Walter Cronkite's Ridiculous Spin on the 1968 Tet Offensive in South Vietnam

[tyroneweaver]

More of Mormon Mike's twisted history.

Here's why Tet should have been the end of Vietnam, instead of letting it drag on for another five bloody years.

Because at the end of the day, the NVA and Vietcong were able to launch an offensive with such effectiveness.

A comparison to the Battle of the Bulge is comparing apples and oranges. It had only been six months after D-Day and had already cleared the Axis from most of France, Italy, and the Low Countries while the USSR (which was doing most of the heavy lifting) had pushed the Axis out of the Balkans and were driving into Poland. Germany was finished and everyone knew it.

Now, compare that to our efforts in Vietnam. We had been propping up various Generals in the South since the 1963 coup, and 5 years later, the regime we were propping up had gained no support from the Vietnamese people. In short, all that blood and treasure spent, and we were nowhere near achieving our objectives. We were never going to invade North Vietnam as that would have brought Russia and China into the war. (And we all saw how well that went in Korea). Our own leaders admitted that if a real free election were held, Ho Chi Mihn would win easily because he was a bona fide national hero and the people we propped up were a bunch of French Quislings.

Both parties knew we were on a fool's errand, but neither party wanted to be accused of "losing Vietnam" the way that Truman was accused of "losing China".

What about the Mormon who said in 1967, "we're being brainwashed about vietnam."

 

[Deadstick]

Are you really in favor of North Vietnam?

Yes i would be in favour of North Vietnam and fighters in the South fighting to liberate their Country from Colonialists and Imperialists, do you have a problem with that? seems like the natural thing for any Country to do as the US would if it was occupied.

 

[Robert W]

Yes i would be in favour of North Vietnam and fighters in the South fighting to liberate their Country from Colonialists and Imperialists, do you have a problem with that? seems like the natural thing for any Country to do as the US would if it was occupied.

North Vietnam well trained by the Soviets were the ones who needed to be defeated by the South Vietnamese. Do you think of the Soviets as colonists and imperialists?

 

[Robert W]

Yes i would be in favour of North Vietnam and fighters in the South fighting to liberate their Country from Colonialists and Imperialists, do you have a problem with that? seems like the natural thing for any Country to do as the US would if it was occupied.

You mean free from the Japanese? If so, of course.

 

[Deadstick]

Ultraliberal Nation-Building

Everybody is programmed to beg the question by assuming America should have cared about the political opinions of the dumb native cowards. The dumb, cowardly, and conceited ruling class always tricks Americans into discussing irrelevant issues. The Vietnamese deserved to be punished for supporting Communism, just as the Germans were punished for supporting Naziism. Imitating that dumb draftdodger Dubya, did we call World War II "Operation German Freedom"?

What Americans should ask themselves is why the Country has been at war with someone 228 years out of the last 245, in other words 17 years when the Country was at peace?

 

[Deadstick]

North Vietnam well trained by the Soviets were the ones who needed to be defeated by the South Vietnamese. Do you think of the Soviets as colonists and imperialists?

No why would i? Vietnam had been invaded the Vietnamese had to fight French Colonialists for years then the US were insane enough to get involved the Russians provided help with air defences when the US were trying to annihilate the Country.

 

[Deadstick]

You mean free from the Japanese? If so, of course.

The Vietnamese fought against the japs as well, General Giap fought against all of the aggressors.

 

[Robert W]

What Americans should ask themselves is why the Country has been at war with someone 228 years out of the last 245, in other words 17 years when the Country was at peace?

Well, since Americans got into wars, Americans should know the answers to your question.
We can't treat all wars as the same war as you suggest. We can't treat all peace the same either.

 

[Robert W]

The Vietnamese fought against the japs as well, General Giap fought against all of the aggressors.

His error was waging war on his own people who lived not as communists live.

 

[Deadstick]

His error was waging war on his own people who lived not as communists live.

That was not the reason, he fought against people who sided with Colonialists and Imperialists against their own people, they were like the Vichy French, in 1940 when Britain stood against Hitler if the Nazis had occupied Britain anyone who collaborated with them would have been the same, i don't understand why some people won't get it.

 

[Robert W]

No why would i? Vietnam had been invaded the Vietnamese had to fight French Colonialists for years then the US were insane enough to get involved the Russians provided help with air defences when the US were trying to annihilate the Country.

You sound very confused. Where can you learn the true history? Well at several presidential libraries. Such as the Truman library, the Nixon Library and the Reagan library. I have been to them and promise you that if you pay a lot of attention at them, you will learn much more true history.

