The French were the colonial power in Vietnam until the late 50s when the North Vietnamese handed them their hats at Dien Bien Phu, a remote fortress the French held. The tenacity the NVA and Viet Cong showed in fighting that fight (for instance - they disassembled large calibre cannon on one side of the mountains surrounding Dien Bien Phu and carried them over the mountains, reassembled them on the other side) should have been a clue to the US Military planners that this was a different kind of enemy.
Yes, you're right Sam, Eisenhower sent "advisors" to help train the ARVN (Army of the Republiuc of Vietnam) and later Kennedy escalated with combat troops. We assisted in regime change in Vietnam too, but we ousted (or rather, did not prevent the ousting of our ally). Should we have intervened in Vietnam, to this day I believe so. Did we do it wrong over there? Absolutely... > and the French sent what exactly? I submit that maybe we all > lookedlike to them. -- will "If my life weren't funny, it would just be true; and that would just be unacceptable." - Carrie Fisher ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Get Instant Hacker Protection, Virus Detection, Antispam & Personal Firewall. http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=62 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:162583 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
