I have heard, again, infernal references to the possible war with Iraq being another Vietnam. In Vietnam, 54,000 brave Americans lost their lives. It was a war that could have been won quickly. Gen. Paul D. Harkins, commanding general of U.S. Forces in Vietnam, stated: “The faster you move in a war, the fewer casualties there are and the sooner the fighting is over. This war could be won in less than three months, but not the way it is being fought now.”

“Anyone who believes that American fighting men were defeated in Vietnam is wrong; they were defeated at home,” said W.T. Grant, a helicopter pilot who regularly flew into the jaws of death.

Gen. Nathan F. Twining, Adm. A. Burke, Gen. George H. Decker, Gen. Frederick H. Smith Jr., Gen. Thomas S. Power, Lt. Gen. Ira C. Eaker, and Lt. Gen. Arthur G. Trudeau stated in a letter, “The war against North Vietnam can be irrevocably won in six weeks…. The war may go on for another five, ten or more years — if it continues to be fought as at present…. We are fighting a war in a weak-sister manner that is unprecedented throughout the history of military science.”

This war, if fought, won’t be lost by our military. If it is another Vietnam, it will be because of our politicians and supporting communist sympathy.

Scott Vanderlinden

Oak Harbor