Quote:
Originally Posted by desertdetroiter
We didn't humble the Vietnamese during Tet. We didn't even win Tet. The idea that we actually won Tet is based on that bodycount B.S. which is meaningless.
Tet inflicted an incredible psychological defeat on us no matter how many Vietnamese we repelled or killed. We didn't even think Tet was possible...until it was. 
We lost Vietnam on the battlefield. I'm sorry that so many people like yourself can't deal with that reality. And Jane Fonda is the least of the reasons why we lost.
You guys may have had a noble cause in your minds, and that's admirable....but you got snookered. That was an Asian civil war, and we had no business getting involved in it.
And Jane Fonda wasn't the one that did the snookering. |
This will be my last response to this thread.
It would seem that None of you know anything other than what you have been taught in your government run schools.
You refuse to even consider information that is given from first hand accounts!
I'd venture to say that not many of you had history teachers that ever even held an M-16 let alone fought for anything .. other than a last piece of pie!
The mis-information and outright lies are insurmountable and frankly, as has been pointed out .. you folks who probably weren't even living at the time .. just don't give a d@mn.
Saigon was the center for most if not all of the news agencies that were covering the war in South Vietnam.
The Tet offensive was the first time, during the war, that actual street fighting took place in the major cities.
Rear support personnel and MP’s did the initial fighting by American troops until support from infantry and armor could arrive.
The news media were able to capture this street fighting on tape in addition to the attack on the American Embassy.
This new offensive was immediately brought into the homes of American families through reporting by television and the press.
The sensationalism of this reporting brought forth a misrepresentation of the actual facts that took place during Tet.
(Cronkite/ Fonda)
The reports led the American people to think that we were losing the war in Vietnam and that the Tet Offensive was a major victory for North Vietnam.
(Cronkite)
The VC suffered such high casualties that they were no longer considered a fighting force and their ranks would have to be replaced by North Vietnamese regulars.
The military defeat of North Vietnam after the Tet Offensive became a political victory for North Vietnam because of anti-war demonstrations and the sensationalism (Cronkite) of the news media.
The North Vietnamese interpreted the U.S. reaction to these events as the weakening of America's resolve to win the war.
The North Vietnamese believed that victory could be theirs, if they stayed their course.
The sensationalism by the American news media (Cronkite) and the anti-war protests (Fonda) following Tet gave hope to Communist North Vietnam, strengthening their belief that their will to succeed was greater than ours.
Instead of seeking a successful resolution at the Paris Peace Conference following the disastrous defeat of the Tet Offensive, they employed delay tactics as another tool to inflame U.S. politics.
This delaying tactic spurned further anti-war demonstrations. Those who sensationalized their reporting of the war (Most especially Walter Cronkite) and those who supported anti-war demonstrations (Fonda) are guilty of giving our enemy hope.
Because of their actions, they must share partial responsibility for those 20,000 + American deaths that occurred after tet until our full exit from nam.
We won the war on the battlefield but lost it back home on the college campuses and in the city streets.
(Communists and leftists, which of course .. have the same goals)
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