Delusion and Reality

Comparing delusions about Vietnam with Israel. [Link]

Delusion: The war in South Vietnam was a popular uprising against an unpopular minority government
Reality: The outcome of the Tet offensive proved this idea conclusively wrong.

Delusion: Ho Chi Min was really just a non-ideological Vietnamese nationalist who was driven to seek support from the communist superpowers by the ignorance and racism of America and France.

Reality: This myth is so ridiculous it is almost gigglingly funny. It is difficult to imagine how Ho Chi Min’s life story could have more marked him as a doctrinaire communist.

Delusion:The Tet Offensive proved the US military had lied about the strength and scale of support in South Vietnam for the Viet Cong.

Reality: The Tet Offensive achieved surprise for the same reason Hitler’s offensive in the Battle of Bulge achieved surprise: The plan was based on a delusional narrative and had no chance of success.

Delusion: There were no North Vietnamese army units operating in either South Vietnam or Cambodia.

Reality: Post-Tet major combat was carried out by North Vietnamese regulars.

Delusion: The US “expanded” the war into Cambodia in 1970 and did so “illegally”.

Reality: The US had both the strategic need and the legal authority to pursue the North Vietnamese into Cambodia.

Delusion: The war was fought on the Vietnamese side by militarily outmatched but plucky and determined peasant soldiers who fought with no significant support or direction from the communist superpowers.

Reality: The support of the Soviet Union and Mao’s China was massive and decisive.

Delusion: American soldiers were routinely committing wide-scale atrocities in the conduct of the war.

Reality: There was no pattern of wide-spread atrocities or war crimes.

Delusion: The deafening silence on the nature of communist regimes on the other side of the conflict.

Reality: The nature and intentions of all of the communist regimes involved in the conflict dictated everything about the war. The “peace” movement actively ignored that information.

Delusion:The “peace” movement brought about peace.

Reality: This is the most tragic delusion of all. It is the reason I have been putting “peace” in quotation marks.

There are many other less-well-known delusional assertions made by the “peace” movement about the war, but these will suffice to prove my point.