Do you think America would've won the Vietnam War if the troops weren't withdrawn? Why or why not?

PJ 88 Fan ~ IS HAPPY ~

No. That was a political war, it wasn't supposed to be won. We had all the fire power, the troops & kicked their butts but weren't allowed to do anything. Killed thousands of our troops & when they came home, they were spit on & called baby killers. If you really want an inkling, go to DC & visit the Wall. Go at night. If you have any feelings, it will humble you.

piegowdealer

1) If we lose Viet Nam, The rest of south east Asia will fall into USSR's hands like dominos. Biggest lie fed to tjhe American Public until 9/11.

2) We left and the USSR is gone. We lost??

3) Wherer were the Vietnamese going to go? The people of the south supported the troops of the north. If we were still there, we may have disappeared instead of the USSR.

4) All the economic flack that Carter took was the result of the debt Nixon (Johnson, Kennedy, Eisenhower) ran up fighting that fiasco.

5) Why are we in Iraq?

desertviking_00

There was an operation plan called "Operation Tiger Claw". It envisioned landing a reinforced regiment of Marines at a place called Dong Hoi in North Vietnam, seizing the airfield and using it to prosecute further operations by the remainder of the Marine force against Hanoi and Haiphong. It would have cut off all lines between North and South Vietnam and brought the North Vietnamese to the peace table. Total estimated length of time to complete the operation would have been six weeks. Total loss lof life would have been in the range of 4,000 dead.
Seven times that plan was presented to President Johnson for his order to execute it. After he turned it down for the last time, every ranking Admiral in the Navy and General in the Marine Corps retired within 30 days of each other.
Tiger Claw would have worked. We would have defeated the North Vietnamese and cut off any support they could have provided to the Viet Cong in the South. I know. I helped write the Medical Support Annex of Tiger Claw in 1964, when it was merely a contingency plan.

art v

It wasn't whether or not the troops were withdrawn. It was whether the politicians would get their sticky fingers out of calling the shots.
If it was a war run by generals I think we would of won. But it was a war run by politicians may have been involved in the JFK conspiracy, and had no knowledge or ability to win a war.

b52gflyer

We won every battle we ever fought in Vietnam. We fought until the Congress of the United States was worried that they might not get reelected if the war continued. Congress cut off the money and the war was ended not with a bang but with a whimper. Kissinger gave it all away at the negotiation table. We actually won the battles but lost the war because of politics. Been there, done that, got the T-shirt that said "Southeast Asia War Games, Silver Medal".

Michael M

It was the press's fault that lost us the Vietnam War.

The Squirrel Cage

No. If we want a war to be won, we have to unleash the military to do the job the right way, free of politicians telling the army how to make war. Just give them an objective and say, "go get it done."

Vietnam was a tough place to fight, too often the enemy was all around us as normal looking as a South Vietnamese person. We just should not have been there unless we allowed the military to do the job the way it should have been done. Wipe out the military in the north, and get out after a period of no more then 2 years. Still, it would not have happened as China would have most likely done what they did in Korea. Our best options were to not have gone in at all.

Mister2-15-2

Same as French, It would have been stalemate that kept going till costs could not be absorbed any more or distraction helping with full creation on OPEC wasn't needed. See if your library has PBS Series on Vietnam to learn pressure applied by Russia and China.

darrell m

it was a political defeat and a military victory. it's just to bad that only the political defeat is remembered.

ktp

there is no way, it simply wasn't meant to be. this is obvious because the war was as unpopular as the present day war, and America is losing the little support that it had to begin with, little by little. Not only does this cost the U.S. military it's morale, but it strengthens the "enemy". There is no chance that the present war can be "won" either. The "enemy" is never going to expire, there are new "enemies coming out of the woodworks each day. There is no reasonably good solution to be found by means of violence, intimidation, or coercion. This is a childish reaction to such a problem.

naterino

No we had become part of the problem. Just like Iraq today, we went in with good intentions, but now we have become part of the problem. Time to come home

ThoughtCriminal

No, occupations never succeed, especially when the vast majority of the people don't want you there.

here to help

Even America knew the vietnamese couldn't be defeated,that was why they told the French to end their occupation of Vietnam at the end of WW2

winemkr

For the same reason that S Korea is now an economic power house. We stayed and helped them build and prosper. These things take time, but the 15 minute attention span of the average self serving liberal doesn't understand that.

robert43041

The US was in a quagmire and sending troops down a cesspool. There was just no way to win this and there was no honorable way out. It had to end, that's all. Just like Irak will have to end and pretty much in the same way.

Mark H

I don't think 'Nam would have been won short of a full scale invasion of the north with unlimited bombing. And POW's should have been shipped out of the country. Of course enough got shot out of hand.

country bumpkin [sheep nurse]

at 36 million dollars a day USA were going bust and no they could never win against an unstoppable force.Iraq is Vietnam Mk 2.

Sandi

There was nothing for America to win..........Just like Korea and now Iraq...........We weren't threatened by Nam or Korea.......We weren't attacked by them........That being said I can't see what troop withdrawal lost us just as I can't see what troops being there gained us..........The one place we should have leveled was Iran when they held our people hostage for 444 days........That's where we had something at stake...........CAT

Yahoo Answer Angel

There was no policy to win the war. The hope was to hold a border (17th parallel) and contain communism.

!truth!

America would not have won the Vietnam war because the war was being controlled by the civilians officials of the U.S. government including the president at that time, the same as the Iraqi war is being run now. Let us face it, the last time America won a major war was WWII.

frisky

Facts about the end of the war: The fall of Saigon happened 30 April 1975, two years AFTER the American military left Vietnam. The last American troops departed in their entirety 29 March 1973. How could we lose a war we had already stopped fighting? We fought to an agreed stalemate. The peace settlement was signed in Paris on 27 January 1973. It called for release of all U.S. prisoners, withdrawal of U.S. forces, limitation of both sides' forces inside South Vietnam and a commitment to peaceful reunification. THE SOUTH VIETNAMESE lost the war after the U.S. Congress cut off funding. The South Vietnamese ran out of fuel, ammunition and other supplies because of a lack of support from Congress while the North Vietnamese were very well supplied by China and the Soviet Union.

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