General Westmoreland and Vietnam failures

In 1982, General Westmoreland filed a $120 million lawsuit against CBS and journalist Mike Wallace for suggesting that he had lied about the number of enemy troops in Vietnam. They claimed General Westmoreland withheld crucial intelligence so that he could continue to fight. Westmoreland lost the lawsuit. I know the judgement was just because I was in intelligent service and I witness first hand Westmoreland changing daily death totals, missing in action figures and other crucial figures.  President Lyndon Johnson was not told the truth. We had to sign a ten year contract that we would not discuss anything we read, saw or heard during our time in the service when discharged. Westmoreland later admitted to his actions, but said it was for the good of the country. It was what Westmoreland thought was good for the country not what the people thought.

Westmoreland was hard headed and thought he could make tactics used in World War II work in Vietnam.  “Search and Destroy” did not work. It only made the communist rebel fighters and North Vietnam regular army more determined to defeat the U.S.  He wanted to fight the war as if there was a ‘front line’ and there was NO front line in Vietnam.  Westmoreland tactics created chaos in Vietnam. His demand for more troops created a situation where men were sent to Vietnam not properly trained and that included young officer and enlisted men.

General Westmoreland’s reliance on manpower, artillery and air bombardment failed to cause North Vietnam to surrender. 57,000 Americans died for what? Once again the politicians were wrong and failed to listen to the citizens of the U.S.

The key to possible success in Vietnam was for Westmorland to listen to junior officers, non-commissioned officers and the enlisted men on the front line, but Westmoreland was too proud to do that. His ego was too large.  Westmoreland did not want the South Vietnamese involved in the fight, therefore he spent no time establishing training programs for South Vietnamese soldiers.

General Abrams was sent to Vietnam in 1967 and took full command of the U.S. forces in 1968. Abram did away with “search and destroy” and initiated “clear and hold.” He improved life in Vietnam with better schools, farming operations and refugee resettlement. He also was serious about training South Vietnamese soldiers to protect their own country.  Abram believed more success could be achieved by trying to make friends with the people instead of trying to destroy their country. Americans sometimes forget that people in South Vietnam had relatives in North Vietnam that were being killed.

I believe if Abram would have been in Vietnam from the beginning there may have been a different outcome. North Vietnam knew they only had to destroy the moral of the Americans and the victory was there. They knew the South Vietnamese Army could not defend themselves without the American military. The fact they could not defend themselves was Westmoreland’s fault not the South Vietnamese. Westmoreland and traitors like Jane Fonda made it impossible for a victory.