Last week Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Congressional leaders thanked Vietnam War veterans for their service and presented pins to dozens of vets at a Capitol ceremony that marked 50 years since American ground troops arrived in Vietnam.
Two points:
First, Carter asserted that Vietnam had taught Americans many lessons and “all of them have made us a better country and a better military.” He noted two lessons in particular: “We leave no one behind” and we “must support our warriors regardless of our feelings about the war.”
Too bad he couldn’t have noted three lessons.
The third would be to finally learn the overarching lesson of Vietnam. That is: Never needlessly sacrifice American lives to unnecessary–unconscionably unnecessary–and, ultimately, unwinnable wars. By so doing, we continue to leave true national interest behind.
And second, President Obama held a meeting with the head of Vietnam’s Communist Party the night before the anniversary ceremonies. It was part of discussions on the groundbreaking Trans-Pacific Partnership
It was another reminder that while we lost nearly 60,000 Americans in Vietnam during the Cold War era, we’ve had normalized relations with that country since the 1990s. And, yet, the snarky sound bites and non-cooperation continue in polarized Washington and South Florida over normalization of relations with Cuba.