By Gary L. Larson-The Washington Times
THIS TIME WE WIN: REVISITING THE TET OFFENSIVE
By James S. Robbins
Commonly held misconceptions about the Tet Offensive, a series of attacks by Viet Cong (VC) and North Vietnamese forces during the Vietnamese holiday of that name in 1968, have credited it as a pivotal victory for the communists in the
Vietnam War. But was it indeed a win for the enemy?
Conventional wisdom holds that Tet was the turning point in public perception of this war, as its purposefulness to our
geopolitical interests was called into question. That might well be so, but a public presumption that Tet was a triumph for the enemy is mightily challenged in “This Time We Win,” a groundbreaking new book by James S. Robbins.
Mr. Robbins, editorial writer on foreign affairs at The Washington Times, painstakingly retraces the bloody clashes and their aftermath, shredding the notion that the offensive was a victory, other than Pyrrhic, for the VC and its allies, the regulars in PAVN (the People’s Army of [North] Vietnam). Using the enemy’s postwar documents, Mr. Robbins maintains that Tet weakened it to the point of near collapse, severely wounding the insurgents’ infrastructure.
That is not how it was portrayed in American media.
In reality, Tet was a desperate push to foment revolt among the South Vietnamese to kick out those American “lackeys,”
Mr. Robbins asserts. Ironically, that failed strategy became a rallying point for anti-war sentiment on the U.S. home front. Tet rekindled enemy hopes for a crack in American resolve, leading to the United States’ abandoning its “imperialistic aims” and South Vietnamese allies.
Please share this post with your friends and comment below. If you haven’t already, take a moment to sign up for our free newsletter above and friend us on Twitter and Facebook to get real time updates.
Follow @WestJournalism
Loading ...
Alan Keyes : Will New GOP House Ignore Lt. Col. Terry Lakin And The Constitution
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPAgJTM-qJQ
BREAKING NEWS! We Told You So! Congressional Research Service CONFIRMS IT!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZIHhhgulww&fe…
It appears to this gramma that the United States has a president whom has no country nor does he have a God.
Tet failed, and so did the American Government, or at least our fake leaders failed. I remember those days quite well, and how the fake war, actually a United Nations Police Action, was drawn out for a very long period of time. Our country was strong, we had military power beyond the imagination of the average voter, yet we "lost" the war. Our military forces needed no more than one year to have completely won that war, but then certain groups wouldn't have made billions of dollars. South Vietnam was governed by corrupt officials, as was the North. Intensive bombing of the North would stopped all conflict, and allowed the South to be brought under good government. Due to corruption in Washington, we lost the lives of many young men, my twin brother among them, and this is not acceptable. The Communists in America run that war, hand in hand with the Communist United Nations. And now we see the result when Communism is fully stopped; one of their favorites now sits in power in the White House. The same is true for Iraq and Afghanistan; those two places shouldn't have required more than thirty days each to win, and yet we remain so corruption can bilk us out of trillions of dollars. Until we realize who is running the show, this will continue.
Gerald, absolutely a very true and great post! You do realize that President Wilson was a Marxist, as Teddy Roosevelt, FDR, Johnson, Carter, etc., etc., right? Not the Kennedy's, believe it or not, which is why that they were killed! Remember, John Kennedy fought Marxists in WWII and a brother died, too! This will be Lucifer's last stand! Watch!
In Vietnam, I had no idea what was truth and what was fiction. There often was a wide discrepancy between rumors, briefings, 'Stars and strips' news, and the news from back home. Frequently traveling between Phu Bai, Chu Lai, Red Beach, and various Danang area locations and bases, we were to be extra cautious During Tet. And for a brief period issued weapons (for self defense)- so I was carrying a passport visa, non-combatant card, and an m16 while working or being among the mass of civilians. Firefights and rocket attacks were daily. An indication that the offensive failed was the decrease in attacks and the hundreds of bodies laid out in the fields west of the Danang airfield awaiting identification and burial.