Vietnam Myths (and Realities)

The always readable Sic Semper Tyrannis says: “Someone said in a recent comment that we should thrash it out about Vietnam. OK. Start here.”

Okay, I will. The “comments” below are by Buce. Everything else is from the Vietnam myths webpage.

Myth:

The domino theory was proved false.

The domino theory was accurate. The ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand stayed free of Communism because of the U.S. commitment to Vietnam. The Indonesians threw the Soviets out in 1966 because of America's commitment in Vietnam. Without that commitment, Communism would have swept all the way to the Malacca Straits that is south of Singapore and of great strategic importance to the free world. If you ask people who live in these countries that won the war in Vietnam, they have a different opinion from the American news media. The Vietnam War was the turning point for Communism.

Comment: the metaphysics of this one are obscure. Are you assuming we “won” in VN? And that no dominos fell? But how do you know what would have happened if we had not “won?” And of course, the more common view is that we lost Vietnam. If that is true—and still nobobdy dominoed—then the theory looks pretty shabby. [But for more on “who won,” see infra.]

Myth:

Most Vietnam veterans were drafted.

2/3 of the men who served in Vietnam were volunteers. 2/3 of the men who served in World War II were drafted. Approximately 70% of those killed were volunteers.

Comment: who ever thought this one to be true? The point of they college kids was that they didn’t want to be drafted, whether others were or not.

Myth:

The war was fought largely by the poor and uneducated.

Servicemen who went to Vietnam from well-to-do areas had a slightly elevated risk of dying because they were more likely to be pilots or infantry officers.

Comment: Objection, your honor, not responsive! Quite possible for both these statements to be true at once.

Myth:

The United States lost the war in Vietnam.

The American military was not defeated in Vietnam. The American military did not lose a battle of any consequence. From a military standpoint, it was almost an unprecedented performance. (Westmoreland quoting Douglas Pike, a professor at the University of California, Berkley a renowned expert on the Vietnam War) [Westmoreland] This included Tet 68, which was a major military defeat for the VC and NVA.

Comment: But remember the NVN response: true but irrelevant. The whole point of Fourth-Generation Warfare theory is that winning battles doesn’t win wars.

Myth:

Kim Phuc, the little nine year old Vietnamese girl running naked from the napalm strike near Trang Bang on 8 June 1972, was burned by Americans bombing Trang Bang.

No American had involvement in this incident near Trang Bang that burned Phan Thi Kim Phuc. The planes doing the bombing near the village were VNAF (Vietnam Air Force) and were being flown by Vietnamese pilots in support of South Vietnamese troops on the ground. . . . There were no Americans involved in any capacity.

Comment: This one wins the irrelevance grand prix. By 1972 it was America’s war, pure and simple.