General Category > Books and Authors
Who Lost Vietnam? Mark Moyar’s New Book Spreads the Blame
mystery-ak:
Who Lost Vietnam? Mark Moyar’s New Book Spreads the Blame
The book trashes what Moyar calls the “orthodox” view of the war.
by Francis P. Sempa
January 29, 2023, 10:35 PM
Triumph Regained: The Vietnam War, 1965-1968
By Mark Moyar
(Encounter Books, 732 pages, $50)
Scholars and writers who challenge conventional accounts of history are often courageous and invaluable seekers of truth. They don’t always find the whole truth, but their work often gets us closer to what really happened. One such scholar is Mark Moyar, whose second volume of a projected three-volume study of the Vietnam War has just been published by Encounter Books. Titled Triumph Regained: The Vietnam War, 1965-1968, the book effectively trashes what Moyar calls the “orthodox” view of the war — the view of most American history books and the famous and widely watched PBS documentaries of Stanley Karnow and Ken Burns.
Moyar’s most important conclusion after reviewing U.S., South Vietnamese, and especially North Vietnamese sources is that the United States and its allies were on the verge of winning the war in 1968, after the North Vietnamese Army suffered devastating defeats in the Tet Offensive and two subsequent offensives, but self-imposed political restrictions on bombing, troop levels, interdicting the Ho Chi Minh trail, and attacking communist sanctuaries in Laos, Cambodia, the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), and North Vietnam, as well as elite media misinformation snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. (READ MORE: The Lingering Fog of War and Lessons From Vietnam)
more
https://spectator.org/who-lost-vietnam-mark-moyars-new-book-spreads-the-blame/
Bigun:
Lyndon Baines Johnson gets the blame as far as I'm concerned. (I was there and have thoroughly researched the matter.) Had he listened to his military commanders instead of Robert S. McNamara and his ilk that war would have ended much sooner and FAR more favorably to our interests.
BTW: Moyers books are VERY good! His first book (Triumph Forsaken) told so much truth the poor guy was blackballed for it.
--- Quote ---Since the publication of volume one, my family has been subjected to great stress by the combination of this project with the unconventional career path of a conservative scholar and a number of other unforeseen developments. That we have been able to make it through is a testament to the fortitude of my wife Kelli and our children Greta, Trent, and Luke as well as the support of friends and family, especially my parents, Bert and Marjorie. We also owe thanks to God, source of all strength and wisdom.
--- End quote ---
Moyar, Mark. Triumph Regained (p. 568). Encounter Books. Kindle Edition.
Smokin Joe:
--- Quote from: Bigun on January 30, 2023, 06:54:38 pm ---Lyndon Baines Johnson gets the blame as far as I'm concerned. (I was there and have thoroughly researched the matter.) Had he listened to his military commanders instead of Robert S. McNamara and his ilk that war would have ended much sooner and FAR more favorably to our interests.
BTW: Moyers books are VERY good! His first book (Triumph Forsaken) told so much truth the poor guy was blackballed for it.
--- End quote ---
The American Media, especially Walter Cronkite, who, with total gravitas, told the American People the war was unwinnable. This only fueled and assisted the protesters, the communists and useful tools in the streets of America and in Paris (J f'n Kerry's "winter soldier" gig and Hanoi Jane posing on NVA AA guns). I have not watched a movie with her in it since, and refuse to.
After Tet (1868) the Vietcong had shot their wad. They failed to hold any of the provincial capitals they had attacked, though it took a little while to root them out of Hue.
The politicians get credit, too, but the final deciding factor was (Democrats) de-funding the South Vietnamese and pulling air support at the critical time when armored columns and massed troops coming in from the North could have been seriously eliminated by air support.
Here, too, we saw that every trip to the negotiating tables was just a ploy to allow the NVA to regroup and resupply, and not a serious push for a settlement.
LMAO:
--- Quote from: Smokin Joe on January 30, 2023, 07:27:53 pm ---The American Media, especially Walter Cronkite, who, with total gravitas, told the American People the war was unwinnable. This only fueled and assisted the protesters, the communists and useful tools in the streets of America and in Paris (J f'n Kerry's "winter soldier" gig and Hanoi Jane posing on NVA AA guns). I have not watched a movie with her in it since, and refuse to.
After Tet (1868) the Vietcong had shot their wad. They failed to hold any of the provincial capitals they had attacked, though it took a little while to root them out of Hue.
The politicians get credit, too, but the final deciding factor was (Democrats) de-funding the South Vietnamese and pulling air support at the critical time when armored columns and massed troops coming in from the North could have been seriously eliminated by air support.
Here, too, we saw that every trip to the negotiating tables was just a ploy to allow the NVA to regroup and resupply, and not a serious push for a settlement.
--- End quote ---
My feelings regarding Jane Fonda are the same as yours. A lot of Americans turned against the Vietnam War. But that didn’t mean they jumped an NVA anti-aircraft gun, and let themselves be used by communist propagandists
Bigun:
--- Quote from: Smokin Joe on January 30, 2023, 07:27:53 pm ---The American Media, especially Walter Cronkite, who, with total gravitas, told the American People the war was unwinnable. This only fueled and assisted the protesters, the communists and useful tools in the streets of America and in Paris (J f'n Kerry's "winter soldier" gig and Hanoi Jane posing on NVA AA guns). I have not watched a movie with her in it since, and refuse to.
After Tet (1868) the Vietcong had shot their wad. They failed to hold any of the provincial capitals they had attacked, though it took a little while to root them out of Hue.
The politicians get credit, too, but the final deciding factor was (Democrats) de-funding the South Vietnamese and pulling air support at the critical time when armored columns and massed troops coming in from the North could have been seriously eliminated by air support.
Here, too, we saw that every trip to the negotiating tables was just a ploy to allow the NVA to regroup and resupply, and not a serious push for a settlement.
--- End quote ---
I agree with ALL of that @Smokin Joe but MY point is that it would never have gotten to that point had LBJ simply left the war fighting to the war fighters at any time after mid 1965 the war would have been over in six months or less.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
Go to full version