Hello John,   
      
    AK>>>> ;=) Well, well, who doubts around the world that American history   
    AK>>>> books tell that the Vietnam war was victorious for the US?   
    AK>>>> Propaganda doesn't allow the opposite, especially if the opposite   
    AK>>>> is humiliating.   
      
    JF>>> Actually, American history books do not describe Vietnam as a   
    JF>>> victory for America. And we know the US lost the war. Not all know   
    JF>>> it, but most of us do.   
      
      
    JF>>> We could have won that war if we 'wanted to'. Do you really think   
    JF>>> we "lost" the war because the Viet Cong had a more formidable   
    JF>>> military the the U. S.? We could have wiped them out any time we   
    JF>>> pleased.   
      
    ->>    Good argument, of a computer gamer. ;-/   
      
   JF>Poor reply, even for a computer gamer. The US could have turned   
   JF>up the heat any number of ways. The war was purposely dragged out   
   JF>for several reasons, mostly concerning the (then) USSR, who was   
   JF>supplying the North.   
      
   The US could have declared victory and returned home anytime it wanted.   
   It is truly sad we chose to wait decades before doing so.  Just think   
   how many lives would have been saved, both American and Vietnamese.   
   As well as others.  The end result would have been exactly the same,   
   only with more people around both here and there.   
      
   Our presence in Vietnam was never needed, or wanted.  We should   
   have listened to the French and stayed home.  But Truman knew better.   
   And Eisenhower.  And Kennedy.  And Johnson.  And Nixon.  And Ford.   
      
   58,000+ dead American soldiers.   
   Hundreds of thousands more American soldiers maimed/wounded.   
   Untold numbers of broken families in America.   
      
   And those are just the American soldiers and their families.   
      
   How many Vietnamese soldiers lost their lives?   
   How many Vietnamese soldiers were maimed/wounded?   
   How many broken families are there in Vietnam?   
      
   And those are just the Vietnamese soldiers and their families.   
      
   We also have the innocents, those who played no part in the war -   
      
   How many innocents lost their lives?   
   How many innocents lost their limbs and other body parts?   
      
   There are still mines that remain active in Vietman, Cambodia,   
   and Laos.  Innocents are still dying, or maimed, even today.   
      
   Toxins were used, including Agent Orange.  How many innocents   
   have suffered as a result?  Not just the soldiers, but the innocents?   
      
   Vietnam was a place we never should have been.  It was a war   
   that never should have been fought.  Not by the French.  Not by   
   us.  Not by anybody.   
      
   The land of Vietnam belongs to the original inhabitants, those   
   original inhabitants being the  Vietnamese people.  Nobody else.   
   We had no right to be there, much less make war on those people.   
      
   We could have attained the same goals through peace rather than war.   
   So why did we choose war?  What did we gain by going to war?   
      
   President Truman sent in one advisor to Vietnam.  President Eisenhower   
   sent in more advisors to Vietnam.  President Kennedy sent in hundreds   
   of advisors to Vietnam.  President Johnson sent in combat troops to   
   Vietnam.  President Nixon continued the war, not only by sending   
   more combat troops to Vietnam, but also by expanding the war by   
   [illegally] bombing Cambodia and Laos.  When President Nixon finally   
   decided to end the war, he did so on the same terms President Johnson   
   had made with his Vietnamese counterparts in January of 1969, just   
   before leaving office.  President Ford was the man responsible for   
   withdrawing the rest of our troops and embassy personnel after Nixon   
   had resigned from office in disgrace.   
      
   What a tragic waste.  For Americans, Vietnamese, and All.   
      
   --Lee   
      
   --- MesNews/1.06.00.00-gb   
    * Origin: news://felten.yi.org (2:203/2)