Quote:
Originally Posted by John D Harris
Thoran the USA got out of Veitnam in 1973, the Vetinam war ended in 1975, so unless the USA some how has the power to travel through time the USA didn't lose the war. Oh by the way I'm a few year older then you and am able to remember the war first hand.
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I was young but I recall the tail end of Vietnam - or more accurately: the aftermath. I recall the feeling that we had lost was a lot stronger back then than it is now... so age would make most folks even MORE pessimistic about the Vietnam outcome not less so.
The fact that we were long gone when the North ultimately won doesn't change the fact that we bailed and 'our side' lost... despite the fact that we decisively won every single engagement of that war (even Tet... which most people seem to think we lost).
The point is that we can't accomplish what we want in Iraq with force... not even by brutally subjugating the populace and commiting a million troops could we do it. We might 'pacify' the population for a while... but the rebel fighters would simply fade into the population until the inevitable drawdown, and then the country would erupt in violence again.