Wrong lessons learned from Vietnam

Wrong lessons learned from Vietnam 

by Joe Scarborough

The sight of peasants celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Vietnam War reminds me of a line from the Beatles’ movie “A Hard Day’s Night.”

Early in the movie, the Fab Four bolt into a train cabin where an uptight British businessman is trying to get through his morning paper. But the Beatles remain a constant, noisy distraction. Finally, the old man has enough.

“I fought the war for the likes of you!” he shouts. A young John Lennon responds with a smirk. “I bet you’re sorry you won.”

I couldn’t help but think of Lennon’s line as I watched Vietnamese peasants celebrate their victory over American imperialism 30 years later.

America’s loss in terms of life, finances, and reputation were great. But as is usually the case, the country quickly remade itself and moved on.

The lessons learned from the foreign policy debacle had little to do with the views of college professors, Hollywood screen writers, or editorial page editors.

Instead, Americans were angry at their political leaders’ impotence. 

A top Democratic pollster told the New York Times in 2002 that his party had learned all the wrong lessons from Vietnam. He explained that while the majority of Americans objected to the way Washington had run the war, half of those believed our leaders should have shown more resolve to win.

Maybe that’s why Ronald Reagan was swept into office five years after Vietnam fell under the complete control of Communists.

Maybe that’s also why the Democratic Party has only elected one man to the White House in the last quarter century.

But enough about Vietnam’s impact on George McGovern’s party. Let’s look at the impact of Vietnam’s victory on Vietnam.

Despite laughable attempts by Reuters and other Western news outlets to suggest that Ho Chi Mihn’s country is undergoing a “remarkable recovery” and an “economic rejuvenation,” a less starry-eyed reporter would note that the country’s per capita income hovers around $500.

Ah, sweet liberation. $500 bucks a year.

Thank God those imperialist American pigs didn’t succeed there like they did in South Korea a decade earlier. Forget the fact that South Korea’s per capita income in 2004 was around $14,500. 

It’s GDP was almost $800 billion.

The liberated citizens of Vietnam only managed to produce a GDP of $33 billion (about 20 times less than those American lackeys in South Korea.)

The comparison between South Korea is even more stark with their communists relatives in the North.

That’s what makes the news coverage surrounding this 30th anniversary celebration so entertaining.

Many writing and reporting on the event considered the 60’s anti-war protests to be the highlight of their lives. Don’t be surprised to find them blind to the outcome of their efforts: that their attempts to end America’s involvement in Vietnam effectively enslaved tens of millions to poverty for at least three decades.

Good job, fellas.

As for lessons learned– and liberal media types love talking about lessons learned or forgotten when the subject turns to Vietnam– well, they are clear for both sides.

For Americans, don’t start a war unless you have a president with the guts to end it.

And for Vietnamese, just remember that the next time Americans tell you they have come to liberate your people, take them at their word. Trade your weapons for a piece of the action.

As Japan, Germany, and South Korea’s experiences show, there will always be plenty of American dollars to go around.