Address the political issue?
And how would you like to see that implemented?
O'rly? Care to support this argument?
""It is a major irony of the Vietnam War that our propaganda transformed this debacle into a brilliant victory. The truth was that Tet cost us half our forces. Our losses were so immense that we were unable to replace them with new recruits," said PRG Justice Minister Trương Như Tạng"
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Tet was a definite change in strategy for the VC which largely had fought smaller-scale mobile and guerrilla warfare since the US arrival. During Tet they would stand and slug it out against the ARVN and Americans while enjoying the assistance of the aroused masses. The result was a military disaster, not only decimating the VC as an effective fighting force, but exposing much of their clandestine infrastructure. The Khe Sanh battle, while it did succeed in drawing a portion of American strength, was not sufficient to prevent or divert a strong US/ARVN response in the cities against the assaulting VC. The severe losses are noted even in official Communist sources.
It is significant that the main target of Tet was the GVN, the party tasked with pacification, the weak link in the defense of South Vietnam. Contrary to NLF dogma and expectations, the hoped for uprising of the masses never occurred. The South Vietnamese did not embrace the cause, and many ARVN units stood firm and fought back. Nevertheless Tet demonstrates how Communist strategy was focused on the key element in a People's War- the population - whether to control it or demoralize it, while American strategy focused on kill ratios and attrition.
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Viet Cong and PAVN strategy, organization and structure - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
You do realize that the Vietcong learned their lesson in avoiding conventional battles no?
See above.
Counting won battles and ignoring everything else they did doesn't mean we were winning.
"By the end of 1969, there was no longer any communist-held territory, or "liberated zones," in South Vietnam, according to the official communist military history.[66] There were no predominantly southern units left and 70 percent of communist troops in the South were northerners
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[ame=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viet_Cong]Viet Cong - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]
One wonders if you even read your articles.
Looked at every one before posting.Perhaps you should try more than the first link.
Confusing correlation with causation eh? Every single COIN expert has stated that COIN operations take time to work.
Not at all-
Operations
The plan began with a major operation to secure Baghdad, codenamed Operation Fardh al-Qanoon (Operation Imposing Law), which was launched in February 2007.
However, only in mid-June 2007, with the full deployment of the 28,000 additional U.S. troops, could major counter-insurgency efforts get fully under way. Operation Phantom Thunder was launched throughout Iraq on June 16, with a number of subordinate operations targeting insurgents in Diyala province, Anbar province and the southern Baghdad Belts.[47][48] The additional surge troops also participated in Operation Phantom Strike and Operation Phantom Phoenix, named after the III "Phantom" Corps which was the major U.S. unit in Iraq throughout 2007.
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[ame=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_surge]Iraq War troop surge of 2007 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]
By the way, it's didn't not did'nt. Normally I don't mention spelling errors, but you did it twice.
By the way, it's
Oh really not O'rly :roll: