[klgator]

“What the hell were we doing there in the first place? A third world country on the other side of the planet that snuffed out over 60,000 of our future lives? Tell the mothers, wives, and families exactly why their loved ones’ lives ended so early and their dreams were shattered. Why? What was it all for?”

At the time we viewed communism as monolithic. It was spreading to all corners of the earth. It took Nixon and the China strategy to drive a wedge into that concept.

Whatever you think of the Vietnam War, we attempted to do in South Vietnam what we successfully did in South Korea. Which country is better off today?

[hinckley buzzard]

Yes. To understand the Vietnam era, whether for or against, one must take into account the context of the Cold War struggle with what really was an international communist threat. The operative concept was “containment,” and few doubted it was necessary.

In the end, comparing S Vietnam with S Korea, hard to see much difference. Although not democratic, VN is thriving and a large trading partner with the US, the war appearing to be largely relegated to history.

[logi_cal869]

...we attempted to do in South Vietnam what we successfully did in South Korea.

That is both a gross oversimplification of the Korean conflict and a misrepresentation of what was 'attempted' in Vietnam.

I'm just a bit curious about those rose-colored glasses, but not enough to care this morning. Much bigger fish to fry.