Comments on: How do you view how Nixon handled the end of the Viet Nam War?n/t

By: Jody

Jody — Sat, 19 May 2012 23:57:40 +0000

I had no clue…I have been watching Vietnam in HD on the History Channel. I can barely watch any war documentaries.

I view it from a wife or mother’s perspective and it breaks my heart.

By: bowser

bowser — Sat, 19 May 2012 23:19:08 +0000

Had a Democrat been elected president in 1968 the war would have been over in 1969 with exactly the same result as happened with Nixon.

It was clear that war was lost. What Nixon had going for him was what Bush had – Generals who were willing to prostitute themselves to the political leadership in hopes of promotions. Light at the end of the tunnel, not a civil war, and so on. Disgusting people, and that includes Petraeus, who knew what the war was about, talked a winning game, and trailed down the same old path.

Nixon kept that cash cow going for Halliburton, Bechtel, etc and so on as long as he absolutely could. He was looking at a more and more virulent public and Congress who were shutting off the cash. He couldn’t have kept it going much longer.

And, frankly, Obama is backing down the same trail. Whenever he gets out of Iraq, whenever he gets out of Afghanistan, the result will be the same. The only variable is how much money and how many lives is lost. I think he’s afraid of those who supply those “contractor” armies, afraid of the CIA and DoD. The congressional-military-industrial complex has won.

By: ER

ER — Sat, 19 May 2012 22:55:48 +0000

Although at the time, I didn’t think he was doing it anywhere near fast enough. I figure once you’ve decided you’ve achieved everything possible and have decided to leave it isn’t worth one more life or one more dollar.

Of course, nation-states have to “save face”, that’s what we call it when the other guy does it. When we do it, its called “Peace with Honor”. So you have to go through the motions, setting up the local puppet, training him and supplying him, withdrawing your own forces gradually so it doesn’t look like you’re being driven out, or leaving your friends holding the bag, the usual schoolyard strut. It’s pretty much what Obama is doing in Afghanistan right now. It looks like he didn’t have to do it in Iraq. Once you’ve decided you’re not going to win, you need to get out immediately. You owe it to those guys dying out there.

This may sound a little cynical and Realpolitik to you, but think it over from the point of view of the GIs and their families. Do you want to be, or do you want your kid to be, The Last Guy? That’s what we used to call it in the Vietnam Era. Somebody was going to be the Last Guy, and no one wanted to be him. You knew you might have to die or get maimed when you signed up. But you knew you were risking it for a reason. No one wants to risk it for nothing.