Our Kennedy.

[Oldstyle]

That plan was shelved when Diem was assassinated, Bfgrn. There is absolutely ZERO proof that Kennedy was going to go ahead with taking troops out of South Vietnam when doing so would almost certainly have caused the fall of South Vietnam.

 

[Oldstyle]

So let me see if I understand how this plays out in progressive fantasy world...

Kennedy isn't responsible for anything that happens after his death...

But he does get credit for trying to end the war...even though he increased troop levels from 900 when he took office to 16,000 when he was shot?

 

[Sallow]

I'm not defending Nixon, you ass clown! I've already stated in this string that I loathed the man! All I'm doing is pointing out that you're COMPLETELY wrong when you accuse Nixon of supporting the Khmer Rouge and being responsible for the millions of deaths they caused. You're so fucking stupid you didn't know there was a difference between the Khmer Republic and the Khmer Rouge.

Wait, what? First off this began because you made the completely wrong claim that there was no historical evidence that John F. Kennedy was thinking about getting out of Vietnam. When you found out that was completely wrong you went off on a freakin dance to "clarify" your position. THEN you went off and said Nixon ENDED the war. Which without context sounds like Nixon was some kind of saint. Nixon was a monster. Kissinger had to stop the guy from blowing up dikes that would have killed 250,000 people in one day.

Nixon White House Considered Nuclear Options Against North Vietnam

Nixon ENDED the war after killing millions. Nixon brought about the Khmer Rouge which killed Millions more. Kennedy on the other hand was considering ending the war.

By the way, I'm not sitting here "clarifying" LBJ's position. His actions were just as monstrous.

I didn't support the Presidential pardon of William Calley but I remember that a majority of the country then didn't feel the same way as I did. Jimmy Carter was a very vocal advocate of leniency for Calley. So how does THAT compute with your notion that "you folks aren't human"? I suppose Carter IS human (because he's a liberal) but I'm not (even though I didn't support the pardon) because I'm a conservative?

How does what compute? Carter didn't think Calley was responsible for the actions of his men because the war was so screwed up in the first place. Nixon? Didn't see what Calley did as a problem.

And stow it. I don't believe you protested the war unless you were out there with Romney protesting to send folks to it.

You keep making the same ridiculous claim...that Nixon "brought about" the Khmer Rouge when I've shown you repeatedly that Nixon backed the Khmer Republic. So are you brain dead, Sallow...or just REALLY REALLY stupid?

Neither.

You're a reptile.

Simple.

 

[Oldstyle]

Wait, what? First off this began because you made the completely wrong claim that there was no historical evidence that John F. Kennedy was thinking about getting out of Vietnam. When you found out that was completely wrong you went off on a freakin dance to "clarify" your position. THEN you went off and said Nixon ENDED the war. Which without context sounds like Nixon was some kind of saint. Nixon was a monster. Kissinger had to stop the guy from blowing up dikes that would have killed 250,000 people in one day.

Nixon White House Considered Nuclear Options Against North Vietnam

Nixon ENDED the war after killing millions. Nixon brought about the Khmer Rouge which killed Millions more. Kennedy on the other hand was considering ending the war.

By the way, I'm not sitting here "clarifying" LBJ's position. His actions were just as monstrous.


How does what compute? Carter didn't think Calley was responsible for the actions of his men because the war was so screwed up in the first place. Nixon? Didn't see what Calley did as a problem.

And stow it. I don't believe you protested the war unless you were out there with Romney protesting to send folks to it.

You keep making the same ridiculous claim...that Nixon "brought about" the Khmer Rouge when I've shown you repeatedly that Nixon backed the Khmer Republic. So are you brain dead, Sallow...or just REALLY REALLY stupid?

Neither.

You're a reptile.

Simple.

I'm a "reptile" because I've pointed out how ignorant you are when it comes to the history of Cambodia? You grow more pathetic with each post...

 

[Bfgrn]

That plan was shelved when Diem was assassinated, Bfgrn. There is absolutely ZERO proof that Kennedy was going to go ahead with taking troops out of South Vietnam when doing so would almost certainly have caused the fall of South Vietnam.

The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was enacted August 10, 1964. WHEN did JFK die?

Regular U.S. combat units were deployed beginning in 1965. WHEN did JFK die?

