Military

I tend to agree with geoff and i think this latest iteration is the best one. The "winnable" language isnt great because, of course it was winnable under certain circumstances (like full national mobilization to focus our country's efforts solely on winning the Vietnam War at all costs).

The question with Vietnam was, and is with all wars (including Iraq), what are the costs we are willing to accept as a nation in order to win? And its clear that the nation during the Vietnam War was so disillusioned with how the war was going and the reasons we were there that we wanted to get out without sacrificing more as a country.

Maybe (with an added option for the mistakes of politicians):

Why did the US lose the Vietnam War?

1) Military mistakes/miscalculations

2) Lack of support at home

3) Mishandling by politicians

I disagree wholeheartedly as to whether we could have "won" militarily. The debate from the story you posted is about whether or not the U.S. should have withdrawn at that time. Your opinion on that question is for discussing whether victory was possible or not.

so the 'winnable' debate seems moot. From a military perspective, there's no question we could have won, right?

More poignantly is the second perspective. He didn't disagree with Nixon's decision to pull the troops because the country wasn't behind the effort.

Why did U.S. lose the Vietnam War?

 

a. Not enough support from home

b. militarily unwinnable

I'm coming around more to "should they been withdrawn...?" but believe that the circumstances surrounding the decision to withdraw troops is also an issue. 

hey, so I plugged my Dad and some of his fellow vets about this issue because I figured that they'd have some insightful opinions. Take it for what it's worth:

I most certainly do think the war was winnable. The politicians bent to sentiment at home. After being involved for so long, and the loss of so many lives, Americans wanted to move on. We (the SeaBees) were winning the hearts and minds of the Viet Nam people. There just was no support from the home front. On too many occasions, the Army and Marines would win a battle only to move on and see the area reinfiltrated with resistance/VC at a later date.. And go back and retake it. It was depressing to see the fall of Siagon after all the work that we did and the loss of so many lives. It still haunts me to this day. I hope we don't repeat ourselves in this event we have going on in Iraq and Afganistan.

and another perspective:

Do I think the war was "winnable"? Yes, without a doubt. Why didn't we win it? Committment, pure committment. Our country is capable of defeating ANY enemy with committment. But.....no war can be won when it is being run by armchair generals from Washington. It didn't make any difference whether Westmoreland or Abrams was in charge in the field. Their requests for manpower and material were answered with tepid support and rabid opposition from the media. Our troops never had a chance.

No, I was not upset when Nixon pulled the troops and ended the war. There was no end in sight without full mobilization of our nation. Washington was not willing to do that. A very sad chapter in our nation's history.

It appears we didn't learn anything from Vietnam. We turn around and go in to Iraq without full committment. Again, a war ran by an armchair general from Washington. The turning point in Iraq came after we FINALLY put a competent General in the field, listened to him, and gave him what he asked for in manpower and material. It is still a tenuous victory. WILL WE NEVER LEARN?

Well, I think at this point let's not cut out all the information that has come out up to today. Why cut it off at "at the time?"

Uh oh, we can't say flat out that it will improve the economy if you reduce military spending. It could help indirectly depending on how that freed up money is allocated, right? I feel that you can say the U.S. should reduce military spending (in our existing issue) because we can allocated that spending elsewhere to improve the economy, which is a bigger priority now. The idea in our existing issue is that there are many arguments for and against cutting military spending.

Fair enough. I agree with both of you. Stop rubbing it in...jeez.

Based on the information at the time, should the U.S. have withdrawn troops from the Vietnam War?

Somewhat like our Iraq war justification issues... and we do have the Vietnam justification issue as Brian mentioned...

Based on the information available today, should the U.S. have withdrawn from Vietnam in [insert date]?

This way you can say yes, it was an unwinnable war, or yes, we never should have been there in the first place, or no, we had turned the war around, or no, it made us look weak to terrorists going forward, etc. I like it!

Did the U.S./Richard Nixon end the Vietnam War too early?

I dunno..not hot on that