The Official "Damned Trump" Thread: Phase II

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

On March 8, 1965, 3,500 Marines of the 9th Marine Expeditionary Brigade — the first combat troops in Vietnam — waded ashore to the coastal city of Da Nang.

[...]

Many in the upper echelons of American policymaking welcomed the landings. However, Maxwell Taylor, the U.S. ambassador to Vietnam at the time and a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, expressed strong reservations. He predicted that it would be difficult to “hold the line” on further force commitments.

His fears would prove accurate.

By the end of 1965, 185,000 U.S. troops were in Vietnam. Less than three years later, the city that welcomed the Americans with handshakes and leis had become the host to high-level U.S. and South Vietnamese operations, including the headquarters of I Corps, the military zone encompassing South Vietnam’s northern provinces.

[...]

“Johnson’s idea was to fight and negotiate simultaneously,” she [noted historian Barbara Tuchman] wrote. “The difficulty was that the limited war aim … was unachievable by limited war. The North had no intention of ever conceding a non-Communist South, and since such a concession could have been forced upon them only by military victory, and since such a victory was unattainable by the United States short of total war and invasion, which it was unwilling to undertake, the American war aim was therefore foreclosed.

“If this was recognized by some, it was not acted upon because no one was prepared to admit American failure. Activists could believe the bombing might succeed; doubters could vaguely hope some solution would turn up.”

https://www.marinecorpstimes.com/veteran...0-marines/

Ms Tuchman's analysis is equally-valid in our current circumstances. History isn't just rhyming here, it's singing in chorus.

Also, The Hill is reporting 50,000 troops in the region.

I accept the correction, but I don’t imagine that will make a significant difference in facing 93 million pissed off Iranians, especially since their new co-belligerents are pretty well armed and have an estimated 200 000-300 000 men under arms.

Boru