Quote:
Originally Posted by afc wimbledon
The real parallel with Vietnam is not US strategy but the US's utter misunderstanding of the country, history and culture of the people they are trying to 'help', along with their inability to believe that not everyone in the world wants to live like them.
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Well , i am not sure that understanding a country, history, or culture is always a decider. The French preceded the American effort, had a very good understanding of all that, and absolutely got their butts kicked by the Vietnamese.
The Vietnamese were stronger and more determined to stay the course, thats why they won. The US effort was limited by congress and had nothing to show but small tactical victories. In addition from a Vietnamese perspective the NVA was a highly motivated military force among the top 6 or 7 armies in the world and had the latest Russian planes, trainers, pilots and SAMs available to them. The Vietnamese went on to what is called at worst a stalemate against the Chinese army in 1979. None of these middle east regimes or even the current threat is even remotely in the same league of opposition.
To me the similarity to the Vietnam war was a total waste of American resources and I wonder if this is another repeat of that, if its not in the best interest of the US they will soon tire of it and pull out before the job is done.