When Americans believe in what their country is fighting for, have they ever been defeated?

Question

Is it fair to say that when Americans believe in what their country is fighting for, that they can and always have acheived victory, or at least an honorable exit?




Has the US ever lost a war that had the support of the majority of the American people?

In a war, everybody loses. It's just a question of who loses more. Every American family that lost a loved one in WWII lost. We just lost less as a whole, than our enemies. War is not a game. It is killing and dying. Soldiers are not pieces in a board game.

Answer 1

If you'll recall there was a huge peace-movement in the US in both WWI and WWII - it nearly kept us out of both wars until it was too late, and once we were in, tried to get us to surrender there too.

We were no longer IN Vietnam (hadn't been for three years) when the Democrats cut off all funding and support the incredibly inept and corrupt South Vietnamese government, causing them to lose. So, when you get right down to it, we've never lost at all.

We've especially never lost militarily. We've lost politically, in Viet Nam.

We're winning now, despite the Democrats' best efforts to the contrary.

EDIT: My yes, we're winning. Go read any milblog, esp read the writings of Michael Yon and Bill Roggio (embeds in Iraq on the front lines) and stop reading the al Queda propoganda of the BBC, NYT, LAT, CNN and AP. It's good to get info from ALL sides. You'll find we're kicking some serious butt. Added a link to just some of the positive news from today. There are pages everywhere detailing all the positive things being done as well as all the victories.

Yes, we're taking casualties. They do happen in warfare.

The enemy's biggest force multiplier right now is the Western Media and Liberals - they're the only thing keeping them going right now. There's a reason al Queda, Iran, North Korea, Syria, Hezbollah, and Saudi Arabia all heavily support the Democratic party and make sure that their stories are front page news. And the media helps them out by NOT publishing stories like the ones below. Great job, guys.

Support the troops: LET THEM WIN!

Michael: The Tet Offensive was a tremendous US victory. At it's conclusion, there were basically no surviving NVA/VC forces anywhere in South Vietnam. Listened to a VC lecturer in college talking about that and about how the only thing that saved them was the US media.

The US media and Sen. John Kerry (he has his picture in a North Vietnamese war museum) are heavily credited by Gen. Giap (architecht of the North Vietnamese victory) with being indespensible to their victory.

They want to do that again in Iraq.

2nd EDIT: Missed a chunk - Fail to meet benchmarks? Set new ones. Why? If you miss an artificial deadline on a road trip, do you abandon your car and hitchike home? Typical lib.

Orion

Answer 2

Yes, I'd say we lost a war..Vietnam! We spent 10 years over in Vietnam, spent billions of dollars and lost thousands upon thousands of troops not to mention losing hundreds of POW's. What did we gain over in Vietnam? Not too many Americans supported the Presidents decision on invading Vietnam but the war continued for 10 miserable years. I don't believe we had a victory in this case, maybe an honorable exit to some but nothing gained here to my knowledge. Remember the fall of Siagon, this is why I'm so opposed to the war in Iraq. This is a no win scenerio just like Vietnam and I'm afraid that if we keep sending troops to Iraq we will just keep seeing our soldiers fall and no end in sight with this Civil War.

Answer 3

We lost Vietnam for political reasons, although it was never technically a war. Korea was a tie, mostly because we didn't want to get into it with Russia, or get China involved more than they were.

Iraq is unwinnable. The divisions between Sunnis, Shi'ites and Kurds are too great to overcome, and the second we leave, teh place will turn into an even worse warzone than it is now. The only good thing about Saddam is that he kept the different sides under control.

And Bush is a twinkie. Not only should we not have gone into Iraq, but we shouldn't have gone in without more support from the UN.

Answer 4

The United States never lost any wars until Vietnam. Even there, the US did not actually lose on the field of battle, even during the Tet Offensive. However, we were never able to hold the countryside at night, and we never won the hearts and minds of the people.

Since that time, we were forced out of Lebanon (under Reagan) and Somalia (under Clinton), and we've lost in Iraq.

The Korean War can best be described as a standoff.