Kennedy was against the deployment of American combat troops and observed that "to introduce U.S. forces in large numbers there today, while it might have an initially favorable military impact, would almost certainly lead to adverse political and, in the long run, adverse military consequences"

Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ), as he took over the presidency after the death of Kennedy, initially did not consider Vietnam a priority and was more concerned with his "Great Society" and progressive social programs. Presidential aide Jack Valenti recalls, "Vietnam at the time was no bigger than a man's fist on the horizon. We hardly discussed it because it was not worth discussing."[158][159]

On 24 November 1963, Johnson said, "the battle against communism... must be joined... with strength and determination."[160] The pledge came at a time when the situation in South Vietnam was deteriorating, especially in places like the Mekong Delta, because of the recent coup against Diệm.[161] Johnson had reversed Kennedy's disengagement policy from Vietnam in withdrawing 1,000 troops by the end of 1963 (NSAM 263 on 11 October),[162] with his own NSAM 273 (26 November)[163][164] to expand the war.

link

 

[Oldstyle]

That plan was shelved when Diem was assassinated, Bfgrn. There is absolutely ZERO proof that Kennedy was going to go ahead with taking troops out of South Vietnam when doing so would almost certainly have caused the fall of South Vietnam.

The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was enacted August 10, 1964. WHEN did JFK die?

Regular U.S. combat units were deployed beginning in 1965. WHEN did JFK die?

Kennedy was against the deployment of American combat troops and observed that "to introduce U.S. forces in large numbers there today, while it might have an initially favorable military impact, would almost certainly lead to adverse political and, in the long run, adverse military consequences"

Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ), as he took over the presidency after the death of Kennedy, initially did not consider Vietnam a priority and was more concerned with his "Great Society" and progressive social programs. Presidential aide Jack Valenti recalls, "Vietnam at the time was no bigger than a man's fist on the horizon. We hardly discussed it because it was not worth discussing."[158][159]

On 24 November 1963, Johnson said, "the battle against communism... must be joined... with strength and determination."[160] The pledge came at a time when the situation in South Vietnam was deteriorating, especially in places like the Mekong Delta, because of the recent coup against Diệm.[161] Johnson had reversed Kennedy's disengagement policy from Vietnam in withdrawing 1,000 troops by the end of 1963 (NSAM 263 on 11 October),[162] with his own NSAM 273 (26 November)[163][164] to expand the war.

link

If Kennedy was against the deployment of American combat troops then explain why he increased the number of those combat troops from under a thousand the first year he was in office to over sixteen thousand by the time he was killed? Oh, wait...let me guess...because he chose to call them "advisers" I suppose you don't think they were combat troops, right? Just how naive are you, Bfgrn?

 

[Bfgrn]

That plan was shelved when Diem was assassinated, Bfgrn. There is absolutely ZERO proof that Kennedy was going to go ahead with taking troops out of South Vietnam when doing so would almost certainly have caused the fall of South Vietnam.

The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was enacted August 10, 1964. WHEN did JFK die?

Regular U.S. combat units were deployed beginning in 1965. WHEN did JFK die?

Kennedy was against the deployment of American combat troops and observed that "to introduce U.S. forces in large numbers there today, while it might have an initially favorable military impact, would almost certainly lead to adverse political and, in the long run, adverse military consequences"

Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ), as he took over the presidency after the death of Kennedy, initially did not consider Vietnam a priority and was more concerned with his "Great Society" and progressive social programs. Presidential aide Jack Valenti recalls, "Vietnam at the time was no bigger than a man's fist on the horizon. We hardly discussed it because it was not worth discussing."[158][159]

On 24 November 1963, Johnson said, "the battle against communism... must be joined... with strength and determination."[160] The pledge came at a time when the situation in South Vietnam was deteriorating, especially in places like the Mekong Delta, because of the recent coup against Diệm.[161] Johnson had reversed Kennedy's disengagement policy from Vietnam in withdrawing 1,000 troops by the end of 1963 (NSAM 263 on 11 October),[162] with his own NSAM 273 (26 November)[163][164] to expand the war.

link

If Kennedy was against the deployment of American combat troops then explain why he increased the number of those combat troops from under a thousand the first year he was in office to over sixteen thousand by the time he was killed? Oh, wait...let me guess...because he chose to call them "advisers" I suppose you don't think they were combat troops, right? Just how naive are you, Bfgrn?

Regular U.S. combat units were deployed beginning in 1965. WHEN did JFK die?

