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Article: Our Belated Victory in Vietnam; How the Indochina War Paved the Way for the Region's Stable Prosperity
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- April 24, 1994
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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NINETEEN YEARS ago this Saturday American officials scrambled
aboard helicopters on the roof of the U.S. Embassy in Saigon in one
of the most agonizing moments of American history. Since the fall of
Saigon that day and the final withdrawal from Vietnam, the common
judgment has been that our longest war was all a terrible waste, a
misconceived, mismanaged and ultimately pointless conflict.
Militarily, it was the first and only war America had lost.
Politically, its stated objective of preserving the South Vietnamese
regime lay in ruins. The North Vietnamese also would fail to provide
a satisfactory accounting of American MIAs and POWs and to fulfill
other obligations under the ...