“ In war there is no substitute for victory , ‘ MacArthur had told the Congress in 1951 . He had warned JFK not to put his foot soldiers into Southeast Asia . He had declared that you can never allow an enemy a privileged sanctuary from which to strike you with impunity . In Vietnam , we had forgotten , or we chose to ignore , all of MacArthur’s lessons .
President Johnson had said at Manila that we were willing to accept something less than victory and implied we were willing to accept the loss of South Vietnam in a fair fight , after our withdrawal . But if he was not resolute for victory -- bring the ‘ coonskin home on the wall !!!! ‘ LBJ had bellowed -- why had he committed the military power and moral prestige of the United States ? By the time Nixon took office in 1969 , the freedom of action Johnson had in 1966 was gone , his Presidency had been broken by his failure to win or end the war , and the nation was being torn apart by Vietnam .
In 1972 , Nixon would bomb Hanoi and mine Haiphong Harbor to bring the war to an end . He told me , after he left office , he should have done it in 1969 . Johnson should have done it in 1965 or 1966 , as many had urged .
America need not have lost the Vietnam War . “
http://buchanan.org/blog/video-live-webcast-buchanan-talks-greatest-comeback-671...