911 was a big deal in the USA. They tend to forget that England had 30 years of 911's with IRA terrorists.
Two military reasons. The US is a sea and air power, not a land power. The second, the US simply isn't ruthless enough. Even the Nazis as ruthless as they were failed to stop waves of unrelenting guerrilla warfare. The US military even with it's free fire zones wasn't even close to the SS and Einsatzgruppen formations. A third reason was political and religious. Uncle Ho and the communist party he led had fought against the Japanese invaders and the French colonialists, a war that lasted for over twenty five years. Because the French had installed a puppet government comprised of mostly Catholics the main religious group, the Buddhists were left as second class citizens.
In the end a massive, well trained and well armed conventional army, aided by an equally massive and well trained Viet Cong army of irregular forces overwhelmed both US and South Vietnam's military. All the sea power and air power in the world could only slow down the end game.
Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan hopefully proved the point to western forces. You can't as Rudyard Kipling suggested, '...hussle the east!' All that land mass and population just absorbs foreign forces. Too much effort...too little results!
Vietnam was the wrong war at the wrong time, & the US had no business being there at all. It could have been won if the US had been willing to simply bomb the hell out of the enemy & destroy the nation, but that at least was unacceptable.
Just like with the British, the Russians, & now the US in Afghanistan - none of those nations won any war in Afghanistan. Different kind of geography, different use of civilians there, porous borders - lots of factors.
Winning wars is not the only, nor the best, thing to judge a nation's greatness by, anyway.
Lots of nations have very great things about them. None are perfect. Which one is 'greatest?' That depends on what characteristics you value the most & how much slack you're willing to give them on their weaknesses. I don't think any group of people could agree on the same nation as being 'the best' in the world.
It'd be great to be able to take the best parts of many nations & put them together in one, discarding the
lousy things about them, but we deal with what we have.
It's pretty closed-minded & ignorant, and way too arrogant to claim that one's own nation is the very best in every way, better than all others. That isn't even logical. To yell, 'We're Number One,' about everything is just plain stupid, but it's easier than looking at reality & analyzing the good & the bad. Lots of people - way too many - prefer to avoid thinking, though.
Do Americans really say that or is that a fact which has been taken for granted?
What do yo think when Britain claims to have the best military in the world? How can they claim that with the numbers they have and the fact the army is now supported more than ever by territorial reservists originally enlisted as a home defense?
The American military did not lose the war in Vietnam, the people lost the war with their persuasion on the college campuses, the peace rallies and the opposition to Congress to stop the war and the bombing.
When the American first went to Vietnam in the 60 s, it was to help the French who lost the conflict and when the americans came they with drew and left the Americans there
The Americans were helping the South to aid in a democratic government in which they did not want from the first place but they wanted the military aid in weapons, advisors, and the humanitarian aid in food and supplies.
The North Vietnam with the help of China( giving them supplies from the Ho Chi Ming trial from China to Vietnam) as well as the country of Cambodia, and the country of Laos all plotted against the American military to get rid of them on the most celebrated holiday-Tet- The Chinese new Year. This was suppose to be a day of peace but they used this day to strike the american forces all at once and they lost because they underestimated the strength of the military and they lost. They first attacked the embassies and then the street fighting house to house in and then they attacked all of the American forces in the field and they lost.
The American military forces lost the war because they used the generasl po9pulation to send messages, map out supply routes and to exchange military information not knopwing that they werwe the enemy.
The forces encouraged by Congress who encouraged General Westmor4eland agreeded to with draw forces and the South Vietnam and the president agreeded that the American forces should leave-less than a week after they left, their OWN ALLIES- the Cambodians came across the border anbd tried to overtake the cities. Most of the soldiers of South Vietnam destroyed their papers and threw down their weapons and surrendered or fled into the fields.
The American forces had pity on them and agreeded to airlift the survivors as well as some of the soldiers to safety- California- gave them american citizenship,, welfare, and job training- a few years later they wanted to go back to Vietnam because they did not like life in America. Imagine that-"THEIR own allies came across the borders with equipment and tanks and captured or maim the retreating Vietnanese soldiers. Some feel that we should have left them there since they were too afraid to defend their own country but America, being the kind and democratic nation airlifted the refugees to safety and some of the American pilots loss their life because the C130 planes were over crowded and they crashed maiming and killing most of the people aboard.
