Feedback on William Colby's Lost Victory

[Maximus]

Looking for some feedback on former CIA Director William Colby's Lost Victory. I finished the book about 3 weeks ago and found it to be among the most informative and optimistic books on the Vietnam War with respect to understanding the U.S. role in the war, our many mistakes, and probably most important, how we eventually learned from these mistakes in developing a joint-pacification effort that some say led to the war being all but won by 1971-1972.

I'm not a Vietnam expert by any stretch, but did find this book, as well as Lewis Sorley's A Better War convincing in describing what could have been had we not completely pulled out militarily and cut off funding. Both books paint a very different picture of the war than others that generally focus on all things during and before the Tet Offensive.

Colby made an interesting point about how the Easter Offensive validated our success (and that of the South Vietnamese Government) because the North Vietnamese were left with little choice but to attack conventionally because the communist infrastracture had been mostly destroyed by 1972. He argues this was even more the case after all three NVA conventional thrusts were defeated or fought to a stalemate. He goes on to say that things in South Vietnam would have turned out very differently had the U.S., in 1972-1973, guaranteed the country's security from conventional external threats, much like we did with South Korea and Japan.

Anybody out there with experience on the ground in Vietnam or Vietnam history experts in general that can shed some light on Colby's book?

I'm particularly interested because I see many parallels between how he describes Vietnam in 1968-1969 and where we're at in Iraq today (i.e., just now seriously embracing a pacification effort, making progress on inter-agency cooperation, really trying counterinsurgency, etc. all with decreasing political support on the homefront).

[WVO]

I haven't ready Colby's book, but I've heard some very convincing arguments, from CORDS veterans, along the same lines.

I started thinking about the common conception (that I shared), in nearly all quarters of America, that the Vietnam War was a disaster and total loss. About the same time, most Iraq related news I was seeing focused on those who argue that we have lost in Iraq - something I think is false. I thought that if we were to leave Iraq along the time line discussed in Congress, the Iraq War would be viewed as a total failure, at least in the near term. If popular perception is flawed in the case of Iraq, perhaps it is also flawed in regard to Vietnam.

Anyway, the point is that we need to regularly reexamine and revalidate our assumptions. Good operational and tactical level commanders and planners undertake this exercise constantly. Good strategic level commanders and planners ought to as well.

[Maximus]

WVO: thanks for the feedback. Please see link: http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/...t=lost+victory for more on this subject. A few guys with Vietnam and CORDS experience have shed some further light on the subject. I think you'll find of interest.

[GuitarCrazyo]

ok are you being helpful or just taking the mickey out of me because I would prefer some assistance here not just sarcastic remarks...