Vietnam, was it a huge mistake?

Some say the Vietnam "conflict" was a huge mistake for the U.S, Australia, and all the other countries who fought in the "conflict". What are your guys' thoughts on it?

It should for just been a civil war between the people of Vietnam. The US should of stayed out of it.

But who would have stop the communist plague from spreading all over Asia!!!!!!!!!

[spoiler:24httbfj]Just kidding , but in all seriousness it was a bullshit war due to the anti communist sentiment of the time. We should have stayed out of it.[/spoiler:24httbfj]

Due to our mindset at the time it was a war we just couldn't stay out of without losing face.

Yes becuase the United States had to stand up to the big bad Communist.

Um yeah, we kind of had to. If we let N. Vietnam steamroll S. Vietnam without intervening, that would have been a major blow to us diplomatically. We had to show that we would aid our allies against Communist enemies.

Um yeah, we kind of had to. If we let N. Vietnam steamroll S. Vietnam without intervening, that would have been a major blow to us diplomatically. We had to show that we would aid our allies against Communist enemies.[/quote:317u16lh]
OK I get what you mean but we should of figured out that long before we did that we weren't winning the war it shouldn't have lasted almost 9 years. 1964-1973.

OK I get what you mean but we should of figured out that long before we did that we weren't winning the war it shouldn't have lasted almost 9 years. 1964-1973.[/quote:vgd65wel]
We technically never lost.

We technically never lost.[/quote:2w7hpl83]
Technically no but in 1975 the North steamrolled the South and it was united under communism so I count it as a lose.

They steamrolled the South AFTER we made a peace treaty.

Um yeah, we kind of had to. If we let N. Vietnam steamroll S. Vietnam without intervening, that would have been a major blow to us diplomatically. We had to show that we would aid our allies against Communist enemies.[/quote:3b14w3r3]

Yeah becouse they don't want another 1956. :|

I get what you mean its just the reason for us to go to Vietnam was to stop the spread of communism and in the end they fell to the Communist. So all the War did was to stop the spread for a few years.

I absolutely love how how people say we were losing.
Yes we lost, but at the time, we were winning!

The Communists never made a gain on us until we started withdrawing.
We lost because our forces were ordered not to invade North Vietnam, and to let the South do the invading, while we helped them defend.
They didn't. So we withdrew.
The idiocy on these forums makes me cringe.

We didn't lose. We signed a peace treaty that guaranteed our one victory condition (independent South Vietnam that wouldn't be attacked by the North). We withdrew and then the NVA rolls into to the South. Not our fault that the North Vietnamese's word is entirely worthless and they are treacherous scum who wait until their enemy is without defense to pounce.

Don't you just love how popular defeatism is in this country?

I get what you mean we weren't losing aganist the forces of North Vietnam. I think the bigger question is what did the US get out of this war and was it worth the 58,000 dead America's

The funny thing is, the Tet Offensive was a disaster for North Vietnam. Yet it turned the people against the war... :|

Completely true

Was Vietnam a huge mistake?
The short answer would be yes.

The problem was the way in which the U.S. handled the affair.
1. The 'democratic' government that the U.S. backed was A) not democratic, the votes were frauds; and b) not supported by the majority of the South Vietmanese population. While, like everywhere [China included], democracy had the oppertunity to establish and flourish, the way in which it was inserted was wrong and lacked a proper popular support.

2. The military policies were logical in a grand strategy sense, but they made 'winning' [nobody really wins in war] nearly impossible. The divide line [somebody help me out, I forgot what it was called] prevented the U.S. from pushing into N. Vietnam. This gave the N. Vietmanese [the Vietcong] untouchablility when they retreated, with the exceptions of air raids. And the war was unwinnable. If the U.S. tried to move further north, the Chinese would ACTUALLY SEND troops and drive the war into a stalemate. The U.S., though with better technology, couldn't push the Chinese back, but neither could the Chinese do the same to the U.S., even with far greater numbers.

3. The [arguably] biggest problem with the war was that it was unsupported back home. What ended the war was more of homeland unrest than losses overseas. The people simply stopped believeing in the war, so it failed. When you draft for a war, and you don't have rows of civilians lining up to get in BEFORE they are drafted [like in WW2], clearly there is some lack of enthusiasm. When you have civil unrest and peaceful protests/riots prosestin the war, its probably time to stop. Especially when some of them are sane, rational people and others are actual soldiers returning from the war.