Answer 5

For much of Vietnam's history it has been under foreign rule, primarily by the Chinese. In 1860, France began its domination of the area and had, by the late 19th century, implemented its colonization in a number of regions around the Gulf of Tonkin. During WWII, the Japanese government took control of much of the area and set up a puppet regime that was eventually forced out by the Vietnamese at the end of that war in 1945.

After WWII and until 1955, France fought hard to regain their former territories in the region, but with a poorly organized army and little determination among the troops, their efforts soon collapsed. The French were finally defeated at Dien Bien Phu on the 8th of May 1954 by the communist general Vo Nguyen Giap. The French troops withdrew, leaving a buffer zone separating the North and South and set up elections in order to form a government in the South. The communist regime set up its headquarters in Hanoi under the leadership of Ho Chi Minh. Many North Vietnamese left the country and fled south where the self-proclaimed president, Ngo Dinh Diem had formed the Republic of Vietnam.

Between 1955 and 1960, the North Vietnamese with the assistance of the southern communist Vietcong, tried to take over the government in South Vietnam, and in November 1963 President Diem was overthrown and executed. The following year, the North Vietnamese began a massive drive to conquer the whole country aided by China and Russia.

Fearing a communist takeover of the entire region, the United States grew more and more wary of the progress of Ho Chi Minh and the Vietcong. Communism had become the evil menace in the United States and with expansion of Soviet rule into Eastern Europe, Korea and Cuba, the Americans were bent on stopping communism from spreading any further.

When the Second World War ended with Japan's defeat, all Koreans aspired for a unified independent nation but instead suffered national division resulting from the subsequent Cold War between East and West. The national division and establishment of separate governments in the South and the North eventually led to a civil war, the Korean War (1950-1953). The Korean War was a by-product of internal ideological conflicts and was viewed by many as a proxy war between the West and the Communist bloc.

The Korean War developed into a large-scale international war drawing in 16 UN countries as well as China and the USSR from the Communist bloc. The fighting ended in an armistice, which created a 155-mile truce line dividing the Korean Peninsula.

After the ceasefire, the Cold War confrontation on the Korean Peninsula intensified. The South Korean government pursued a policy toward North Korea aimed at achieving unification by defeating Communism. At the same time, North Korea declared a strategy of a "revolutionary stronghold" and attempted to communize the South as well.

For more information please see the following web sites.

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/security/terrorism.
http://www.korea.net/korea/kor_loca.asp?code=D0101
http://www.vietnampix.com/intro.htm

Answer 6

America has never lost a war, it has always had allies standing beside it.. the nearest disaster was in Viet Nam i think..but we turned the war over to the south vietnamese government before we pulled out.. so actually it was the south Vietnamese that lost the war to the North..the american administration was very weak and did not want to win the war, they were too interested in politics and self interests.... i was there, i know the facts.

Answer 7

With a few exceptions our great presidents of the past have had a higher degree of diplomacy than this current idiot.

We flexed military might only when we had to. As far as fullfledged wars, I would say we have only been in 2, with an assortment of conflicts along the way. Let me add -- a 3rd -- the civil war, and if you want to count the american revolution that makes 4 :)

We are a nation based on diplomacy.
why this president tosses that ideal to the wind makes no sense to anyone but him and the republicans.
Go figure that,

I still want to know why republicans refuse to answer what should happen if IRAQ doesnt meet the latest set of benchmarks? what then?
No republican wil go on record and give an answer, why?

ORION,..were winning??
Only according to FOX News.

what war are you following?
and what circumstances are you neglecting to take into consideration to measure this success.
Typical republican.
Answer my question about failure to meet benchmarks if you can? No republican politician will

Answer 8

We can loose the war in Iraq but you all better understand we cannot allow the war in AFGHANISTAN to be lost.America must understand that europeans are in that country be cause there is one thing you have not noticed.Afghanistan gives the taliban control of a country that sits right in the middle of land trade routes.Victory for the taliban would place them at the head of the Khyber Pass.
America is tearing itself apart and the taliban are holding the aces
when that happens.Remember they are out to get you.

Answer 9

I believe that the Americans were defeated by the British during the War of 1812.

Answer 10

Liberals are against war, they want US to fail. They do every thing they can to bring the troops home DEFEATED. Yes, the majority of the American people , real Americans do support their country in war.