The whole Vietnam mess was really the French-Indochina damage control clean up job. They botched up big time (worst and laziest fighters on EARTH) and opened the door for the communists to come in and slaughter the "South" Vietnamese people.

They bail out and the Vietnamese appeal to us for assistance. We bust our tush but have a democrat President (LBJ) who's having more fun pissing on his secret service agents when he's drunk (which is often) than on conducting a successful war.

It was not a pretty picture and in Vietnam, as in Korea - two different democratic Presidents botched the conflicts, leading to our present weakness in Asia - which imperils Japan, Taiwan and the entire Asian rim.

MacArthur should never have been recalled and once we committed - we should've used overwhelming force in Vietnam. Not carpet bombing which was ineffective but rather massive infantry and armored divisions. In Vietnam we used helicopters and slow, weak undefendable transports for people and when conducting military actions. After Korea set the pattern of seeking a "truce" - McNamara fought a war aimed at holding territory rather than conquering back the communist held positions. When all is said and done - our battlefield* nukes could have ended the war in six months.

As in Japan, it would have ended the conflict quickly. China did not yet have any arsenal to speak of and the Soviet Union would never have risked confrontation with a proactive America. Evil only strikes when they perceive the enemy is weak - like attacking civilians, shrines and churches - never when the enemy is ready to kick their behind.

Vietnam was just another case of the US cleaning up a French mess. Unfortunately we did not have conservatives running the show.

SDAI-Tech1

*At the time, we had several very small and versatile howitzer fired nuclear shells capable of controlled destruction. (on the order of a mile diameter) More efficient than carpet bombing or agent orange and if it stopped the communists and ended the war early would have actually saved lives when utilized.