History repeats itself, WATCH OUT AFGANISTAN;President Kamael mentions the fact that they can fight the Taliban on their own iniative and defense but I am hoping that when the American forces with draw and the Taliban come back in full force that the Afgans will not throw down their weapons and surrender to their cousins.
It was mainly because Britains Harold Wilson refused to send British help. Nixon said all he wanted was a couple of damned guards divisions.!
Britain had massive experience in that type of warfare. Its the same with Iraq and Afghanistan,its so hard to fight these terrorists who wear no uniforms and dont fight by the civilised rules of war that even the Germans did. Its of no importance how powerful on paper one may be the enemy with scant resources can soon wear you down.
well the fact the americans weren't in vietnam the day the commies won and hadn't been for two years says you're a bit misguided to say the yanks lost 'at vietnam', manifestly they did no such thing,
so stop relying on beards and sandals socialist marxist secondary modern school teacher class and race hatred lessons for your facts..
to say the usa were military defeated is like saying the Japanese won ww2 because they still have an emperor at tokyo..
in fact by any standards the Americans won the vietnamese war simply by stopping the dominos falling for the required period of time in the far east, ready for the new round of the capitalist wars starting there now any time soon..
American military policy + ability (all levels) is an interpretation of Hollywood's gung-ho heroics....the flashy uniforms/medals etc - the up-and-at-'em rhetoric equaling the John Wayne (real life draft dodger WW2) scenario of winning every conflict they take part in.
The US has 'never won a conflict outright' its forced its way into since WW2 - 'every single' conflict has ended in disaster....both financially (trillions+) and military ie:-....nothing gained on any level - withdrawals/peace deals 'claimed as victories' - massive amounts of deaths/injuries of service people explained away as....a patriotic price to pay for freedom....no matter 99% of drafted service people had never even heard of these despot hell holes until sent out there on the 'whims' of political suspect politicians....who 'all' stayed at home in safety.
Either there military might is being 'misused or its military leadership' not up-to-the-job or the winning ability is just not there.
Once the US gung-ho pretentious military dressing is removed showing the US military shortcomings (in all areas/levels) when exposed by an enemy....as has happened so many times in the past....the military just falls apart - that causing the huge amount of defeats the US military has suffered.!!
This is the problem for the US allies - who all get 'sucked into' US lost cause conflicts from day one....onwards - being as the US will 'not go in alone' (anymore) without allies providing 'their troops' etc first.
Thats why these 'Drones' are being used on a huge scale now adays....it takes away the failure nature ability of the US troops/military in general and which are....more 'reliable and effective'.
40-50% or more (check it out) of US service personal were 'drug addled' during there time in Vietnam - it was the highest drug taking/addiction service peoples war in modern times.
The same drug taking 'scenario' by US troops....as is in Iraq/Afghanistan now - all 'hushed up/deinied' by the US government....until exposed as it has been now.!!
The US military 'looks good' on the films that are made - but the reality is....'real life' US actions don't stand up to those (make believe) films.
I think the Vietnam counterattack was pretty brutal, the US weren't used to fighting in jungles like these and many vietnamese hid behind civilians meaning there were a lot of civilian casualties caused by the US, so it wasn't very popular at home and they were called out, given enough time, enough napalm and no morals, and I think the US might have eventually won, if you can call a massacre a victory.
I agree with you, but the Americans were fighting an army they couldn't tell from the general population, for a corrupt and hated government that the Vietnamese wanted rid of. Why do you think the Soviets (and now the UN) lost (are losing) in Afghanistan?
it annoys me when Americans say they are the greatest nation on earth but they couldn't win against little Vietnam.
so really they aren't that powerful.
i think they are pricks who take the glory from every situation.
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americans are so stupid they lost in Afghanistan and Vietnam,they are afraid to strike Syria,they are weak.
The evil of conservatism.
well if england would leave ireland the **** alone then none of that ira business would have happened.
They are saving it for the British ...
Well if we used all of our power we would have won. We could have easily annihilated our enemy with nuclear weapons.
Asians are smarter.
