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Me#1You#10
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Joined: 06 May 2004
Posts: 6503
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 Posted: Fri Aug 20, 2010 3:19 am Post subject: Seth Lipsky: "Mission Accomplished?" |
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It was with considerable regret that I learned in late 2008 that The New York Sun would publish its final edition. I had been a subscriber to the "dead tree" edition for several years, my subscription no doubt motivated by their stellar coverage (and support) of the Swiftees' campaign in 2004 (remember Josh Gerstein?). It may well be the final newspaper subscription of my lifetime (though I've come very close several times to a WSJ subscription and may yet take that plunge).
Not too long ago I learned that, though the paper itself had shut down, there was a pulse, albeit feint, still registering at their old website. Seth Lipsky, publisher and founding editor of the now-shuttered Sun, commenced with an online editorial in April 2009 and has been commenting at irregular intervals since that time.
I happened by the website today and found the following editorial...a rather sobering reflection amidst the media euphoria over the last of our "combat troops" crossing the Iraqi border into Kuwait.
No one here needs reminding of this, but I thought you might appreciate the fact that at least one member of the legitimate press hasn't forgotten history...
| Quote: | Mission Accomplished?
Editorial of The New York Sun | August 19, 2010
We’ve asked this question in these columns before, but, with the withdrawal of the last combat brigade from Iraq in the news this week, we’re inclined to ask it again: When the 94th United States Congress betrayed Free Vietnam and cut off all funding for the war there, how many American combat troops were in the embattled Southeast Asian nation?
The answer, of which we were once reminded by Secretary of State Kissinger at an editorial dinner of the Sun, was zero. GIs with a combat role had long since departed Vietnam when Congress, disregarding pleas from Mr. Kissinger and President Ford, shut down the war, casting Indochina to the communists and into a generation of darkness and death.
So forgive us for striking a note of caution as the pictures move over the wires of American men and materiel coming out of Iraq. The government in Baghdad may be more democratic and pro-American than other Arab governments, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be betrayed in the halls of Congress. In 1974, when President Nixon resigned, there was but what we once called a “doughty little government in South Vietnam” that was prepared to fight for its freedom — against an army backed by the Communist empire — for another generation.
Yet the Congress, it turned out, proved unprepared to stake them. It voted in October 1974 to end foreign aid to Vietnam. When President Ford vetoed the measure, Congress, emboldened by the elections that expanded its Democratic majority, overrode the veto. In the spring, the 94th Congress blocked military appropriations for the South Vietnamese. It seems that for our Congress the problem was not, if it had ever been, the danger to our GIs. Vietnam, a country of 50 million individuals who had sided with America and yearned for freedom, was cast into the dark night of communist tyranny.
We don’t make any predictions about what the Congress is going to do now that President Obama has withdrawn the last combat brigade from a country where, during his campaign, he insisted we never should have fought a war. We simply offer a lesson from history. When the Congress talks about bringing our GIs home, our enemies are emboldened and trouble lies around the corner. The fact is that the cause of freedom is less secure when American GIs come home than when they venture abroad.
The New York Sun |
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TEWSPilot
Admiral
Joined: 26 Aug 2004
Posts: 1235
Location: Kansas (Transplanted Texan)
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| Posted: Fri Aug 20, 2010 6:31 am Post subject: |
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Well, our squadron moved from DaNang to Nakhon Phanom (NKP), Thailand and Ubon, Thailand so we weren't "IN" South Vietnam any longer, but we flew combat sorties over South Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia until our squadron was closed out and sent home in 1974. The "ceasefire" in Vietnam began on January 31, 1973, and four days later we lost a plane and crew of 8 over Laos, and in April, we had another one shot up, but it was able to recover to NKP...guess the ceasefire only applied to US. I flew combat sorties until my tour ended in November of 1973, and I watched victory snatched from us and the South Vietnamese and Cambodians by Liberals in Congress...and watched the precursor of the "killing fields" in Cambodia from 4500 feet AGL. They were only killing a couple dozen to maybe a hundred at a time then, but once we were completely gone, the floodgates of Hell opened. The last flight by Americans for our aircraft took place on May 15, 1974. History tells us what happened after that.
...oh, and by the way, my son-in-law is an Army Seargent. He left today to begin three weeks of training in preparation for his FIFTH deployment to Iraq....I thought we were pulling our guys out. Whazzzzzup?
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Wing Wiper
Rear Admiral
Joined: 09 Aug 2004
Posts: 664
Location: Oregon
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| Posted: Fri Aug 20, 2010 12:42 pm Post subject: |
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Yeah, I was at Ubon TDY until September of 73, then at Udorn from January 74 until January 76, and we were flying support missions the majority of that time. Then they threw in the towel and the slaughter started.
They don't talk about that much in the U.S. for some reason. |
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LewWaters
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Joined: 18 May 2004
Posts: 4042
Location: Washington State
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| Posted: Fri Aug 20, 2010 3:51 pm Post subject: |
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I left Viet Nam, January 1, 1971 and headed towards Germany, where I stayed 3 years. The end of our Combat Troops there came while I as still in Germany and the RIF began.
I headed to Ft. Bragg NC after that as the Watergate scandal was reaching a fever pitch, resulting in Nixon's resignation in August 1974.
I didn't really pay as much attention to the news, having a family by now and caring for them on an E-5's salary, but as the Communists began their push southward, I watched it more, expecting to eventually be sent back.
The evening of April 30, 1975 we were held in the Company Area in anticipation of orders to begin deploying back over. As we know, those orders never came and and Saigon collapsed. It seemed all too many were elated that Viet Nam fell and they had no danger of being sent to fight (civilians, not the Military).
I can only pray it doesn't happen this way again. Our Troops and the Iraqi people paid a high price for the foundation of a free society.
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