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gambit Your post was too long so I won't quote it.
You mean it contained too much new info and logic for you to digest due to many years of brainwashing by the Vietnamese communists.
It's true that many people of the South Vietnam People Liberation Front were not communists. Even the leaders who formed the Front were not communists when they did that. But they disgusted the SVN govt enough to joined side with NVN communists, that's enough of a proof for you?
No, it does not constitute proof. Of course there were discontent with the South Vietnamese government. But then there were discontent with the North Vietnamese government as well. Care to explain why there was a constant stream of refugees southward during the war ?
To me, the 1968 Tet Offense came out with both sides lost. NVN lost many good soldiers, many hidden cells. SVN and the US lost face to the world. I agree with Gen Giap that the 1968 attack was a rush, and we should have prepared more. But if it wasn't for half a million US troops in SVN, the outcome might be very very different.
SVN troops, without the US troops to fight for them, lost in 2 years, even when US money poured non-stop in SVN.
Like I said, communism make people stupid. You think the NVA fought without materiel support from the Soviets and the Chinese ?
Under the program 'Vietnamization' of the war, the US would gradually withdraw all ground operations and by 1972, only US Special Forces were active ground combat troops, otherwise, it was only US air power that were involved in active combat. Even so, the ARVN defeated the NVA in what the Americans called 'Easter Offensive'. Giap was for this battle but as usual, he proved himself no better than a guerrilla fighter mentality. Did you know that Giap lost every set piece battle he ever engaged in, going all the way back to his war against French troops in North Viet Nam ? That is why he resorted to guerrilla warfare and other methods such as violating the territorial integrity of Laos and Cambodia to create the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Laos and Cambodia were declared neutral countries in the Vietnamese civil war. By creating the Trail through Laotian and Cambodian territories, the North Vietnamese leadership committed a war crime, and because NVN dragged Laotian and Cambodian territories into this civil war, the US had every right to violate those territories as well in the bombing campaigns.
Pointing out the number of US troops showed you have no clue on how a military array its forces. Just because there was half mil US troops in SVN, that does not mean all of them were combat troops. The standard ratio of support to combat troop in a modern military, which includes the VN War, is about 10:1, meaning for every 1 shooting infantry soldier, there are 10 non-shooting rear echelon support troops. For the 1960s in the VN War, that mean there were only about 60,000 active shooters at any time, and about half to 2/3 of that amount were in the field seeking out the enemy.
The NVA and the VC were not as sophisticated forces so most likely the ratio is about 5:1, that mean despite the communist forces outnumbering the ARVN/USA alliance, their loss in the 1968 Tet Offensive means that despite the poor reputation of the ARVN, the South Vietnamese soldiers still acquitted themselves adequately enough.
Is any of this info new to you ? Most likely yes. Same for the rest of the Vietnamese members here as well. You guys grew up under tight information control mandated by a leadership fearful of an intelligent and educated citizenry. So well is that brainwashing that despite the Internet, you guys still cannot bear to seek out information for yourself about the most important era in our history.
It's true that current generation of VN leaders are not as good as they were during the wars. But there are good people in the VCP. If they are enough in number, it doesn't matter if they are communists or capitalists, they will do good for the country.
How charmingly naive. A person's ideology will motivate him to act in accordance of what that ideology dictates. Between a communist and a democrat/capitalist, I will take the democrat/capitalist any day.
Oh and don't call me "đồng chí", as I personally don't like communists. My imperession on them are hard-headed, stuborn, strict and old-fashioned.
You talk like one on this forum.
I feel like overthrowing the govt now does not benefit all VNese, as it will cause disturbance to their lives, so I don't act. When I feel like it is the time, I will act, not because you or anyone tell me to, but because to me it's time for change.
Oh and your democracy fighters are not VNeses? They don't follow the laws? I am not saying about laws against anti-govt propaganda, but laws that ensure the protection of the public: like storing and using fire arms and explosive, creating illegal crowd and disturb the public peace, like leaking internal intelligence to foreign organizations, violating safety laws of air travelling? It might be legal to do so in the US or anywhere else, but not in VN. Ok? Democracy fighters? Sound like terrorists to me when they wanted to blow up the VNese soldiers statue in the middle of the park.
I can't believe as a VNese you would prefer the country broken in half rather than an unified one. I am disappointed.
Better half in prosperity and relative freedom than all live in poverty and oppression. See Korea.
i'll burn more incense to monkey king
