Originally posted by AlGorithm
Washington will try to paint Haditha as an aberration, much the way they did with My Lai.
[/b]
Really? How many other "My Lai" type incidents can you document? Must be a bunch, right?
It's not surprising that the key players from Nixon's administration (Cheney and Rumsfeld) are screwing up the in the same ways they did in Viet Nam,
[/b]
Oh, yeah... Mr. Nixon's war....
13 May 61 - President Kennedy orders 100 "special forces" troops to S. Vietnam
November 1963, Lyndon Johnson becomes President.
July 64 - Announcement states that US military contingent in Vietnam would increase 5,000 more to
21,0007 Feb 65 - "In the early hours of February 7th, 1965, the VC upped the ante when they launched a guerilla assault against the military barracks at Pleiku where US military advisors were housed. The attack left 8 Americans dead, and
President Johnson reacted as though the VC had delivered a personal insult."
Johnson ordered a retaliatory air-strike against North Vietnam the next day. Operation "Rolling Thunder" began in mid-February and lasted 3 yearsApril 7, 1965- The U.S. offers North Vietnam economic aid in exchange for peace, but the offer is summarily rejected. Two weeks later, President Johnson raises America's combat strength in Vietnam to more than
60,000 troops.
End of 1966- By the end of 1966, American forces in Vietnam reach
385,000 men, plus an additional 60,000 sailors stationed offshore. More than 6,000 Americans have been killed in this year, and 30,000 have been wounded.
1967- Secretary of Defense Robert
Strange McNamara, appearing before a Senate subcommittee, testifies that US bombing raids against North Vietnam have not achieved their objectives. McNamara maintains that movement of supplies to South Vietnam has not been reduced, and neither the economy nor the morale of the North Vietnamese has been broken.
At the end of 1967, there were
485,600 US troops involved in the VietNam war and more had already be requested and were on the way.
1968... Mr. Nixon at last takes charge of "Mr. Nixon's War". Troop levels peak at 536100. US and North Vietnam meet at the beginning of the Paris Peace talks.
1969 troop levels begin to drop; 475200.
1970 troop levels continue to drop; 334600, about the same level Johnson had in 1966.
1971 troop levels continue to drop; 156800
1972 troop levels continue to drop; 24200
1973 toop levels are essentially nil at 50. Paris Peace talks result in the end of US involvement.
Oh yeah... Mr. Nixon's war. You bet.
Let's see, he was inaugurated in January 1968 and Paris Peace talks started in May 1968. Troop levels in VietNam also begin to drop as soon as Nixon takes over.
Mr. Nixon's war. Screwed up the in the same ways they did in Viet Nam. Heh.
Johnson ramps the troops from ~21,000 to roughly 485,000 between 1963 and the end of 1967. Robert
STRANGE McNamara micromanages a war using a method that is most famous for absolutely idiotic Rules of Engagement on the ground and in the air.
And it's "Mr. Nixon's War".
Nixon. Oh, yeah...HE's the one that screwed the pooch in VietNam.

What a bloody joke.