I must have missed the part where Ho Chi Minh was captured and imprisoned,, and an elected government took the place of his defeated communist dictatorship.
You have to forgive Hollywood directors who live in a world of fantasy, when they can't discern victory from defeat in the world of reality.
I missed the part where we routed the Viet Cong in two weeks, established an interim constitution, which established a constitutional republic, captured Ho Chi Minh, turned over sovereignty, whereupon they held free elections to choose their own leaders.
I also missed the part where we built schools, roads, sewer systems, water supplies, stocked libraries, brought fresh water and food to the formerly-starved, trained a new North Vietnamese police force tasked with, among other things, killing and capturing the recalcitrant communist terrorists...
This is where I ask the liberal idiot, who suggested Iraq was just like Vietnam, to tell me what the two have in common, and where I'm usually met by silence.
I guess we should tell him to "Shut up and direct!"
In one of the original Star Trek episodes an alien race asked Kirk and Spok to help them understand our concept of good and evil. They resurrected President Lincoln and some Vulcan hero to join Kirk and Spok. They resurrected 4 evil villains from Earth and Vulcan history to fight against them.
At first, Kirk refused but the aliens put the Enterprise in danger so Kirk and Spok joined the fight. The Vulcan hero tried peace negotiations but was killed. The band of three finally engaged in hand-to-hand combat against the bad guys and won.
At the end, the alien said something like this to Kirk: "The methods and tactics you used were the same as those of your enemy. What's the difference?" Kirk asked what the alien had offered the bad guys to get them to fight. The alien replied, "What they wanted most, power."
Kirk said, "You offered me the lives of my crew."
Good guys and bad guys don't often have different methods and tactics available to them. Their motivation and approach to the use of those tactics distinguishes them. And anyone who can't see the difference between creating peace and stability through oppression and creating peace and stability through freedom doesn't know their Star Trek.
Shalom.
Lucas is a candy a$$.
He would mess his pants if he came anywhere near a real war.