這是第一手資料。我當時就在場，聽到了。那是蘇聯解體幾年後。那是在英國《金融時報》的指揮和總參謀部學校。堪薩斯州萊文沃思。
一個烏克蘭團體曾經來訪。他們的要求之一是與一位曾在「沙漠風暴」中指揮坦克的美國裝甲軍官交談。我被選中了，儘管我不願意這樣做，但我是被命令的。在那些日子裡，我害怕洩漏秘密和可能受到的紀律處分。
不管怎樣，我繼續處理手邊的任務。我提到砲塔會像蘇聯製造的坦克被擊中時那樣彈出。蘇聯坦克上的自動裝彈機速度很慢，最後當我們停在射程之外時，我們如何看著蘇聯坦克的子彈落在我們面前，然後以幾乎兩倍的射程殺死它們而不受懲罰。
在所有這些之間，我提到我們在越南的失敗。我為我的無知道歉，現在知道了越南的真相。
當然，有翻譯，反應有些延遲。在越南評論之後，我一直在講話的將軍爆發了我認為的憤怒，舉起了雙臂。在我看來，翻譯似乎一直在安撫他。我臉紅了，以為房間裡的美國官員會面臨尷尬。
翻譯用英語說的話讓我震驚，並永遠改變了我看待越南的方式。
翻譯員說話了，大概是這樣的。
蘇聯從來不尊重美國士兵。他們參加第一次世界大戰的時間很晚，因為戰爭即將結束。他們加入二戰較晚，並沒有阻止我們在朝鮮，而是讓朝鮮人繼續掌權。美國人打的是輕鬆的戰爭，他們知道不會付出什麼犧牲。我們拍攝了整個東歐，正如他們所看到的那樣。他說的一點也不尊重。
然後是越南。儘管全國都反對他們，但他們仍然繼續戰鬥。為了他的話而做出了無用的人類犧牲？在我們看來，當他們遇到困難時，他們似乎不會收拾行李逃跑。當他們離開這個世界時，他們意識到這是所有人所希望的最好的結果。我們第一次尊重他們。這是我們所熟悉的巨大犧牲。
因為越南，我們了解美國的承諾。為了與他們抗衡，我們進入阿富汗並慘敗。無論是兵力、人力、裝備或內部因素，我們都無法復原。共產主義表明它無法與美國資本主義相提並論。此後，我們政府的裂痕越來越大，直到我們失去了對東歐和俄羅斯本身的控制。
越南是冷戰中的一場戰鬥，由於那場戰鬥，你們贏得了冷戰。戰爭常常因一場戰鬥而爆發。
我常常告訴越南退伍軍人這個故事。我只希望它能載入史冊。也許有一天，越戰老兵能夠獲得應得的勝利。也許我們應該舉辦冷戰/越南勝利遊行。
如果我們沒有進入越南，也許蘇聯仍然存在。難道是反面的骨牌效應！
我認為，如果沒有1965年美國地面部隊的存在，再加上「越共」或民族解放陣線的強大軍事壓力，越南共和國的垮台將是不可避免的。
平吉戰役（1965 年 1 月）期間被摧毀的一架美國直升機。
讓我們來看看1964年3月16日美國國防部長羅伯特·麥克納馬拉給約翰遜總統的備忘錄，其中清楚地描述了南越的真實情況：
「就政府對農村的控製而言，大約40%的領土處於越共的控製或主導之下。
2021 年 7 月 7 日回覆 - 2021 年 8 月 8 日更新—
克里斯托弗·佩爾紹德 (Christopher Persaud) 想知道，如果林登·約翰遜 (Lyndon Johnson) 總統沒有在 1965 年或此後的任何時間派遣美國地面部隊進入越南，將會發生什麼。
1968 年，美國在越南的地面部隊人數達到頂峰，達到 549,000 人，光是當年的費用就達 774 億美元（以 2021 年美元匯率計算為 5,760 億美元）。 1968年是戰爭中最昂貴的一年。
對於克里斯多福的問題：首先，數千名美國人的生命和超過一百萬越南人的生命將被拯救。
數百萬美元不會花在戰爭上。
越南將訴
我們會像現在一樣成為朋友，沒有人會死。從一開始，胡志明就將越盟建立為政黨和階級（包括資產階級）的聯盟。看來他的敵人和其他共產黨不一樣。它遵循民族主義將越南從法國的統治下解放出來。他也深受美國自由主義思想的影響，1945年9月2日他根據沃辛頓宣言的許多觀點所宣讀的《獨立宣言》就證明了這一點。二戰期間，他與美國進行了大量合作，幫助對抗日本。正因為如此，他被
A whole lot of military service people would still be alive.
