Why did the US Lose the Vietnam War?

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[shrinkermd]

The truth is often overlooked in a sea of lies and mischaracterizations. The truth is not someones opinion or away of looking at something, it is simply the truth.

Gen. Giap planned and directed military operations against the French and defeated them in 1954 in the battle of Dien Bien Phu. The NVA under the command of Gen, Giap planned the now famed and offten lied about Tet Offensive against the United States in 1968. In his book Gen. Giap plainly shows that the NVA had few supplies and had been defeated in battle time and time again. The NVA moral was so low by 1968 that the Tet Offensive was the last hope of victory. Gen. Giap and the NVA saw the Tet offensive as a failure and were on their knees ready to surrender. At that time their were fewer than 10,000 U.S. casuaties and the war was about to end and the NVA were prepared to accept defeat when CBS news Anchor Walter Cronkite came on tv and proclaimed the NVA had won the Tet Offensive. The NVA were totaly suprised by this and the news that the U.S. embassy has been overrun. In reality, the NVA did'nt gain access to the embassy, there were some VC shot dead nearby. Futher reports told of riots and protests in the streets of America. According the the Gen. Giap, these distortions and lies inspired the NVA to fight on with the knowledge the protester in the U.S. would help hand them a victory they knew they could'nt win on the field of battle. Remember, at that time fewer than 10,000 U.S. casualties. we lost because of lies and distortion of the plain truth by our media and those who use it for their own political gain. The lies and protesters actually prolonged the war and killed thousands more on both sides. Kinda sounds like The protest and media agenda for Irag does'nt it?

Here are some various opinion on why (and whether) the US lost the war in Vietnam:

1. We lost the war because of America's foreign policy. It was to stop the spread of Communism, not do be rid of it. They would have been able to destroy Communism in many different times like the Korean War. Lyndon B. Johnson didn't want to be rid of Communism because that would make us sound like an Empire again like with the Philipines in the Spanish American War and right now in Iraq. We lost the war because of forfeit. Johnson said no to being rid of Communism like Truman said no to McArthur in the Korean War. We had an open door and a 100% chance of destroying Communism, but we didn't have the permission.

2. The United States did lose the Vietnam War. They were not able to overthrow communism which was their aim as presented to the public. Pulling out is a loose term for admitting defeat. The VC were vastly superior in their tactics and numbers. They had cause to be at war, many of the GI's believed Americans did not. There is no denying it, America lost the Vietnam War.

3. The United States pulled out of the Vietnam war. We did not lose it. Technically, we were not at war, we were advisors but the Congressional approval to fight in Vietnam was not given. If anyone lost it was the people of Laos and Cambodia who came under Communist rule after the war.

4. Lack of interest. No one was that interested in stopping the Communists agression in the Far East. And as the war went on the cost in blood & treasure seemed extreme and fruitless. Didn't lose,just withdrew. We could have won a better deal on tungsten,rubber,chromium,China containment,security. You can't please everyone, but it helps. Kept going that long with the support of China, Russia & the U.S. allies. + the draft was ended c. 1970 that made the war more tolerable; then war crimes & napalm tuned off the rest.

5. The only reason the US lost was because we withdrew from there. The US won every battle but the Vietnamese were willing to sacrifice many more lives than the US.

6. They lost because the politicians did not let the military do their job. They made decisions that should have been made by generals. Politicians should not make tactical decisions.

7. The people of South Vietnam did not want to fight that war and the U.S.A. didn't want to fight that whole war for them without much help from them.

8. Some of these answers are so deluded. America lost the war in vietnam for various reasons. A few of the reasons are listed below, providing some idea of what happened in Vietnam even if it is a shallow overview: The US troops completely underestimated the VC,who were skilled jungle fighters, and also had mass peasant support. The American tactic 'search and destroy' increased VC support. As one soldier said "If they weren�t VC before we got there, they sure as hell were by the time we left"

