Lessons of the Vietnam War

Question

What lessons do you think should be learned from the Vietnam War? Do you think that political leaders and Americans (in general) today have learned these lessons? Explain your answer.

Answer 1

I think they have not learned anything. Leaders then and now, still have not recognize that the means and tactics of war have changed and are still using tactics and ideas that were used primarily in World War II. The lack of willingness to adjust is the reason the recent failings in Afghanistan.

Answer 2

Senator John McCain's view was "Sh**_t or get off the pot." In other words win or don't waste time and resources. Don't get involved at all if you don't go all out to win. the "rules of engagement" pulling punches strategy, to satisfy critics who can never be satisfied anyway, doesn't work.

You can't win a fight, with one hand tied behind your back. Bomb Hanoi. No Cambodian sanctuaries.

another lesson was don't rely on a military draft to win a war, as it creates major opposition to the war. Students and universities go wild with criticism, protests, marches, on the news every day. Same thing happened in Australia, which had drafted 15,000 to serve in Vietnam. they ended up pulling out of Vietnam before the US did, due to public pressure.

Then there's the libertarian/isolationist "lesson:" Don't get involved in a war unless the US has national interests at stake. The Presidents John Quincy Adams/George Washington view, to not get entangled in foreign wars. Don't go abroad in search of monsters to destroy.

Also, use propaganda more. You have to sell the war more. Ho Chi Minh counted on undermining public support for the war, with propaganda. You have to counter that with better public relations. Strongly Publicize the Enemy's atrocities, such as the NVA's Hue massacre that dwarfed My Lai. Almost no one knows of Hue, and may not even believe it if they have. Or Phouc Vinh VC terrorism, where Charlie castrated & stuffed the village chief's genitals in his mouth in front of his wife, children and village, as they tortured and killed him. Characterize the Enemy as like the Taliban, which is exactly what the NVA and VC were, sadistic terrorists. Characterize the Enemy's Leader like Osama bin Laden, which is what Ho Chi Minh was.

Count the cost in advance. Know what you're getting into better.

The Kissinger Nixon "leverage" strategy was working, and got a peace deal. It won the war, until Ford became president and snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. Your biggest enemy may be sitting right next to you, right at home.

For military strategy, use more bombs, less infantry. Reduce the body bags coming home, Avoid "Hamburger Hill's"

Then there's the possible IKE & Nixon strategy. Threaten nukes. Some think that's how IKE won the Korean War, and how Nixon got a peace treaty in Vietnam. Nixon told our diplomats, "Let the other side think I'm crazy"

When IKE campaigned for president he said he had a secret plan to to end the war. Truman mocked him, saying tell us what it is now, so we can end it now. But if his secret plan was to threaten nukes, he really had to keep that secret, so he could deny it, with plausible deniability.

Extend the one year tour, Use the experienced soldiers more.

When you do reach the point where you're ready to cut bait, turn tail and run, do it in a more secure, planned, orderly, honorable manner, and avoid the Kabul or Saigon humiliating exit, and don't betray the allies as much, as we did the Afghans and South Vietnamese. Avoid pictues broadcast worldwide of our allies hanging on helicopters in desperation. The humiliation is actually worse than the defeat itself, exposing major weakness.

Then there's the questionable, but apparently successful methods of Abraham Lincoln and Woodrow Wilson, in winning the Civil War & World War I. Arrest dissenters and negative newspaper publishers who have negative war coverage.

or the pacifist "lesson" that all wars are always wrong, so we should just surrender if attacked. Ludwig Witgenstein argued if drafted and sent to war, you should just let the Enemy kill you. Gandhi argued Jews should have just quietly to the gas chambers. Walter who did major anti-war TV news broadcasts on Vietnam, concealed his pacifist beliefs to try to end the war. Better Red than Dead was a common left wing refrain, during the Vietnam War. Today, it might be better fundamentalist Muslim than tortured to death.

we faced communist propaganda amplified by cowardly college students fearful of the draft, heighten more by left wing professors, then worsened more by Walter, the pacifist sleeper agent, ready to sell out America, sell out Vietnam, sell out our troops, in the name of his pacifist agenda. There are no pacifists or atheists in foxholes. Walter was as clueless as they came for fake journalists