RateItAll: The Opinion Network

Cheap-shot. . .Vietnam was too big a mess to lay at the ground of one ideology, one person, one administration. . .Kennedy (the most overrated human ever) has always gotten a historical free-pass for his efforts in Vietnam. . .

Psst. We went in under false pretenses that were sold by LBJ. What party was he again? UPDATE: What, my obsevation that this war was started by Democrats isn't welcome?

democratic government, and limitations allowing the soldiers to do anything except win makes this a 4 star war in my book. We should have faught it but we should have faught to win. pushing into China if necissary. There is noting small about war. You should always plan for the win, no matter the cost

Well, a cursory reading of history will tell you who started and maintained the Viet Nam war. The 89th Congress in 1965 was over 2/3 Democratic in both houses and the presidency was Democratic. That was when the involvement was really massive. It took the United States eight years to disengage from the intervention in 1965. The number of troops was raised to 500,000 by 1968, and Nixon did not take office until January 20, 1969. All during the Nixon years, the Democrats controlled Congress! READ A BOOK!

Thank you Eschew. Thank you vietnam veterans. We know exactly why you were there. Because the most highly regarded democratic president in the Modern age said so. And thank God he did. We weren't ready for what we got into, but we were there for freedom and to throw a cog into the communist wheel. Something a weak left minded dimwit nowadays just cant seem to understand. The same reason that they dont get it about Iraq.

How quickly they forget . . . John Kennedy started the incursion into Vietnam, sending Marine advisors to train the South Vietnamese soldiers to resist the communist North Vietnamese Viet Cong invaders, attempting to overtake the country and spread communist world domination. You may want to look up Korea and that war. Johnson, upon taking over the presidency after JFK's death, sent ground troop to Vietnam in an effort to help the South Vietnamese retain their freedom from their communist invaders/occupiers. This war was the first one the US press had a hand in developing the strategy for, and it sure seems like that's not a good idea. The war was poorly strategized, being a limited war, and all, and the American press portrayed it as unwinnable (see Walter Cronkite). Nixon ran for the presidency in 1968 on the platform I'll get us out of Vietnam. The soldiers who fought and particularly, those who died, fought with honor, their cause was a just one and they deserve our gratitude and respect, something sadly missing in some other comments on this list and the conduct of many American citizens and politicians. It wasn't their fault that their Commander-in-Chief was weakened by the criticism of the American press, but they certainly paid a dear price for his weakness. Upon returning home, these heroes were criticized, spat upon and insulted after doing nothing more than proudly donning the uniform of their country and following the orders of their commanders, something every American soldier takes pride in doing. UPDATE: my comment is really not directed at Vudija, who, I'm sure, is too young to know how it was back then. This is known as the Truman Doctrine, an effort to stop the imperialistic spread of communism, ominously threatened by the USSR. It started in Korea, and continued, domino after domino, until Reagan changed the course of history.

Although I feel for those that served, and those that lost family during the war. The actual point of the war, makes no sense to me. I still don't get why we were there.

This is a great weblist, Redoedo! All rings true! Vietnam was right because they told me it was right. However, if a democrate told me this I would be against the war. Now, you see why the Vulcan's put Bush in power; so all the stupid, brain-less Christian republicans would just go along without protest. Man, are they briliant manipulators or what? If Gore had won, all those in favor of our current wars would be against them. Unfortunatly, dems are guilty of the same faulty reasoning.

Please...I don't think Vietnam makes a damned bit of sense to anyone. The current administration simply didn't learn the applicable lessons from Vietnam.

the lessons of vietnam make sense although it seems our leaders really didn't have much of a clue. i want to take this time to thank all the soldiers who fought in that war and express my shame at the way a lot of you were treated when you came back home.

Why is it that its Republicans that supposedly think Vietnam makes sense when Democrats started the war in the first place?

It's not whether or not it makes sense to you. It's what sense you make of it. And given the sorry and disgraceful histories of both major parties in regards to this horrorshow, I don't think it defines anyone, except in the minds of revisionist historians. As far as I'm concerned for most of this war, Democrats and Republicans were two buttocks of one bum.