I know that it was the japs who conquered all of Vietnam. And after they were conquered by FDR then we got our turn. The French were good for all of Vietnam though they still were French. Being French did not mean that they were bad. Similar if you want to think about it to Guam, the Philippines when we ran them and Hawaii and even Puerto Rico when we took them over.

 

[Robert W]

That was not the reason, he fought against people who sided with Colonialists and Imperialists against their own people, they were like the Vichy French, in 1940 when Britain stood against Hitler if the Nazis had occupied Britain anyone who collaborated with them would have been the same, i don't understand why some people won't get it.

Ho Chi Minh is who you want discussed. And he wanted to rule all of Vietnam. But he was very willing to bomb them until they submitted. Similar to Hitler and Poland.

 

[Robert W]

That was not the reason, he fought against people who sided with Colonialists and Imperialists against their own people, they were like the Vichy French, in 1940 when Britain stood against Hitler if the Nazis had occupied Britain anyone who collaborated with them would have been the same, i don't understand why some people won't get it.

Who educated Ho Chi Minh? I believe both the French and at Russia is who educated him. I was serving our army in Germany as Kennedy supplied the south with special forces. And are you a fan of Kennedy?

 

[Deadstick]

You sound very confused. Where can you learn the true history? Well at several presidential libraries. Such as the Truman library, the Nixon Library and the Reagan library. I have been to them and promise you that if you pay a lot of attention at them, you will learn much more true history.

I know that it was the japs who conquered all of Vietnam. And after they were conquered by FDR then we got our turn. The French were good for all of Vietnam though they still were French. Being French did not mean that they were bad. Similar if you want to think about it to Guam, the Philippines when we ran them and Hawaii and even Puerto Rico when we took them over.

Colonialism is never good for people who have been colonized, the French were as bad as the British for brutality, anyway its late over here so i bid you goodnight.

 

[Robert W]

Colonialism is never good for people who have been colonized, the French were as bad as the British for brutality, anyway its late over here so i bid you goodnight.

You might have a lot of complaining to do over England then.

 

[Foxfyre]

The Brave May Not Always Deserve to Win, But Cowards Always Deserve to Die

Believe me, my friend was no coward. Bronze star and silver cross awarded for service in Vietnam. Went on to become a Fire Dept. Battalion Chief.

 

[Robert W]

Believe me, my friend was no coward. Bronze star and silver cross awarded for service in Vietnam. Went on to become a Fire Dept. Battalion Chief.

I served in our Army in Germany and after I was discharged, some of my former Army mates also served in Vietnam and I believe that most of them were honorable. As the Company Clerk it was my job unfortunately to type up things some of them got convicted for in Germany.

 

[Hector12]

Ultraliberal Nation-Building

Everybody is programmed to beg the question by assuming America should have cared about the political opinions of the dumb native cowards. The dumb, cowardly, and conceited ruling class always tricks Americans into discussing irrelevant issues. The Vietnamese deserved to be punished for supporting Communism, just as the Germans were punished for supporting Naziism. Imitating that dumb draftdodger Dubya, did we call World War II "Operation German Freedom"?

Vietnam was harmless to us. Germany was not.

 

[Foxfyre]

I served in our Army in Germany and after I was discharged, some of my former Army mates also served in Vietnam and I believe that most of them were honorable. As the Company Clerk it was my job unfortunately to type up things some of them got convicted for in Germany.

Ah, you were Radar. Seriously the staffers like the company clerk knew a whole lot more about a whole lot of stuff than did most of the fighting men. I come from a military family though only one was a career Master Sergeant. And yeah, you take young, viral guys and put them into sometimes unnatural, boring, unpleasant or whatever situations and their less admirable sides tend to come out now and then. But then most of us, maybe all of us, are made up of saint and sinner and a whole lot of stuff in between.

 

[Robert W]

Ah, you were Radar. Seriously the staffers like the company clerk knew a whole lot more about a whole lot of stuff than did most of the fighting men. I come from a military family though only one was a career Master Sergeant. And yeah, you take young, viral guys and put them into sometimes unnatural, boring, unpleasant or whatever situations and their less admirable sides tend to come out now and then. But then most of us, maybe all of us, are made up of saint and sinner and a whole lot of stuff in between.

The reason your typical Company Clerk knows so much is that the experts do not mind talking around them all. Clerks serve officers and in part the EM. So they know a lot about many things that are discussed. I was able to at times save some of the older EM from our Executive officers wrath. When the CO would depart on leave, the XO took charge. And he loved punishing others. Way way to much he loved doing bad things to the men of the company. One time for instance, after I put his punishments into my filing cabinet, when the Commander came back from Leave, I went to him with the punishments and told him the XO abused the men. Well the CO had himself once been a Company Clerk and he understood my motive. I told him he did not abuse his own men as did the XO. I never heard more from the CO nor from the XO.