Johnson had reversed Kennedy's disengagement policy from Vietnam in withdrawing 1,000 troops by the end of 1963 (NSAM 263 on 11 October),[162] with his own NSAM 273 (26 November)[163][164] to expand the war.

 

[Oldstyle]

That plan was shelved when Diem was assassinated, Bfgrn. There is absolutely ZERO proof that Kennedy was going to go ahead with taking troops out of South Vietnam when doing so would almost certainly have caused the fall of South Vietnam.

The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was enacted August 10, 1964. WHEN did JFK die?

Regular U.S. combat units were deployed beginning in 1965. WHEN did JFK die?

Kennedy was against the deployment of American combat troops and observed that "to introduce U.S. forces in large numbers there today, while it might have an initially favorable military impact, would almost certainly lead to adverse political and, in the long run, adverse military consequences"

Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ), as he took over the presidency after the death of Kennedy, initially did not consider Vietnam a priority and was more concerned with his "Great Society" and progressive social programs. Presidential aide Jack Valenti recalls, "Vietnam at the time was no bigger than a man's fist on the horizon. We hardly discussed it because it was not worth discussing."[158][159]

On 24 November 1963, Johnson said, "the battle against communism... must be joined... with strength and determination."[160] The pledge came at a time when the situation in South Vietnam was deteriorating, especially in places like the Mekong Delta, because of the recent coup against Diệm.[161] Johnson had reversed Kennedy's disengagement policy from Vietnam in withdrawing 1,000 troops by the end of 1963 (NSAM 263 on 11 October),[162] with his own NSAM 273 (26 November)[163][164] to expand the war.

link

Oh, you mean Kennedy's "policy" that never was put into place BECAUSE of the deterioration of the situation in South Vietnam following the coup against Diem?

 

[Oldstyle]

Kind of hard to "reverse" a policy that was never implemented in the first place!

 

[Oldstyle]

The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was enacted August 10, 1964. WHEN did JFK die?

Regular U.S. combat units were deployed beginning in 1965. WHEN did JFK die?

Kennedy was against the deployment of American combat troops and observed that "to introduce U.S. forces in large numbers there today, while it might have an initially favorable military impact, would almost certainly lead to adverse political and, in the long run, adverse military consequences"

Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ), as he took over the presidency after the death of Kennedy, initially did not consider Vietnam a priority and was more concerned with his "Great Society" and progressive social programs. Presidential aide Jack Valenti recalls, "Vietnam at the time was no bigger than a man's fist on the horizon. We hardly discussed it because it was not worth discussing."[158][159]

On 24 November 1963, Johnson said, "the battle against communism... must be joined... with strength and determination."[160] The pledge came at a time when the situation in South Vietnam was deteriorating, especially in places like the Mekong Delta, because of the recent coup against Diệm.[161] Johnson had reversed Kennedy's disengagement policy from Vietnam in withdrawing 1,000 troops by the end of 1963 (NSAM 263 on 11 October),[162] with his own NSAM 273 (26 November)[163][164] to expand the war.

link

If Kennedy was against the deployment of American combat troops then explain why he increased the number of those combat troops from under a thousand the first year he was in office to over sixteen thousand by the time he was killed? Oh, wait...let me guess...because he chose to call them "advisers" I suppose you don't think they were combat troops, right? Just how naive are you, Bfgrn?

Regular U.S. combat units were deployed beginning in 1965. WHEN did JFK die?

Johnson had reversed Kennedy's disengagement policy from Vietnam in withdrawing 1,000 troops by the end of 1963 (NSAM 263 on 11 October),[162] with his own NSAM 273 (26 November)[163][164] to expand the war.

So if we call them "advisers" instead of "combat troops" that means they didn't exist? LOL Gotcha!!!

 

[Bfgrn]

Kind of hard to "reverse" a policy that was never implemented in the first place!

It WAS the policy on the day he died. It was REVERSED by LBJ. A TOTALLY different man. WHAT is so hard to comprehend?

 

[Oldstyle]

Vietnam War Allied Troop Levels 1960-73

Those are the troop levels in Vietnam by year. Show me where Kennedy did anything except increase those levels!

 

[Oldstyle]

And that was NOT the policy on the day he died because that policy had been abandoned as soon as Diem was assassinated. We were NOT pulling troops out of Vietnam when Kennedy was shot...we were sending more...A LOT MORE!

