Why was it a mistake for Johnson to escalate the war in Vietnam yet it's peachy keen for Bush to "surge" ?

Answer 1

Its not. Bush's approval is now at 28%. The remaining 28% probably still believe that Iraq was involved in 9/11 in some way. Many people also are in support of the war simply because they want to go against anything a Democrat says. My guess is these same people would blow their head off out of spite if Hillary Clinton called for a ban on putting a shotgun in your mouth and pulling the trigger.

Answer 2

The "surge" in Iraq is a last-ditch effort by President Bush to get the Maliki government to stand up and take control of Baghdad and eventually the rest of Iraq in a manner that is fair to Sunnis, Kurds, and Shias alike, and to get Maliki to use Iraqi oil proceeds in a way that will benefit all Iraqis equally, thus putting an end to the divisiveness. A religious war, sure, it has been for a thousand years, but isn't it really just as much about equal distribution of money and goods throughout all of Iraq and the middle east?

If Maliki and the Iraqis fail now after all we have done for them so far, plus the "surge", then America can honorably leave them to their corruption and civil war. What we shouldn't do is to provide Maliki with more weapons, which may be used to conduct a civil war. Since the Shias now control the oil money, let them buy any weapons they want in the open market, instead of crying poor-mouth. You can bank on Russia, China, and Europe to sell them anything they want. They don't even want American M-16's. They want the AK-47.

Answer 3

The Democrats and the Republicans have two completely versions of what happened in Vietnam.

The Democrats will tell you that the North Vietnamese won the Tet Offensive and caused the U.S. to quickly flee back home. Their picture of choice is the U.S. diplomat in a Huey keeping this panicked guy from getting on the chopper. They also love that Buddist monk burning himself to death, that South Vietnamese soldier about to shoot a North Vietnamese in the head with his pistol and that little naked girl running from a burning village. They also keep talking about all those homeless, all those dead and wounded soldiers and suicidal vets.

The Republicans will tell you that the North Vietnamese lost the Tet Offensive killing 56,000 North Vietnamese, which caused them to flee back to North Vietnam and they never recovered. They will also tell you that more people die in car accidents each year than Americans died in all of Vietnam. They will also tell you the number of homeless vets and suicidal soldiers is smaller as a percentage than the general population. They will tell you that the U.S. was completely out of Vietnam for two years before the fall of South Vietnam and the major reason why South Vietnam even fell was because the Democratic Congress refused to keep South Vietnam equipted. South Vietnam eventually ran out of ammo and was overrun. This overrun cost the death of thousands if not over a million deaths as the North Vietnamese killed religious leaders, everyone involved with the government and the educated (something the Democrats refuse to acknowledge). They will also tell you that those peace and anti nuke protestors were funded with drugs and money by the Communist parties, especially the KGB (if you can get bums to fight each other for $5, you can pay them to go on peace marches). That's why you don't see these major protests after the Soviet Union broke up. It also didn't help the AP was using a Communist spy (Pham Xuan Hoang An) as their field reporter which helped cause all those desk reporters and anchors to report the wrong information. The AP was using a fake source (Capt. Jamil Hussein) reporting fake news for at least 64 stories in Iraq (now they report their fake news using unnamed sources). As far as those photos go, the diplomat photo was two years before the fall and everyone was evacuated. The guy being hit was carrying a gun in his clothes (he was a Vietnamese soldier trying to pass himself off as a civilian), the guy about to be shot in the head had already killed several Vietnam civilians, the Buddists were making "unreasonable demands" on the South Vietnamese government (and probably ended up dead in the hands of the North Vietnamese) and suicide is nothing new (supposedly the number one cause of violent death in the world), and the little girl grew up and I think is living in the U.S. (she is at least alive).

Only the Democrats and Republicans not in the know think policing in the Vietnam was in any way a mistake.

Answer 4

Johnson's problems weren't related to troop strength, but to flawed strategy and tactics, in his micromanagement, and in not understanding what kind of war he was in. Bush doesn't make out targeting lists for the Air Force, and he has people at the top level in the Pentagon that know what kind of war they're in and how to conduct such operations. The popular myth today is that Vietnam was "unwinnable," but it was only so because of Johnson's personality and the fact that Nixon came to power on a promise to get out, which promise he had to keep. There were several opportunities to win that war, but they were squandered. Giap had even published his strategy, and hardly anybody in the US paid any attention.

Answer 5

No it was peachy keen for LBJ to get 50,000 troops killed in Vietnam. Give the surge a chance to work. If we have to get out to soon. The blood of the innocent left behind will be on those who called for us to leave, and there will be a lot.

Answer 6

Keep in mind that Johnson was asking for a hundred thousand troops and that required the draft. Plus the death toll was enourmous in Vietnam over the same period.

Anyone who thinks that Bush isn't getting a lot of heat for asking for more troops and the war effort isn't listening to the news or reading a newspaper. He gets killed everyday in the media.

Answer 7

Johnson was an Old Style Southern Democrat and would have become a republican rather than associate with the liberal commies now in control. Hell Ron Reagan did!!! It was fine for Him to escalate at that time unless your Jane Fonda. And Yes we need the Help so come on 21K !

Answer 8

Nothing Johnson did in the VietNam war was right just like it isn't in this one. Same problem a liberal media. This is a totally different war. Wars are not all the same you know and where it wouldn't work for one might for this one. The democrats were originally for the idea you know and then flip flopped.

Answer 9

Because the war in vietnam was managable before the escalation. Their was no direct link between vietnam and the U.S. with the exception of "communism spreading".

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If you want toknow why its ok for a surge of troops, ask John kerry. He recomended that a few months back.

Answer 10

First, what planet do you live on? Bush is catching hell from all sides over this surge.

Second, what makes you so sure Johnson made a mistake?