Quote Originally Posted by Gandalf View Post
South Vietnam was a series of MANY dictatorships opposed by the general public. The support of that only made tge Viet Cong grow and grow. If the US had got out in 1965 Vietnam would have united, had its elections and yes Ho Chi Minh would have won and could have been the end of it. But alas, no. 'Gotta fight those Commies'. To an American any move for Independence is 'Commie' and seemingly worth the death of millions along the way. What are you even doing there? Utter tragedy.
Opening fire on Buddhist Monks didn't help. The deadline for North and South elections had come and gone. It really wasn't about fearing Communism in the North with small scale attacks on U.S backed rotating Governments. We've sat back and watched small blips on a Globe tear themselves apart and hardly missed sleep. Shit we even did it to ourselves. It was about the Chinese and Soviet backing for the resistance that began a decade prior to the Viet Cong coming along. In some ways it felt like WW2 never actually ended and once they tested their own nukes it was on. To not have lived it or in the time when kids practiced for Nuclear detonation in Anytown U.S.A limits judgment. Crazy thing is Ho Chi minh declared Independence just weeks after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Vietnam was fucked up but innocents on all sides paid the ultimate price. It hits home very close. Children being the constant and most confounding.