Why did we stay in Nam?

Ron Silliman (rsillima@ix.netcom.com)
Sun, 3 Nov 1996 21:19:29 -0500

I think that the question of why we were originally involved in Viet
Nam is a far different one from why we stayed, especially after the Tet
Offensive when it became obvious to all that it was a problem and
liability to the political elites. The most banal answer may be the
most accurate: politicians found it "unacceptable" to think that they
would be the ones who "gave up" in the face of Communism, capital C.
Killing millions of men, women and children, in contrast, was not
"unacceptable."

Ron Silliman