That followed the 1968 tet offensive, the u. S. Media documented a growing crisis. Frequent stories of desertion, of drug use, combat, challenges to legitimate authority, along with reports of scandals and atrocities, most infamous of which was the massacre. And internal military documents tell much the same story. So in thinking about what happened after the tet offensive, we suggested that things were different in the period before 1968. So as we Start Talking about posttet, id start by giving you a quick picture of pretet. And the most common claim thats not going to work. The most common claim that originated in the military and circulated through the press is that in vietnam, the United States fielded the best trained, best equipped, best disciplined force in its history. A force with very high morale. Heres general westmoreland speaking in may 1966. Their performance is exceeding my expectations. I have also the journalist peter arnett in 1966 saying, morale is remarkably high. A
Reprinted from Bracing Views with the author's permission. What has America learned from the colossal failure of the Iraq War? Not what it should have - William J. Astore for Antiwar.com Original
The new Miss California Extraordinaire Pageant, which aims to give "contestants with disabilities an experience of a lifetime," launches in July. Then, Gov. Gavin Newsom wrapped up a five-day tour of the state to highlight major policy goals in place of the usual State of the State address. And 20 years ago, the U.S. and allied forces launched an invasion of Iraq that would lead to more than 4,500 American military deaths and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi deaths.