Lessons of the Vietnam quagmire

Re “U.S. strategy in Iraq could take a page from Vietnam,” news analysis, Nov. 24

Stanley Karnow has it exactly right. The anti-imperialist, nationalist sentiment of the Vietnamese could never have been won over by a corrupt puppet regime imposed by a foreign military force.

I was a draftee Army private in a road-building engineering unit in Vietnam in 1971, while U.S. forces were being drawn down. The idea that we were leaving the army of the Republic of Vietnam to fend for itself against the North Vietnamese army was an obvious absurdity to us troops out there on the ground. It was an ongoing joke that the road we were building was for the NVA to use as soon as we were gone. Sure enough, three years later, I watched on TV as the NVA rolled down Highway QL-20, unopposed, through the villages I was so familiar with.

I’m absolutely certain no additional amount of training or funding for the ARVN would have changed that outcome. It’s a matter of history: Remaking a nation has to come from within by the will of the people. It can’t be forced by a foreign invader, no matter how powerful it is.

GARY J. HALBERT

Laguna Niguel

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The solution to our Iraq quagmire is a State Department one, not a military one. Yes, it also requires military backup, but this is, and always has been, predominantly a civil problem.

JAMES L. NIX

Hartselle, Ala.

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As a Vietnam veteran, I read with interest and amazement The Times’ conclusion that, had we only had the political will, we could have won the war in Vietnam because Army Gen. Creighton Abrams’ strategy of pacification was working. The first thought that enters my mind is: What is winning? We lost more than 58,000 American soldiers and killed more than 1 million people in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. As in Iraq, the puppet U.S. government in South Vietnam was corrupt and incompetent.

MIKE THOMAS

Sonoma

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Re “A government hampered by its suspicions,” Nov. 22

After reading The Times’ latest dispatch from Iraq, I feel certain that Franz Kafka is walking the streets of Baghdad.

JEFF YOLLES

Santa Barbara

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Re “Broken beyond repair,” Opinion, Nov. 24

Rosa Brooks writes: “All we can do now is leave and apologize for the terrible damage we’ve done.” Who are the “we” who should apologize? I would emphasize the use of the word “I.” I take responsibility.

Each adult American above the poverty line who supported the administration’s decision to invade Iraq should send $100 to $1,000, depending on wealth, to the appropriate nongovernmental agency set up to help the Iraqi people.

They should include the following note: I am sorry I supported the invasion of your country. I am sorry for the lives lost, for the harm to you and your loved ones and for the destruction of your homes and cities. I know that this small amount of money cannot possibly compensate you for your suffering, but it may help you to begin anew.

DONALD L. HAGER

Los Angeles