If the US were to fight the Vietnam war today, would we win?

[chequita guevara]

There is no way China would allow the US to invade Vietnam.

[SlowwHand]

Originally posted by Sava
That's all right Sloww, roll your eyes, but the US will be a much better place in 20 years when my generation takes over.

And when you and the David Floyd's take over, I'll be glad I'm worm food; assuming that you all don't grow out of your current mindsets.

[chequita guevara]

What a wonderful world it will be.

[SlowwHand]

Yeah. Following the "honest" communist, no doubt.

Here's one for you.

[chequita guevara]

Nah, we're not taking over in twenty years unless the capitalists really fubar it (which George and friends do seem to be trying to do). Maybe fifty, though.

I find it funny that you and Lancer seem to believe that the willingness to be slaves to evil somehow makes you superior to a generation that refuses to live as servants.

[Lord Merciless]

We would have won the Vietnam War easily had the Soviets and Chinese not meddled there. People often failed to see that point.

The same applied to Afghanistan.

But again, we were only in Vietnam because the Soviets and Chinese were meddling there.

The funny thing is that only 5 years after NVA took Saigon, Chinese invaded Vietnam.

[uh Clem]

Is that from your textbook, The World According to FreeRepublic.com?

[Agathon]

No they would lose; the reason being that the Vietnamese were prepared to go to almost any length to win, and I imagine they still would. Demerzel is right - if you don't have the support of the populace, you lose eventually.

The Kurds may well realise this.

[Az]

You don't have to get the support of the populace to win.
Not all military victories were liberating from tyrants, and freeing people.

[Agathon]

Originally posted by Azazel
You don't have to get the support of the populace to win.

You do if you are attempting to res-establish colonialism over people who are desperate to liberate themselves from it. Otherwise every soldier becomes a target and the human rights violations required to keep the dissenters down become a political eyesore back home.

[Az]

That, of course, if you let them be reported.

[KrazyHorse]

Military censorship in a place where the US is the occupying force will only work for a very limited amount of time. As soon as the shooting stops, reporters will demand and be granted access.

[Az]

They can always install a proxy, and let it censor.

[KrazyHorse]

a) This won't work very well (having the new government you're claiming is so democratic and free instituting harsher censorship than was likely around in the old regime)

b) This assumes that the new government would be immediately stable and have enough presence to actually carry out the censorship. Otherwise it would be US troops carrying out the censorship "on behalf of the local government", which would be no better in the mind of the public than direct US censorship.

[Az]

a) This won't work very well (having the new government you're claiming is so democratic and free instituting harsher censorship than was likely around in the old regime)

since when what you claim had to be true in Intl. relations? all nations bull**** their way through all the time. Besides, this can always be covered with critical situation, "commies want to overrun our glorious "republic" ", etc.

b) This assumes that the new government would be immediately stable and have enough presence to actually carry out the censorship. Otherwise it would be US troops carrying out the censorship "on behalf of the local government", which would be no better in the mind of the public than direct US censorship.

This depends on the beginning phase:
-If you already have a government in place, that is friendly to you and is participating in a civil war, you "lease" them some of your old equipment, send some advisors, build schools to train them to do your job, etc. This government will be assisted financially in order to reintegrate the "liberated" parts of the country, while they'll do all the actual work.
-If your opponent 3rd world nation has control over the entire territory, you try to get intouch with an opponent group that is against them, the "freedom fighters". then, you basically repeat step one, at first giving them weapons, and training them at all sorts of off-shore locations, and injecting them back to the country, then, try to establish a no-man's land part of the country, a part non-accessible by govt. troops. Then you aid with logistics to set up an alternative provisional government, let it govern itself for a while ( It helps to have another frendly regime bordering it), and then you work your way through, though this will be slower, this time. You'll also have to be able to assist this new government, so you'll have to engage in a massive propoganda campaign, while intensly pushing the right buttons on states that neighbour this country, and are quite neutral.
-If you have no opposition, this gets rather tricky, but just a matter of more resources poured in. You'll probably have to norture someone from the diasopora of that country, which has good charismatic abilities, then you'll create a nucleus, then inject, and then move according to plans 1 and 2, roughly.