Surge? Can You Spell T-E-T?
In 1968, the social revolution of the Viet-Cong and North Vietnamese tried began an offensive on the Lunar New Year against the South Vietnamese and their American supporters. Tet was a failure for the Viet-Cong and North Vietnam, but it was also a public relations nightmare for the United States when images of the carnage were reported on the news.
For the United States, the failure of Tet showed the American people that the war plans were not working. Rather than defeating the Viet-Cong and the North Vietnamese, all the action did was show that the United States was in a stalemate with little hope to win.
Political pressures eventually made the situation worse for troops as congress started to manage the war by manipulating the funding. President Johnson was the first political casualty of the war which seemed neglected during the investigations into the Nixon administration. Eventually, the troops left as Saigon and the country fell.
Rather than learn from history, President George W. Bush, the C Student, would rather repeat history and put the lives of American service personnel in harms way to try to preserve his legacy. But as we saw from the fallout of Tet, the reputation of LBJ and those like General William Westmoreland, commander of US forces in Vietnam, has not improved, even after nearly 40 years.
It will be difficult to compare Bush to Johnson. Bush cannot point to an accomplishment that has the potential for any lasting results where Johnson was a champion for Civil Rights and was instrumental in helping pass the Civil Rights act of 1964. Bush has lead the country down a path that can make Vietnam look like a Sunday picnic compared to the current situations in Iraq and the Middle East.
George Santayana wrote, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." It is apparent that the C Student made a C or less in his history class at Yale.
For the United States, the failure of Tet showed the American people that the war plans were not working. Rather than defeating the Viet-Cong and the North Vietnamese, all the action did was show that the United States was in a stalemate with little hope to win.
Political pressures eventually made the situation worse for troops as congress started to manage the war by manipulating the funding. President Johnson was the first political casualty of the war which seemed neglected during the investigations into the Nixon administration. Eventually, the troops left as Saigon and the country fell.
Rather than learn from history, President George W. Bush, the C Student, would rather repeat history and put the lives of American service personnel in harms way to try to preserve his legacy. But as we saw from the fallout of Tet, the reputation of LBJ and those like General William Westmoreland, commander of US forces in Vietnam, has not improved, even after nearly 40 years.
It will be difficult to compare Bush to Johnson. Bush cannot point to an accomplishment that has the potential for any lasting results where Johnson was a champion for Civil Rights and was instrumental in helping pass the Civil Rights act of 1964. Bush has lead the country down a path that can make Vietnam look like a Sunday picnic compared to the current situations in Iraq and the Middle East.
George Santayana wrote, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." It is apparent that the C Student made a C or less in his history class at Yale.
posted by Scott at 12:08 PM
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