once you’ve become committed to a fight, give it everything you’ve got.
Many presidents were involved with Viet Nam: Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon. Why did we care about a little backward country in SE Asia?
It annoys me when people flip-flop and blame war involvement on someone else because their memories are short. We did not like South Viet Nam’s stupid, corrupt, uncaring leader, but we believed the Soviet threat of world domination. Stalin was clear that he wanted to take over the world, now that he got Hitler et al out of the way. And we clearly remembered Hitler’s early successes…if we let Viet Nam fall to communism, nearby countries would also in turn.
Was it possible to imagine turning our eyes away, assuring ourselves that if communism did spread to our front door, we could handle it then? Did Stalin really have the resources? Well, he could easily after gobbling up other countries, pressing those citizens into service (like he did in Eastern Europe), taking over companies, militaries…
So, this seemed like a worthwhile endeavor at which to throw a few resources.
Then we find ourselves in a country, fighting a war for people who have no desire to fight for themselves, propping up an idiot leader just because he’s anti-communist. This is the first time we will fight a “tiger” with no front lines, with tactics we’ve not seen before that offend and confuse our cultural sensibilities.
As we get more desperate for an end, we destroy forest and food with pesticide, drop jelled fire, use a draft to sacrifice more humans to the War Beast. This would not be the only time we would try to “win hearts and minds.”
Viet Nam was a huge mistake, but I will gladly own it myself and not blame others. I understand the need to stop people like Hitler and Stalin, so that I can live in a free USA. (Dale Jr. pointed out that no one ever thinks war is a mistake when we win.) I just wish we had had smarter military leaders who could assess a situation and a plan and its likelihood of success more accurately. (How would Patton have fared in Nam? Can a tank roll over a forest? Would he have shown more flexibility and common sense in the field, more backbone in dealing with politicians?) And more humble leaders who listened to the stories of those returning from the conflict, as unfiltered information. (I wonder if Patton would have stomped into a meeting with LBJ and said, “We can’t win this sonofabitch!” And I don’t see the point! Just let me go punch Stalin! And let these nice pajama-wearing pointy-heads get back to their rice paddies.”) (You know how un-PC George could be sometimes…)
I like to think I would have adopted a waiting stance, to see what happens after the fall of Viet Nam, to see more evidence of Stalin’s power.
Well, you knew where this story would eventually go – to the endless parallels. Afghanistan. Today.
Again, I’m not going to be one of those who conveniently forgets how we got into this mess. I do not forget that after 9/11, we were itching to hunt down Osama bin Laden, chomping at the bit to shake our mace at the world. We were adamantly in favor of war (one vote from unanimous in Congress) to crush the network of terrorists backed by Islamic extremists. The roots of their anti-America hate involved many presidents as well, many past decisions… But at least Bush did not lie when he warned that this effort would take a lot of time, money, and resources.
So, here we are. Can we win? Why don’t we really put all we’ve got behind it? We can’t win wars with hands tied, and especially those with unclear objectives, targets. We can destroy this Godforsaken place in 30 minutes, but that’s not the goal. Our generals write white papers describing how to “win hearts and minds.” The nature of war has changed. It’s damn complicated.
And we’ve learned one thing well – if you knock out one bad guy in charge, you create a vacuum for another bad guy to step in. Well, hell, this sounds like we’ll be there forever because to really bring lasting change, and thus peace for us, requires education, human rights, economic solutions…geez.
And so that is what we do. Our marines pass out soccer balls and crayons while avoiding IEDs. Do the citizens even really want us there to battle the Taliban? I don’t know. Again, I just see pajama-wearing turban-heads squatting around fires in caves. What the hell are we doing? How can we possibly bring these people into our 21st century?
And let’s not even discuss the cost. AND the opportunity cost of that money that could be used in other ways…
But, wait. Let your eyes drift a little to the south on the Middle Eastern map. I don’t know if or how the dots can be connected, but the entire picture is changing before our eyes. Can we link our efforts in places like Afghanistan to the historic sweep of democratic uprisings happening right now in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Jordan, Morocco, Libya, Bahrain, Iran…
America, I think we just won.
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