9. I don't think that some of these answers were from deluded people. There are several reasons as to why we didn't win the war. There is truth in most of the answers given. True, we alienated a lot of the Vietnamese because of atrocities but we weren't the ones that were going into villages and disembowling the leaders or raping their women or taking a machette to babies. The VC did that. Yes, there were some unfortunate incidents like Me Lai but that is one incident compared to thousands of atrocities that the enemy soldiers did. Second, the US military was extremely handicapped by both the war planners and the US media. In order to make bombing runs we had to contact a war planner back in the States to get permission to make a bombing run. Then we were not allowed to bomb anything close to a civilian area no matter how strategically important it was because we were humane enough to want to not injure the North Vietnamese civilians. Were the North Vietnamese that concerned about not hurting anyone? Absolutley not. They had no compassion whatsoever. They placed no value whatsoever on human life. Sometimes when they would attack to try to overrun our bases the first wave of soldiers' purpose was to die on top the barbed wire perimeter so that their fellow comrades could walk over their bodies and enter the compound. They were so fanatical they would fight till the last man was dead. As far as the Vietcong being a skilled fighting force that is a crock. They were poor, not very well trained, deluded people who were virtually eliminated after they made a massive attempt in 1968 to take over the country. They were temporary successful but once the US military got to work, end of story. We literally slaughtered them. Then there is the US media who were probably the biggest traitors to the US cause and have a lot of our young men and womens blood on their hands. It seems so strange that when we would announce to the media that we were going to make a bombing run to a certain location that when the bombers would get there that the enemy soldiers would be gone. And the media also helped to stir up the anti-war movement back home thus being an ally of our own enemy. Right before we decided to pull out of the war we had the North close to surrendering. But you won't hear that from the news media. We had killed close to a million enemy soldiers.

10. The US did not lose the war. The Paris accords were signed and all but 1,500 U.S troops were still in Vietnam when Saigon fell. The reason Saigon fell was also the fact that the South Vietnamese Army was not willing to stand and fight for their own country.

11. America didnt lose the war in terms of politics. THe Paris Agreement states that the US won as troops were still in vietnam at the time. In terms of casualties and deaths, however, I think it was pretty equal going.

[mdittmar]

Why did ted kennedy leave a young girl to drown,why did walter cronkite stand up and point at a map?

[Chinstrap61a]

Nice letter, but not very well researched.

We lost in Vietnam because we took too long. The American people stuck by us for nearly eight long years as our government diddled (LBJ choosing which targets we could strike in the North, etc.), our combat leadership failed to adapt to the enemy's tactics or just reacted too slowly, and bit by bit, the enemy won the propaganda war by influencing the "peace" movement, our media, then the American people.

Our leaders completely underestimated the size, capabilities and resiliency of the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong and wasted incalculable amounts of lives and treasure by applying inappropriate weapons and tactics in what was a true counterinsurgency war. The South Vietnamese were good people and they deserved to be saved from the Communists but we did not succeed.

I will never regret fighting in the Vietnam War nor stop cherishing the fellow soldier, sailors and Marines that fought there with me, but unless we ferret out and face the truths of that war, we will not have faithfully served this generation of warriors.

[txroadkill]

Missing the most important reason. After the Tet Offensive, Walter Cronkite met with General Westmoreland and other high ranking US military commanders who told him the Vietcong had been basically wiped out and the NVA was completely defensive and had NO offensive capabilities.

After hearing that, "Uncle Walt" went on the air with his "Broadcast from Vietnam" and told the American people

We have been too often disappointed by the optimism of the American leaders, both in Vietnam and Washington, to have faith any longer in the silver linings they find in the darkest clouds. They may be right, that Hanoi's winter-spring offensive has been forced by the Communist realization that they could not win the longer war of attrition, and that the Communists hope that any success in the offensive will improve their position for eventual negotiations. It would improve their position, and it would also require our realization, that we should have had all along, that any negotiations must be that-negotiations, not the dictation of peace terms. For it seems now more certain than ever that the bloody experience of Vietnam is to end in a stalemate. This summer's almost certain standoff will either end in real give-and-take negotiations or terrible escalation; and for every means we have to escalate, the enemy can match us, and that applies to invasion of the North, the use of nuclear weapons, or the mere commitment of one hundred, or two hundred, or three hundred thousand more American troops to the battle. And with each escalation, the world comes closer to the brink of cosmic disaster.

To say that we are closer to victory today is to believe, in the face of the evidence, the optimists who have been wrong in the past. To suggest we are on the edge of defeat is to yield to unreasonable pessimism. To say that we are mired in stalemate seems the only realistic, yet unsatisfactory, conclusion. On the off chance that military and political analysts are right, in the next few months we must test the enemy's intentions, in case this is indeed his last big gasp before negotiations. But it is increasingly clear to this reporter that the only rational way out then will be to negotiate, not as victors, but as an honorable people who lived up to their pledge to defend democracy, and did the best they could.

This is Walter Cronkite. Good night.

Thus began the age of the MSM dictating US policy, both abroad and domestic having never been elected or appointed by the American people.

[kittymyrib]

Ooo! Ooo! I know the answer to that one: Because Walter Cronkeit lied every night to SeeBS’s huge, gullible audience, telling them that the US was losing the war, thus eroding support of our military during wartime.

