Vietnam recalled - won twice, lost once - Reader comments at The New York Sun

Recent Blog Posts

Reader comment on:
Withdrawal Recalled

Submitted by kevin Lofgren, Aug 27, 2007 21:54

Vietnam was won twice in 68 and 72 and lost once, in 75. The successes were then fritted away politically. Then came the cease fire, and the battle between Congress and the Administration over who was running the US. Congress won - at the expense of America's ally, which was allowed to run out of ammunition, and was destroyed militarily two years after the US forces left the scene. It must be remembered, too, the trust that journalists and foreign diplomats put in Mme Binh ( John Kerry in Paris come to mind) who toured the world on a Hanoi passport as foreign minister without a ministry, in a provisional revolutionary government witout a capital, as it turned out, the PRG was an illusion. How ingenous, too, the academic and literary profession who used to assure the world that the national liberation of SVN did not mean what Lenin said so explicitly that it ought to mean - establishment of communist party dictatorship by combined guile and force, 'without regard to law or moral principal' -but that it meant the Byronic yearnings for freedom of a lot of Asiatic Garibaldis rebelling independently of one another and of Ho Chi Minh or Le Duan. It must also be added the general discrediting of the defenders of the Saigon side and making the 'victory in the spring' a forgone conclusion; trahison des clercs, indeed.

Note: Comments are screened, and in some cases edited, before posting. We reserve the right to reject anything we find objectionable.

Other reader comments on this article

Comment	By	Date
At the beginnings of our country, in the year 1786, our fledgling United States had reached a turning point. Men... [MORE]	Gershon Ben Daniel	Aug 30, 2007 04:15
Excellent article. The same sort of claptrap that Steyn refers to is constantly spouted here amongst my academic colleagues. After... [MORE]	greykangaroo	Aug 30, 2007 01:01
Having lived through the Vietnam era and having received my draft notice in 1970,I can tell the difference between then... [MORE]	Howard Yagerman	Aug 29, 2007 14:35
Just a quick note to thank you for the excellent article, "Withdrawal Recalled." I have recommended it to visitors at... [MORE]	Denny Hartford	Aug 29, 2007 12:24
I often wonder what kind of a United States, indeed, what kind of a world do these liberal, anti war... [MORE]	Ron	Aug 29, 2007 10:43
I've often marveled at the Left's insistence on "owning" a war they supposedly hated, but that's because I committed the... [MORE]	Vincent Zinno	Aug 28, 2007 14:36
Mr Steyn is frightfully accurate yet again. I suspect however liberals will argue that this was only part of what... [MORE]	Mihael McCoy	Aug 28, 2007 03:31
Vietnam was won twice in 68 and 72 and lost once, in 75. The successes were then fritted away politically....	kevin Lofgren	Aug 27, 2007 21:54
This article is sadly indicative of the "if we wish them no harm, they wish us no harm" Hollywood mentality... [MORE]	Jackie Klunk	Aug 27, 2007 12:45
Wow! Great piece! I have nothing more to add. [MORE]	Tessa	Aug 27, 2007 10:50
. . . is not being well conducted. Nothing succeeds like success, of course. After trillions in taxes for defense... [MORE]	Maine's Michael	Aug 27, 2007 09:02
Mark Steyn is right about how pulling out of Iran as hastily as Vietnam would be a betrayal and death... [MORE]	Bryan Leed	Aug 27, 2007 08:11