Magooch:
No disagreement there. It was a big mess. LBJ's decision to escalate the war and hold the purse strings for much of the early funding was the big mistake.
Getting into the war made quite a bit of sense because of the very serious consequences of the spread of communism through southeast Asia, and the likely strengthening effect it would have on communist China and Russia.
One of the biggest problems I see with America at war since Korea is the concept of winning. We keep trying to win wars through escalation when the real solution is to engage an enemy over time, probably on a smaller scale. The way Iraq/Afghanistan is being conducted actually seems to be a good approach. I hope we've learned an important lesson. I think the next lesson is how to deal with the problem of long-term US military presence in a region.
I'm probably the only guy in America that says and truly believes that the US won the Viet Nam war. The US met its objectives for being there. Communism was contained. Doors to important diplomacy with China were opened. The Soviet Union was further weakened partially because of the war. I don't see how that can be characterized as a loss. I wasn't there. But I've read quite a bit of the history of it. The history says we lost, but the facts just don't support that conclusion.
