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Kissinger at 100 — the man who lost Vietnam
startribune ^ | 05/23/2023 | Stephen B. Young

Posted on 05/23/2023 11:42:37 AM PDT by ChicagoConservative27

Henry Kissinger turns 100 on May 27. How should he be remembered?

For me, he is the American who, more than any other individual, lost the Vietnam War.

But today Kissinger is a demigod among our foreign policy elite. National Security Adviser and Secretary of State under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, Kissinger ranks in the top echelon of notable Americans. On issues like the war in Ukraine and even artificial intelligence, our elite wants to know: "What does Henry recommend?"

Kissinger's rise to eminence began with his secret negotiation of the 1973 Paris Peace Agreement ostensibly ending the Vietnam War with peace and freedom for the people of South Vietnam.

(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...


TOPICS: Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; Your Opinion/Questions
KEYWORDS: 100yearsold; boogieman; demidevil; demigod; justanotherdemocrat; kissinger; lost; man; traitor; vietnam; vietnamwar
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To: ChicagoConservative27

I think Walter Cronkite had more to do with it than Kissinger.


21 posted on 05/23/2023 12:21:35 PM PDT by montag813
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To: Williams

Thanks for posting this excellent summary re Vietnam:

“The headline is 100% inaccurate.

There is exactly one group responsible for the loss of Vietnam and that was the leftist democrats, who took control of Congress and refused any aid to South Vietnam after Nixon was removed from office.

Nixon had bombed and mined the North Vietnamese into submission he had a peace agreement which guaranteed South Vietnam’s security.

After Nixon resigned, Congress cut off all aid to South Vietnam even though the North launched a full scale tank assault in violation of the peace agreement.

President Ford went on television pleading for Congress to provide equipment to the South Vietnamese.

Their refusal also led to the murder of millions in Cambodia and to hundreds of thousands of boat people fleeing South East Asia. Many more were placed in Communist concentration camps.

America could desperately use its deep water naval port at Cam Ranh Bay against the Chinese, but the short sightedness of leftists and defeatists denied us that, as well as denying our allies freedom.


22 posted on 05/23/2023 12:22:12 PM PDT by Grampa Dave (We have no shortage of experts, who state things as fact, but really have no idea!)
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To: Williams

100% The whole thing goes on Tip O’Neil’s shoulders.


23 posted on 05/23/2023 12:22:37 PM PDT by Conan the Librarian (Conan the Sailing Librarian)
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To: ChicagoConservative27

Kissinger didn’t “lose” Vietnam, the Rat Congress did.

Kissinger and Nixon did support the Pakistani genocide against Bangladesh, the most shameful episode in American foreign policy in my lifetime. So I would say that Henry is a thoroughly amoral man who I do not respect.


24 posted on 05/23/2023 12:27:15 PM PDT by devere
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To: Grampa Dave

“Their refusal also led to the murder of millions in Cambodia”

I guess you don’t know which army it was that ended the genocide in Cambodia.


25 posted on 05/23/2023 12:28:22 PM PDT by Renfrew (Muscovia delenda est)
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To: Williams

“Their refusal also led to the murder of millions in Cambodia...”

And Laos.

Confirming the “Domino Theory” that the leftists say was an imaginary fear.


26 posted on 05/23/2023 12:28:32 PM PDT by 21twelve (Ever Vigilant. Never Fearful.)
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To: Williams

“President Ford went on television pleading for Congress to provide equipment to the South Vietnamese.”

Even with all the support in the world the South Vietnamese army was going to crumble.

Any equipment sent over would merely have been gifts to the communists once they took over.


27 posted on 05/23/2023 12:30:53 PM PDT by Renfrew (Muscovia delenda est)
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To: ansel12

Bottom line: We should have never been there. Fast forward 40 years and we undertook the same stupidity in Iraq.


28 posted on 05/23/2023 12:31:36 PM PDT by Sir_Humphrey (The “only Trumpers” are just as damaging to the conservative cause as are the “never Trumpers”)
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To: Williams

That’s the part most don’t know...
Vietnam was also about keeping china out of that port...


29 posted on 05/23/2023 12:37:16 PM PDT by joe fonebone (And the people said NO! The End)
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To: Sir_Humphrey

JFK was a disaster.


30 posted on 05/23/2023 12:38:09 PM PDT by ansel12 (NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.)
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To: ChicagoConservative27

.


31 posted on 05/23/2023 12:39:04 PM PDT by LouAvul (Daniel 4:17: "..the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will.." )
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To: ChicagoConservative27

I don’t wish death on people.

Henry Kissinger is one of those that come very close to the edge.


32 posted on 05/23/2023 12:48:29 PM PDT by Vermont Lt
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To: ChicagoConservative27

What he lost was Taiwan.


33 posted on 05/23/2023 12:49:46 PM PDT by G Larry (The Deep State is NOT repairable by mankind.......)
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To: ansel12

“JFK was a disaster.”

“Camelot” was noting but a stinking turd sprayed with perfumed glitter.


34 posted on 05/23/2023 12:57:17 PM PDT by libstripper
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To: ChicagoConservative27

I remember McNamara did his share.


35 posted on 05/23/2023 1:07:42 PM PDT by GingisK
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To: Williams

Thanks for clearing that up. Democrats de-funded the defense of South Vietnam.


36 posted on 05/23/2023 1:14:18 PM PDT by ChessExpert (Required for informed consent: "We have a new, experimental vaccine.")
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To: ChicagoConservative27

Johnson, McNamara, Nixon, and Kissinger all agreed that the war was in winnable. A waste of time and life defending a corrupt puppet regime with the help of the incompetent ARVN.


37 posted on 05/23/2023 1:16:16 PM PDT by Clemenza
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To: tet68

I thought Cronkite declared the war “lost” all by himself after Tet.


38 posted on 05/23/2023 1:16:46 PM PDT by BerryDingle (I know how to deal with communists, I still wear their scars on my back from Hollywood-Ronald Reagan)
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To: ChicagoConservative27
All the administrations "lost" Vietnam....trying to fight WW2 battles agains an insurgency made of hundreds of thousands of guerrilla fighters with decades of battle experience. ....

We never shut down the harbor, never destroyed Hanoi, never flooded their fields..... but the geniuses from the Ivy League and the McNamara number crunchers just KNEW how to fight a war.... it's all numbers doncha know... f'ing pathetic.

We had learned from the Brits in Singapore and the French how to actually wage a counter insurgency but nobody had the stomach for it.

I'm just saving a bottle of my best Macallan single malt whisky.. for Jane Fonda's attempt to hold her breath for eternity and assuming room temperature. I raise a glass to my father who served near Da Nang and was wounded in Chu Li.

39 posted on 05/23/2023 1:24:16 PM PDT by Dick Vomer (2 Timothy 4:7 "deo duce ferro comitantes" <p><b><i></I></B><P> <img src=""> )
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To: ChicagoConservative27

I believe that quagmire was started under the previous administration.


40 posted on 05/23/2023 1:37:57 PM PDT by Republican Wildcat
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