 

[Bfgrn]

If Kennedy was against the deployment of American combat troops then explain why he increased the number of those combat troops from under a thousand the first year he was in office to over sixteen thousand by the time he was killed? Oh, wait...let me guess...because he chose to call them "advisers" I suppose you don't think they were combat troops, right? Just how naive are you, Bfgrn?

Regular U.S. combat units were deployed beginning in 1965. WHEN did JFK die?

Johnson had reversed Kennedy's disengagement policy from Vietnam in withdrawing 1,000 troops by the end of 1963 (NSAM 263 on 11 October),[162] with his own NSAM 273 (26 November)[163][164] to expand the war.

So if we call them "advisers" instead of "combat troops" that means they didn't exist? LOL Gotcha!!!

YES. Regular U.S. combat units are not the same as military advisers.

Example:

11th Marine Regiment

Vietnam War

The years between 1955 and 1965 were spent in continued training to maintain a constant state of readiness. During the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962, the 11th Marines played a role in the task force ordered to impose a naval quarantine against arms shipments to Cuba.

A new era opened on 8 March 1965 when the Marines were committed to ground action in South Vietnam. Beginning on 16 August 1965, the regiment was gradually deployed to South Vietnam. The transfer was completed by the arrival of the 2d Battalion on 27 May 1966. The nature of the war required the artillerymen to defend their own positions against numerous enemy probes and brought about a vastly increased employment of artillery by helicopters, both for displacement and resupply.

United States Air Force in South Vietnam

Advisory Years (1961-1964)

Late in 1961 the U.S. began sending USAF and U.S. Army personnel to South Vietnam to train and advise its personnel. U.S. personnel were not to engage in combat operations, but sometimes did. Known as the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam or the Viet Cong, the guerrillas shot down four U.S. Army helicopters. As the Viet Cong became more active and as more Americans became casualties, the U.S. stepped up the training and the supply of equipment. The goal was it could finish training as soon as possible and withdraw.

 

[Bfgrn]

And that was NOT the policy on the day he died because that policy had been abandoned as soon as Diem was assassinated. We were NOT pulling troops out of Vietnam when Kennedy was shot...we were sending more...A LOT MORE!

We DID withdraw 1,000 military advisers by the end of 1963 per the policy in place the day Kennedy died. WHEN did Kennedy die, 1965? 1966?? 1972???

1963 16300
1964 23300
1965 184300
1966 385300
1967 485600
1968 536100
1969 475200
1970 334600
1971 156800
1972 24200

Your link

 

[Oldstyle]

Regular U.S. combat units were deployed beginning in 1965. WHEN did JFK die?

Johnson had reversed Kennedy's disengagement policy from Vietnam in withdrawing 1,000 troops by the end of 1963 (NSAM 263 on 11 October),[162] with his own NSAM 273 (26 November)[163][164] to expand the war.

So if we call them "advisers" instead of "combat troops" that means they didn't exist? LOL Gotcha!!!

YES. Regular U.S. combat units are not the same as military advisers.

Example:

11th Marine Regiment

Vietnam War

The years between 1955 and 1965 were spent in continued training to maintain a constant state of readiness. During the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962, the 11th Marines played a role in the task force ordered to impose a naval quarantine against arms shipments to Cuba.

A new era opened on 8 March 1965 when the Marines were committed to ground action in South Vietnam. Beginning on 16 August 1965, the regiment was gradually deployed to South Vietnam. The transfer was completed by the arrival of the 2d Battalion on 27 May 1966. The nature of the war required the artillerymen to defend their own positions against numerous enemy probes and brought about a vastly increased employment of artillery by helicopters, both for displacement and resupply.

United States Air Force in South Vietnam

Advisory Years (1961-1964)

Late in 1961 the U.S. began sending USAF and U.S. Army personnel to South Vietnam to train and advise its personnel. U.S. personnel were not to engage in combat operations, but sometimes did. Known as the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam or the Viet Cong, the guerrillas shot down four U.S. Army helicopters. As the Viet Cong became more active and as more Americans became casualties, the U.S. stepped up the training and the supply of equipment. The goal was it could finish training as soon as possible and withdraw.

