Originally Posted by
light up the darkness
When uncle Ho and his team were fighting the French in the early 50s the US sent two Generals as observers. In their report they stated clearly that the US was not equipped nor did they have troops trained sufficiently in jungle warfare to operate a successful engagement against the Viet Minh insurgents.
This view was underlined by the defeat which France suffered at Dien Bien Phu.
The Chiefs of Staff and Congress ignored the reports.
All of this could have been avoided. In 1945 When Japan surrendered the British sent a battalion to Hanoi to help with the transfer of power back to the civilian authorities. They failed to confiscate and secure the arms Japan left behind and it was these which provided the weapons to revolt against the French.
Last point. The Vietnamese people are still struggling with the after effects of agent Orange and the other chemicals which the US dumped on them. Birth defects still remain high in the mountains and rural areas. The US have not paid a single penny of the promised 2 billion dollars they offered in war reparations. The mountainous areas n the border between Vietnam and Laos are death traps of unexplored ordinance. The US does very little t clear these death traps.
Quite honestly it’s absolutely shameful. The US should hang it’s head and start doing the right thing even though it’s 40 years on.