In dollars? Try a figure of 4.5 billion dollars based on $35 per ounce of gold.
President Nixon devalued the dollar onto the open market. So he paid the war debt back with money worth about 10 cents on the dollar. The floated value was approximately $600 per ounce.
Inflation for 10 years cheated everyone out of the salaries and pensions they deserved. So essentially we were all stolen from.
Real goods floated up in value such as real estate. So a house in 1968 was by 1971 worth an inflated value of about 18,000. Car values also inflated
The elections promised in 1954 would have been held. A government would have been elected and there would have been a single Vietnam.
Millions of Vietnamese would not have been killed fighting to get their own country out of the clutches of foreign forces.
Tens of thousands of young americans would not have been killed.
The US prestige would not have taken such a hammering. The trust in the USA would have been higher and it would have been less likely to be seen as an imperialist force from one end of the world to another.
In Australia our own constitution wouldn’t have been trashed in an effort t
At least three million Vietnanese people would not have been tragically killed needlessly.
Untold hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese people would not have been born with hideous birth defects from the poison “Agent Orange.” Countless thousands of deaths by cancer would not have occured to Vietnamese and Americans alike.
The negative reasons for the US intervention go on and on…
God only knows the number of Indochinese refugees who went to the bottom of the South China Sea trying to escape…
There would not have been the loss of about 60,000 US lives and hundreds of wounded… all in vain … because they really achieved Diddly Squat in what they did..Vietnam is a communist country …
There will be no American death. American interference in Vietnam did nothing the north won over the south and the Americans fled. Vietnamese would not be scared with Agent Orange and peace will come much earlier in Vietnam.
Vietnam was my war. I did my duty but, back then, I did not really understand it. I spent 20+ years since then trying to understand the what, why and how of Vietnam. Here is some of what I learned:
Vietnam was split at the request of France at the end of WWII. The US and British agreed and split it without any input from anyone in Vietnam.
Ho Chi Minh admired the US democracy and used parts of our Constitution and Bill of Rights in his drafting of political documents within Vietnam
Ho Chi Minh wrote to every president from Kennedy to Nixon asking to meet and discuss a North-South reunification of
America was told that if we lose South Vietnam, all of Asia would become Communist. That didn’t happen. The biggest reason is Richard Nixon.
Let me explain.
For all of his flaws, President Richard Nixon won the Cold War when he opened up relations with Communist China. For years, China and Russia had an iron-clad alliance to spread global communism. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger realized that China was tired of Russia calling the shots and that there was an opening to separate the two super powers.
Mao Zedong killed at least 50 million of his own people during the Cultural Revolution. China
The US was engaged in an existential global war against communism. Whatever we may know/think now, from Washington’s view backed by evidence was that communism was spreading. First Central Europe was taken over by Moscow, then communist subversion in western Europe made huge inroads, then communists took over China (a US ally), then IndoChina and by extension SE Asia was wracked by communist led wars, Korea you know about, Soviet penetration of Central/South America and Africa began increasing, and we faced the prospect of nuclear annihilation - which was very real at the time.
With North Vietn
We could have had the same war in some other country, maybe even more successfully. But much of the criticisms of Vietnam imply that the choice was between war and not-war which is highly doubtful. In any case the policy of containment was set and the policymakers of the time knew nothing about the “Vietnam Syndrome”. It is an example of what David Hackett Fischer calls “Historians Fallacy” (backseat driving historical decisions based on later information) to assume nonintervention as a realistic speculation, as it cannot be imagined any policymaker of the time making that decision. It is bett
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