Edgewise

Old War Stories

David Kolodney

There is a good polling graph in this Christian Science Monitor article.

Among other things, check out the long, lonely first two or three years of the Vietnam War (they actually don’t say when they are counting from—maybe the Bay of Tonkin).

This is just the Mistake number. The Withdrawal number, phased or otherwise, grew much more slowly. Even "Negotiations Now!" was quite a big deal. News articles routinely began with a "boilerplate" paragraph: While no one seriously considers withdrawal from Vietnam… Just in case anyone forgot.

In the nostalgia newsreels, it all looks so popular, so obvious and easy, that it can be painful to watch. There were few retractions or apologies from the press, even to the draft resistors who remained in prison. Nor to those who had suffered and died needlessly in the war zone itself.

It is heartening to read in this story about a kind of "booster shot" for the Vietnam Syndrome:
Scholars like Mueller at Ohio State speak of an emerging "Iraq syndrome" that will have consequences for US foreign policy long after American forces pull out…."Iraq syndrome" seems to be playing out, too, with the American public.