[Penelope_Grey]

Originally Posted by Yahoshua

The U.S. didn't lose Vietnam from a military standpoint until the NVA broke the Paris Peace Accords in 1974. Up until that time the U.S. Military won every combat engagement in the war.

Then the politicians sold out our troops and dragged them out of South Vietnam after having tied them down to sentry duty instead of hurting the NVA where they would've felt it most.

We abandoned South Vietnam and left them to their demise when the NVA invaded the south and captured Saigon, massacreing fleeing ARVN troops and civilians alike along the "column of tears." Underestimation was not the cause of loss in the war, beauracracy (sp?) and an incompetent ARVN leadership was.

I was talking about the Viet Cong, not the north vietnamese forces. Sure, in a straight fight the north would have no hope against the US, but fact is US casualties were mounting, there didn't seem to be an end in sight, and the US did indeed abandon the south, but that was happening before the Paris peace accords, when combat duty was handed over to the south forces. Also public support was draining off and taxes were going up, so stands to reason that it didn't go well for the US. Vietnam is probably the best example of modern warfare and the problems therein.

Also I thought the Paris Peace Accords were signed in 1973, not 74