Originally Posted by
World's End Stella
The Americans defined the rules of the game. They were very clear, 'winning the war' was stopping the flow of NVA and VC into South Vietnam and killing enough of them that they no longer wished to continue the fight. And they utterly failed to do so. The idea that they never fully unleashed their military because they lacked the balls to do so is nonsense, and McNamara - amongst many others - made it very clear that that was the case. They didn't unleash their military because they knew it wouldn't make any difference. Vietnam was not Germany, there was very little infrastructure to bomb and the country's geography made guerilla warfare much easier. McNamara knew what those who followed him subsequently discovered, that America's military could not win the war under the rules they themselves had defined.
If by 'invading' Vietman you mean landing troops all over Vietnam, taking control of the cities and towns, as the Nazis did with France, and then trying to control the country, that would have been equally futile. The cost to both sides would have been enormous and the Americans would have had to decide to stay there permanently and suffer the ongoing losses for many years until they finally gave up (as the Russians did in Afghanistan). Would that have 'won the war'?
America lost the war because it was not a war that could be won militarily. Thinking otherwise is making the same mistake that the Americans made. More bombing, more troops, more firepower - none of it would have made any difference in the long run, something they realized far too late.