“Fifty years later, and officials from both countries have the chance to make another round of potentially graver, more calamitous decisions”.

History repeating:

http://youtu.be/yzLT6_TQmq8?si=MvPHSedrjAsHI7RD

I am personally disgusted by your article.

The last that I shall ever read.

The only whitewashing is the author's refusal to accept that, 50+ years ago, the threat of communism in south east Asia was real. Russia and China were large and powerful communist countries and eastern Europe was under communist control. In south east Asia, there had been an attempted communist war in Malaya and the Indonesian government under Sukarno was sympathetic to the ideology of communism. Yes, there was a strong independence/nationalist movement in Vietnam but that did not diminish the threat to other south east Asian countries from a successful communist takeover of South Vietnam (remembering that North Vietnam under Ho Chi Min had a communist government).

How many young lives were wasted and for what!?

Leave communism alone and it will eventually founder as it requires slaves and slavery to prosper. The day comes when even the worm will turn.

I mean, take a butchers at Russia.
Alan B.

Fair comment, Alan B, but the paranoia surrounding the threat of communism in the 1950s and 1960s was extreme and it was far from certain that time would see communist ideology failing.

The problem for the yanks was, they saw Buddhism and communism as the same animal.

Had they left those people alone and allowed free and fair popular elections, the Buddhists who hate communism more than we do would have won in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.

Our stupidity was to go all the way with LBJ!
Alan B.

Wouldn't it be lovely if we could drag the like of Binoy out of their protected ivory towers, shove a pair of boots on their feet, a Steyr over their shoulder & send them off to experience the real world.

Perhaps we would then see less of their communist propaganda, & even a bit of sense from them.

No I guess that would be too much to expect from such garbage.

Charlie used up practically all his resources during the Tiet offence.

Had we had good leadership and less Gormless political intervention, we would have had a counter offensive that could have pushed all the way to Hanio immediately after.

Had China sought to intervene, they could have been nuked and put back in their box for centuries?

The septic tanks made so many mistakes in Vietnam and wasted more young lives than what they sacrificed during WW11!

And effectively assisted the spread of communism with their political interference, as their only epitaph/outcome!
Alan B.