"Kennedy accepted a diplomatic settlement, at least on paper, in Laos, but chose to respond by military escalation in Vietnam.19
Under Eisenhower, the Pentagon Papers report, US forces had been "strictly advisory," following the norm of the Latin American terror states. But as JFK took over in 1961, "the U.S. had in addition provided military capabilities such as helicopters and tactical air support" by January 1962, following Kennedy's authorization of USAF Farmgate operations in October. On November 22, 1961, the President authorized use of US forces "in a sharply increased effort to avoid a further deterioration of the situation in SVN [South Vietnam]," including "increased airlift to the GVN in the form of helicopters, light aviation and transport aircraft," and both equipment and US personnel "for aerial reconnaissance, instruction in and execution of air-ground support and special intelligence." Included in the "US military units" were three army Helicopter Companies, a Troop Carrier Squadron with 32 planes, combat aircraft, a Reconnaissance Unit, and six C-123 aircraft equipped for defoliation. On November 11, the NSC had authorized dispatch of "Aircraft, personnel and chemical defoliants to kill Viet Cong food crops and defoliate selected border and jungle areas," and by November 27 it was reported that "spraying equipment had been installed on Vietnamese H-34 helicopters, and is ready for use against food crops." US military personnel were increased from 841 to 5576 by June 30, 1962. MAAG [Military Assistance Advisory Group] teams were extended to battalion level and were "beginning to participate more directly in advising Vietnamese unit commanders in the planning and execution of military operations plans." By February 1962, the US Air Force "had already flown hundreds of missions," John Newman writes, citing an army history, often with only a low-ranking Vietnamese enlisted man for show. In one week of May 1962, Vietnamese Air Force and US helicopter units flew about 350 sorties (offensive, airlift, etc.).20

US escalation led to "a noticeable improvement," Hilsman wrote. In particular, "the helicopters were grand... Roaring in over the treetops, they were a terrifying sight to the superstitious Viet Cong peasants," who "simply turned and ran," becoming "easy targets." Kennedy also authorized the use of napalm, which particularly delighted MACV Commander General Paul Harkins; asked about the consequences of napalming villages, he replied that it "really puts the fear of God into the Viet Cong." By mid-1962, the CIA was conducting intelligence and sabotage operations against the North, as well as "counter-terror" (the technical term for "our terror") in the South. The intent of Kennedy's 1961-1962 escalation was "to fight the insurgency by destroying its economic base and disrupting the social fabric of the areas where the Front was strongest" by a variety of means, later extended to "defoliation, air attack, and indiscriminate artillery bombardment of what later were to be called `free fire zones'" (Bergerud).21"

Noam Chomsky's "Rethinking Camelot"

 

[Oldstyle]

And that was NOT the policy on the day he died because that policy had been abandoned as soon as Diem was assassinated. We were NOT pulling troops out of Vietnam when Kennedy was shot...we were sending more...A LOT MORE!

We DID withdraw 1,000 military advisers by the end of 1963 per the policy in place the day Kennedy died. WHEN did Kennedy die, 1965? 1966?? 1972???

1963 16300
1964 23300
1965 184300
1966 385300
1967 485600
1968 536100
1969 475200
1970 334600
1971 156800
1972 24200

Your link

Provide some proof that 1,000 advisers were withdrawn...the numbers you've provided above show no such draw down...but instead show a steady increase. And I love how you decided to "leave out" the figures prior to 1963 that prove Kennedy was escalating the war.

 

[Bfgrn]

And that was NOT the policy on the day he died because that policy had been abandoned as soon as Diem was assassinated. We were NOT pulling troops out of Vietnam when Kennedy was shot...we were sending more...A LOT MORE!

We DID withdraw 1,000 military advisers by the end of 1963 per the policy in place the day Kennedy died. WHEN did Kennedy die, 1965? 1966?? 1972???

1963 16300
1964 23300
1965 184300
1966 385300
1967 485600
1968 536100
1969 475200
1970 334600
1971 156800
1972 24200

Your link

Provide some proof that 1,000 advisers were withdrawn...the numbers you've provided above show no such draw down...but instead show a steady increase. And I love how you decided to "leave out" the figures prior to 1963 that prove Kennedy was escalating the war.

JFK’s Vietnam Withdrawal Plan Is a Fact, Not Speculation

Francis Bator, President Johnson's Deputy National Security Adviser

"Professor Galbraith is correct [Letters, NYR, December 6, 2007] that “there was a plan to withdraw US forces from Vietnam, beginning with the first thousand by December 1963, and almost all of the rest by the end of 1965…. President Kennedy had approved that plan. It was the actual policy of the United States on the day Kennedy died."


