Correspondent of the Day: No Vietnam Redux With Afghanistan
No Vietnam Redux With Afghanistan
Editor, Times-Dispatch: Donald Nuechterlein's Op/Ed column, "It's Looking Like Vietnam Redux" discussed the supposed dilemma facing President Barack Obama in Afghanistan and how this "resembles one that President Johnson faced on Vietnam in 1965: How high should U.S. troop strength be increased while holding in check public and congressional opposition to the war?"
According to Nuechterlein's Web site, in 1965 he was a "senior staff member in the office of the Secretary of Defense." Like many in Robert McNamara's Pentagon coterie, Nuechterlein still misses the point: Throughout 1965 there was comparatively minimal public or congressional opposition to the Vietnam War. In September 1965, 60 percent of the public supported that war, 24 percent did not, and 16 percent was neutral. A year later the No.1 song for a month was "Ballad of the Green Berets." That song out-polled even "California Dreamin,'" "Good Vibrations," and "Sounds of Silence" on 1966's list of hits.
Starting in 1967, through the Tet Offensive of 1968 and beyond, public support for the war declined. Although Tet saw the destruction of the Viet Cong as an effective force, Walter Cronkite and others falsely spun the offensive as an American defeat. Meanwhile, Johnson and Nixon administration policies intentionally precluded victory as 58,000 Americans died. Finally, in late 1972, Nixon's landslide victory led to the Christmas bombing of Hanoi and the January 1973 treaty. The peace lasted two years, until 1975 when North Vietnam broke its promises and conquered the South.
The real dilemma is not Nuechterlein's faulty history. It is a clueless civilian leadership that may again cause soldiers to die in the service of politicians ignorant of the nature of our enemy and unwilling to use the force necessary to defeat that enemy. The George McGoverns of 2009 may confuse defeat and victory, but their lust for surrender would at least prevent a true Vietnam redux.
Bill Baldwin.
Midlothian.
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Reader Reactions
PS these were the same problems that were in Vietnam also. Though communism was the fear, the real problems were economic and lack of coordination , and of course corruption. Microloans are one way around the corruption. Rather than dole out large amounts of money to the “government” ...give it directly to the people. Read “Why Vietnam Matters: An Eyewitness Account of Lessons Not Learned “ by Rufus Philips.
The real answer to Afghanistan’s problems are economic. The army can’t solve that, they can enable it. If we took all the money we spent sending armies over there and blowing stuff up
we could help Afghanistan develop a civil society. I am talking about microloans, solar power, cell phones, farm subsidies, roads, schools, medical help. Allowing Afghans to participate in the contruction of all these projects would provide income and stability. There are lots of things that could be done to help those people. These are the same things that could help Africa also.
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