View the H-Diplo Discussion Logs by month
View the Prior Message in H-Diplo's November 2004 logs by: [date] [author] [thread] View the Next Message in H-Diplo's November 2004 logs by: [date] [author] [thread] Visit the H-Diplo home page.
As I read it, Mr. Kaiser's comment, "I am saying that they died because the United States decided to fight that war, and thereby made it much, much longer, and much, more destructive, than it otherwise would have been, without changing the outcome," seems to ignore the fact of what would have transpired if the US failed to respond to North Vietnamese aggression. We will never truly know but we have some ideas. China and the USSR were competing in SE Asia for influence. Their ally North Vietnam might well have worked in tandem with the USSR to communize all of SE Asia. This idea of Hanoi's was brought up by Bui Tin in his book _From Enemy to Friend_. Bui Tin does not mention either China or the USSR. He says the CPV only. A former Thai communist claims Hanoi offered them 50,000 troops and heavy armor to cut off the eastern portion of Thailand. This is not conclusive evidence of what would have happened, only because it never did. However, it offers a view of communists planning to control all of SE Asia and witnesses who attest to it. Rob MacNichol Irvine Valley College For an interesting article on Thailand and comments by Maj. Gen. Bunchon Chawansin and Thongchai Suwanvihok: http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:JFB0NkYCZLQJ:www.lmtonline.com/news/archive/042400/pagea10.pdf+Maj.+Gen.+Bunchon+Chawansin+Thongchai+Suwanvihok&hl=en For comments by Bui Tin please read page 10 of his book. H-DIPLO [Ball] wrote: >From: "Kaiser, David, Prof." <kaiserd@nwc.navy.mil> > > I believe that one million estimate is a common one. I can't help >noting, however, that Dr. Zimmerman made the same mistake I referred to, >that is, automatically assuming that I meant Americans had killed one >million civilians. I didn't say that. > > David Kaiser > > > > >>From: zimm@ccmail.nevada.edu >> >>I am not that familiar with Vietnam, so perhaps Professor Kaiser can >>cite some primary source for the 1 million civilians killed by American >>troops. Also, how many were killed by the Vietcong and North Vietnamese? >> >>John C. Zimmerman University of Nevada Las Vegas >> >> > > >
|