Warriors and Fools: How America's Leaders Lost the Vietnam War and Why It Still Matters, Paperback/Harry Rothmann

Descriere

Description Warriors and Fools is about the Vietnam War. It seeks to answer one specific question - why did the US fail to achieve its principal objective to defend South Vietnam from communist aggression? The story's findings and conclusions are neither orthodox nor revisionist. Those trying to gain insights on how American civilian leaders lost the war that its military could have won, or how the US Congress, Press, or Antiwar activists caused the US withdrawal and loss of the war will be disappointed. Rather, as this story explains, the answer of why America lost is more linked to human interactions and relationships than what should have been done or not done. For this story reveals that the interrelationship between American civilian and military leaders and advisors was extraordinarily divisive and dysfunctional. So much so that US leaders' decisions resulted in flawed, timid policies and foolish strategies that led to defeat. Moreover, that troublesome interrelationship was primarily a result of mistrusts, misunderstandings, and misperceptions on US leaders' and advisors' roles, responsibilities, and what they thought would lead to a positive end to the war. In addition, primarily because they were ignorant of their opponents' culture and history and overconfident from their past experiences, US civilian and military policymakers ignored or misunderstood their enemy. Indeed, the main North Vietnamese war leaders, whom most Americans did not even know were calling the shots on their pursuit of victory, were determined to end the war militarily, and most persistent in that goal. They also mislead and mystified US civilian and military leaders alike through a brilliant strategy relying on propaganda and ruse that fooled their opponents into believing that a diplomatic solution was possible. The story of how and why the US lost South Vietnam to the communists uses the most recently released documents from the US archives and Presidential taped conversations of the