Quote:
Originally Posted by Rain Man
Maybe I'm too old school, and I've only seen three episodes so far, but the documentary seems to be very focused on Vietnam as a massive cluster****. Maybe it was; I'm not denying that. But I kind of feel like there's another side of the story, even if it turned out to be on the wrong side of history. There had to be some rational people who thought, "XXX seemed like a good idea at the time because of YYY. Obviously, we were wrong, but here's our thinking."
It's coming across a little bit like the drafting of Joe Montana. In hindsight, every scout and GM in the league wanted to draft Joe Montana and pushed for it. I'm hearing that everyone in America knew the problems in Vietnam and wanted to end it. I don't think that was the case.
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I think the best explanation for the "other side" is literally inertia, or gravitational pull, or whatever you want to call it.
1. Communism is bad
2. We must prevent the spread of Communism / domino theory
3. We're the f'ing United States, and this is some piss-ant, third world country.
From there it was nothing more than egos, political calculations, and an unshakable belief that we could not lose.
You also need to understand that when China went Communist, and that was only 15 - 20 years earlier -- there was MASSIVE fallout across government. Hearings were held where CongressShits literally questioned whether George C. Marshall -- one of the greatest Americans ever -- was a traitor for "losing China." The State Department was under fire for years for being perceived as "full of Commie sympathizers".
Add to that the House UnAmerican Activities Committee, McCarthyism and the general insanity that pervaded government when it came to Communism and you have really removed the foundations for RATIONAL decision-making when it comes to whether or not to "stand against Communism." In that atmosphere, bureaucrats, like any rational human being, will err on the side of self-preservation.
It's all so goddamn tragic.