Giap couldn’t believe his good fortune in having dolts such as LBJ and McNamara in charge of the war, and the Left in charge of the rabble on both our coasts.

Why in the world would any sane voter put a Democrat in office as CIC after the disastrous experiences we have had?

[colorado tanker]

How a person, especially a politician, answers this question determines how they see America and how they see the Iraq War.

Yes, the present divisions date from then, when the Dems were taken over by the McGovernites and threw out the Jackson Democrats.

Find out how someone feels about the Vietnam War and abortion and you pretty much know where they stand these days.

[RightWhale]

My opinion is not widely shared. But, the Dominoes did not fall. Communism fell.

[Jeff Head]

I take every opportunity with my own kids, their friends, on forums, and in my conversations with anyone who indicates such a belief to educate tham as regards the truth.

[Gritty]

"We" didn't lose the war. The Democrat Congress did by pulling our promised funding for military aid and supplies for the South Vietnamese. You can't fight an invading army with pleas for peace.

It's kinda like their template for Iraq...

[The_Reader_David]

The real answer begins with a clear understanding that the ‘Vietnam War’ [sic] was actually the Vietnam campaign in WW III (a.k.a. the Cold War).

The campaign was a military success, but treasonous elements in the United States Congress prevented the accords which lead to the American withdrawal from being carried out: we were supposed to bomb the bejeezus out of North Vietnam if they invaded after we pulled out, and we didn’t.

As a result the fruits of the successful military campaign were lost and South Vietnam fell under Communist domination.

Again thanks to all WW III vets, whatever campaign you served in, and congratulations on whatever role you played in the victory we won with the collapse of the Soviet Union.

[yarddog]

The main problem was simply fighting it not to win. I think McArthur said something about that in the Korean War.

We fought the entire war on their rules. we could have won it easily and quickly but we simply refused to do what was necessary.

Sort of like trying to win a prize fight with one arm tied behind your back.

[Chode]

we didn't lose... we QUIT!!!

[Uncle Miltie]

May I recommend the Soviet’s Afghan war as their high water mark, after which they fell?

Success against South Vietnam generally enhanced the Communists cause. Afghanistan crushed them.

Thanks Ronaldus Magnus, Maggie and il Papa.

[hunter112]

We lost because the frickin’ communist traitors here in the US forced it on us.

I like your answer the best, but it needs some modification. Initially, the US public supports the military in a war, but that support is gradually undermined by the the traitors in our midst. Thus, we have a fairly limited opportunity to do whatever is necessary to defeat the enemy, before the guilt-trippers take over.

Clearly, we were not willing to risk nuclear war with the USSR over Vietnam. And short of that, we are stuck fighting a holding operation, that can only sap the enemy until political pressures from the traitors pull us out. We should have flattened Fallujah the very minute that pictures of dead burnt bodies of Americans were hanging from that bridge, the American people understood that.

The simple truth is, during the initial surge, you can get away with whatever you want, unless it would provoke an equal and opposite reaction from the other side. Any President who doesn't understand this has no business sending our armed forces into battle in a place that we have no intention of keeping.

[Freedom'sWorthIt]

Exactly right. The blood of those slaughtered when S. Viet Nam fell is on the heads of the Media Marxists and the Democratic Congress people who forced us into failure.

[ought-six]

Thw war was lost because the Democrat-controlled Congress cut off all funding for it and left our South Vietnamese allies hanging, all the while USSR and the ChiComs were bankrolling the NVA. The Democrat-controlled Congress also threatened to cut off funding for US operations if there was no end to US involvement by the end of 1972 (the “cease fire” was signed in January, 1973). I remember that very well, because I was in the US Air Force, in Air Force Intelligence (it was called the USAFSS back in those days). The Democrats castrated our military and were complicit in the slaughter of the South Vietnamese. I have hated Democrats since that time.

[doc1019]

Amen, bro.

[calex59]

To all you guys, thanks for the response, we know we won and history will show it someday. We may be dead and gone but history will show it.

[Biblebelter]

We lost the war because we allowed our military to be driven to achieve POLITICAL objectives instead of MILITARY objectives. That was a great disservice to our best and brightest.

Haiphong harbor is an unusual harbor. It is man made not natural. It needed to be dredged if large ships carrying the materials of war were to enter this harbor. All we needed to was BOMB THE DREDGING EQUIPMENT,and if it was replaced bomb it again. The politicians who were no more than traitors REFUSED to allow the DREDGING equipment to bombed. Our so called allies and who knows maybe traitorous profiteers among never lost the ability to provide the North war supplies through Haiphong Harbor.

[Signalman]

Walter Crankcase.