|
Other Columns by Oliver North
Oliver North Bio
Printer-Friendly Version
Vietnam And Iraq: Myth Vs. Reality
By Oliver North
October 27, 2006
Page 2 of 2
Over the course of the entire Vietnam War, the "average" rate at which Americans died as a consequence of armed combat was about 15 per day. In 1968-69, when my brother and I served as Rifle Platoon and Infantry Company Commanders -- he in the Army and I in the Marines -- 39 Americans died every day in the war zone. In Iraq, the "kill rate" for U.S. troops is 2.06 per day.
During the 1968 "Tet Offensive" in Vietnam there were more than 2,100 U.S. casualties per week. In Iraq, the U.S. casualty rate from all causes has never exceeded 490 troops in a month.
None of this is to say "my war was tougher than your war." As of this writing 2,802 young Americans have been killed during three and a half years of war in Iraq. That's roughly the same number killed at Iwo Jima during the first three and a half days of fighting against the Japanese. Every life lost was precious and every loss grievous to those who loved them. Unfortunately, our media intends to use every one of those killed to make their point. It's a lesson they learned in Vietnam.
On Feb. 27, 1968, after a month of brutal fighting and daily images of U.S. casualties on American television, Walter Cronkite, then the host of the CBS Evening News, proclaimed that the Tet Offensive had proven to him that the Vietnam War was no longer winnable. Four weeks later, Lyndon Johnson told the nation that "I shall not seek, and I will not accept the nomination of my party for another term as your president." It didn't matter that Tet had been a decisive victory for the United States and South Vietnam.
Today's potentates of the press are trying to deliver the same message: that Iraq, like Vietnam, is un-winnable. One television network has gone so far as to broadcast images of U.S. troops being killed by terrorists -- making Iraq the first war where Americans get their news from the enemy.
The war in Vietnam wasn't lost during "Tet '68" no matter what Cronkite said. Rather, it was lost in the pages of America's newspapers, on our televisions, our college campuses -- and eventually in the corridors of power in Washington. We need to pray that this war isn't lost the same way.
----------
Oliver North is the host of "War Stories" on the FOX News Channel.
COPYRIGHT 2005 CREATORS SYNDICATE INC
--------------------
Note -- The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions, views, and/or philosophy of GOPUSA. >> Back -- Page 1 2
| 
