Once upon a time there was a President. This President had a plan. A plan to end a war that even the mightiest military on earth couldn’t win. A war the majority of Americans no longer supported. A war that led to massive anti-war rallies and demonstrations. A war that only the most diehard conservatives, warmongers, racists, xenophobes, kowtowing generals and defense contractors still supported. A war that even many soldiers had denounced as illegal, shameful, immoral and based on lies.
This President had been elected with what he considered was a mandate. No one in the press disputed him on that point. He also had an adviser who was touted to be a genius of Machiavellian proportions. A genius that everyone in Washington either admired or feared or both.
Congress, except for a few brave souls, was subservient to the President’s wishes whenever it came to anything having to do with this war. Most of them did not want to be accused of failing to support the troops, so they continued to vote for massive appropriations to continue military operations even though they knew the war had been commenced under false pretenses. They continued to fund this war even after the Defense Secretary who was its principle architect, a man who had micromanaged the war from his office in the Pentagon and ignored the best advice of his senior military commanders, had resigned in disgrace.
But, as I said, this President and his oh so clever and brilliant advisors, including that genius fellow I mentioned before, had a plan. And they just knew their plan would work like a charm, because — well, because they were so damn smart and clever and tough. They would show all those dirty fucking hippies who opposed the war what real god loving, red blooded patriotic Americans do when the going gets tough. They had a real plan, a man’s plan, a plan for victory. Sure, the war hadn’t been going their way for a very, very long time, but they weren’t discouraged in the least. They were certain that just one more big push would get the job done, even if they no longer were very clear what the job was supposed to be in the first place.
This was their plan:
Operation Linebacker II was a U.S. Seventh Air Force and U.S. Navy Task Force 77 aerial bombardment campaign conducted against targets in the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) during the final period of the American commitment to the Vietnam Conflict. The operation, conducted from 18 December to 29 December 1972 (hence its unofficial nickname – the “Christmas Bombings”) saw the largest heavy bomber strikes launched by the U.S. Air Force since the end of the Second World War. […]
A total of 741 B-52s had been dispatched to bomb the DRV during Linebacker II, with 729 actually completing their missions.[70] 15,237 tons of bombs were dropped on 18 industrial and 14 military targets (including eight SAM sites) while fighter-bombers added another 5,000 tons of ordnance.[71] 212 additional B-52 missions were flown in South Vietnam during the same time period.[72] Ten B-52s had been shot down over the DRV, five others had crashed in Laos or Thailand. 33 B-52 crew members were killed or missing, 33 became prisoners of war, and 26 were rescued.[73] The North Vietnamese claimed that 34 B-52s and four F-111s were shot down during the campaign.[74]
769 additional sorties were flown by the Air Force and 505 by the Navy and Marine Corps in support of the bombers and which dropped more than 5,000 more tons of ordnance on the DRV.[75] 12 aircraft were lost on these missions (two F-111s, three F-4s, two A-7s, two A-6s, an EB-66, an HH-53 rescue helicopter, and an RA-5C).[76] During these operations, ten Americans were killed, eight captured, and 11 aircrew members were rescued.[77]
Damage to the DRV’s infrastructure was severe. Although the North Vietnamese claimed that U.S. aircraft “carpet-bombed hospitals, schools, and crowded residential areas, committing barbarous crimes against our people,” civilian casualties were comparatively low, with 1,624 claimed as killed by the DRV government.
From December 18th through December 29, 1972, SAC bombed the living hell out of the most of the principal military (and many non-military) targets in and around Hanoi and Haiphong, the largest population centers in North Vietnam. By the last bombing raid most of those targets were in shambles, mere rubble piles created by the thousands of tons of bombs dropped from the skies by our B-52 Stratofortresses. It was President Nixon and Henry Kissinger’s vision of a “surge” strategy. By escalating the attacks on the North, and by killing more of the “evil communists” who lived there, they were convinced they could force the North Vietnamese to accept peace on their terms. And they did kill a lot of people with their bombing raids, both military personnel and civilians, as well as severely damaging the North’s infrastructure.
So, how well did their plan turn out?
At 1045 on 30 April 1975, two communist tanks crashed though the gates of the Presidential Palace in Saigon.
Soon after, soldiers climbed on top of the palace to plant a red and blue flag with the yellow star of the Revolutionary Forces of North Vietnam. […]
The conquering soldiers were left walking up and down the palace’s corridors and stairs, or resting by their tanks in the front yard. […]
The attack had been too swift and Tank Units 843 and 390 reached the centre of Saigon before anyone in the communist army had the time to prepare a proper ceremony for the handover of power.
Well, that was once upon a time. A little tale from a time not so long ago, but now conveniently forgotten by a new President, his genius advisers and much of what passes for the media these days. Just something to consider in the coming weeks when you hear discussions among the pundit class on TV and in the newspapers about what a great idea it is to send in more troops for two or four or six months in order to stabilize Baghdad, or Anbar province or wherever in Iraq President Bush orders our overstretched Army and Marine units.