Robert McNamara, Secretary of Defense JFK and LBJ.

As McNamara’s 1986 oral history, on deposit at the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library, makes clear (but his book does not), he was himself in the second group, who favored withdrawal without victory—not necessarily admitting or even predicting defeat, but accepting uncertainty as to what would follow. The denouement came shortly thereafter:

After much debate, the president endorsed our recommendation to withdraw 1,000 men by December 31, 1963. He did so, I recall, without indicating his reasoning. In any event, because objections had been so intense and because I suspected others might try to get him to reverse the decision, I urged him to announce it publicly. That would set it in concrete. . . . The president finally agreed, and the announcement was released by Pierre Salinger after the meeting.'

On the day Kennedy died, the course of policy had been set. This is not speculation about a state of mind. It is a statement of fact about a decision.

Had Kennedy lived, the withdrawal plan would have remained policy, and the numbers of US troops in Vietnam would have declined, unless and until policy changed. Might Kennedy still have “reversed the decision” at some point? Of course he might have. But there is no evidence that he intended to do so.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Walkthrough - Vietnam in Late 1963

20 Nov 1963 - Honolulu Meeting Briefing Book, Part I. See also Part II.
The briefing books prepared for a Vietnam meeting in Honolulu reaffirmed the timetables for complete withdrawal from Vietnam, as well as the initial 1,000 main withdrawal, despite the recent coup in Vietnam.

24 Nov 1963 - Memorandum for the Record of a Meeting, Executive Office Building, Washington, November 24, 1963, 3 p.m.
Within two days of President Kennedy's death, on Sunday afternoon, President Johnson already began receiving advice that "we could not at this point or time give a particularly optimistic appraisal of the future" regarding Vietnam. President Johnson expressed dissatisfaction with the present course and particularly its emphasis on social reforms, and stated that "He was anxious to get along, win the war..."

26 Nov 1963 - National Security Action Memorandum No. 273
NSAM 273 was drafted while President Kennedy was still alive, though he never saw the draft. The final version was signed by President Johnson on the day after the Kennedy funeral, November 26. Concerning troop withdrawal, it reiterated the "objectives" of the Oct 2 announcement without noting the October 11 implementation in NSAM 263. The wording of a section on covert action against North Vietnam was loosened significantly (see following document).

26 Dec 1963 - 202-10002-10112: MILITARY OPERATIONS IN NORTH VIETNAM
This memo to General Taylor discusses proposed covert actions against North Vietnam which were generated in the wake of the Kennedy assassination, after having been alluded to in one paragraph from NSAM 273. These OPLAN 34 activities would have as one of their effects the Gulf of Tonkin incident, used by President Johnson to obtain Congressional approval for dramatically escalating the war.

 

[Bfgrn]

Kennedy never made it to the 1964 election, and since he left behind such a vaporous paper trail, the man who succeeded him, Lyndon Johnson, was able to portray his own deeper Vietnam intervention as a logical progression of J.F.K.'s policies. But McNamara knows the truth. The man who helped L.B.J. widen the war into a colossal tragedy knows Kennedy would have done no such thing. And McNamara acknowledges this, though it highlights his own blame. In the end, McNamara says today, Kennedy would have withdrawn, realizing "that it was South Vietnam's war and the people there had to win it... We couldn't win the war for them."

Read more: Warrior For Peace - The Lessons of J.F.K. - TIME Warrior For Peace - The Lessons of J.F.K. - TIME

 

[Oldstyle]

You keep going back to that same old Kennedy "white wash" from Time, Bfgrn...

Isn't it obvious at this point that it was written with the express goal of preserving the Kennedy "myth"?

How do you take Kennedy's very real escalation of the number of troops and their combat roles...and then make the claim that he was ready to pull out of Vietnam completely and allow it to fall to the communists? Kennedy states REPEATEDLY that he was not willing to let that happen and his ACTIONS back up that commitment. Yet here you are trotting out the same old tired claim that because Kennedy briefly believed intelligence reports that the war was going so well, that the South Vietnamese could be trusted to "mop things up" in a victory over the Viet Minh and asked for a study on the draw down of troops by a mere thousand, that he would have done so following the assassination of Diem and the realization that things were NOT going as well as he'd been led to believe.