Soviet officer who 'shot down McCain over Vietnam' speaks out

Who started the war in Vietnam?

Anyway it is great McCain was not elected. He is such a dishonest man, just like Bush.
Over 70% of McCain's ads against Obama were negative ads. Many of those lies.
He even stated that Russia started the war in Ossetia and put all the blame on the Russian. He does not deserve to be a president.

 

Seems like it was North Vietnam vs South Vietnam, then the rest countries stepped in.

On wiki it says:

And then:

1,2 mln vs 520K ? And 520K wins in the end?

 

N_F_S:

IMV, after many years, the war in Vietnam ended up being a mess for the US. It was part of the Cold War. Vietnam established a Communist regime in 1950. A counter nation, under the leadership of a less than popular government was established in the South. In the earlier 1950's the French reestablished themselves there, following WWII. The North Vietnamese defeated them in the early 1950's. The US established military advisers and supplied weapons through the 1950's and early 1960's. They tried to help the South Vietnamese develop a military to counter the North Vietnamese.

The North Vietnamese were aided by the VietCong, South Vietnamese citizens, who were Communist, and waged effective guerilla warfare against the South Vietnamese Government.

In the mid 1960's the US seriously escalated its involvement in Vietnam, sending up to hundreds of thousands of troops as the South Vietnamese were not an effective fighting force. At its peak the US had over 550,000 troops in Vietnam.

The numbers of soldiers is somewhat misleading. The South Vietnamese forces were never effective, often infiltrated by Vietcong. The Vietcong numbers are not represented. Also at most in any one year the South Koreans sent 50,000 soldiers/year.

Having said that, the South Vietnamese forces were essentially representing unpopular, sometimes illegitamate governments, and never were effective fighting forces. The US was fighting a war of containment, not a war to attack and conquer North Vietnam. Meanwhile it had a horrible draining effect on the US. Also the citizenry of the US were ever more passionately growing in dispute with the war. It created huge unrest and negativity in the US and throughout the West.

Ultimately the US pulled out. Within 2 years the North Vietnamese overran the South Vietnamese army and took over the nation.

I don't think those numbers are realistic; the Vietcong aren't counted, the Korean military is overstated, and the US totals represent something that maybe lasted a year or two in 1968 and 1969. By 1972, the US had withdrawn most of its troops.

It was one of the long ugly consequences of the Cold War.

 

earlpearl, hmm, if thats true, isnt it strange then, that US sent more troops, than the actual side whom US were defending (since there were enough south vietnamese and even more than north ones)?

 

There weren't enuff South Vietnamese troops. Their military sucked. It wasn't good. It was probably infiltrated by Vietcong. After all that training and arming by the US, they didn't amount to anything of strength.

In fact once the US left, there was a period of quiet and minor fighting. The North Vietnamese launched an attack and South Vietnamese army ultimately crumbled pretty quickly, even surprising the North Vietnamese.

N_F_S: Vietnam turned up into a myriad of mistakes and problems for the US. Millions of Vietnamese died over the years. More deaths and problems evolved in Laos and Cambodia.

You know what? When the Soviets went into Afghanistan around 1979-1980, one of Carter's advisor's suggested that Afghanistan could be the Soviet Union's Vietnam.....and it was.

The Cold War wasn't a pretty period.

 

So, the number of troops on wiki is wrong info? By the look of it, its like x2 south vietnamese more. If south vietnamese were that BAD when it comes to army, then I guess it might be a point...

 

Wiki doesn't include number of VietCong. Maybe nobody can put a number to that since they were guerillas.

The South Korean's only had a max of 50,000 in any one year. The US total at its peak was very short lived, maybe 2 years. And yes, the South Vietnamese army sucked when in combat.

Finally the US and South Vietnamese were always fighting a defensive war and a war against guerilla forces.

But the numbers from Wiki make it look rediculous.