As to the street execution in V N, if circumstances were as described, I've got no issues with a commanding officer of the Vietnamese army dealing with it directly , especially during a major offensive in the city.
Their country, their rules.

I think you guys grossly underestimated how much intelligence we actually have on these *******s. These aren't the foot soldiers at the bottom of the pile that make it to Gitmo, they are the bad guys in the upper echelons of the terrorist organizations.

I recently began reading a book on KSM. Even allowing for the fact that the book did not describe everything we knew, as much of it was probably still classified, it was pretty interesting just how sophisticated our knowledge gathering was, even 20 years ago.

So put them on trial and convict them of war crimes.

We will. When the war is over. Until then, let these non uniformed terrorist leaders rot in club Gitmo. The ones Obama liberated went right back to their terrorist ways.

I'm glad we have a new sheriff in town..

Ditto. Maybe now we can return to original topic?

So when will the war in the M E be over? When we have made it safe for democracy? Bawhaha. This to me, indicated a clear lack of understanding of circumstances on the ground in the area.

This reminds me of an old story about dominoes in S E Asia.

We had a clear and compelling reason for going into the M E, to track down and eliminate those that attacked us and those that supported them.

The fallacy of making places there ready for democracy was to me another snow job on the American people by our leadership.

Oh Motion, get over it. You really need a " graffic pic warning", really?

Yep.

Quick, this man needs a doctor.

How exactly would you do that?

Can't and won't defend any of this, but: With all due respect, just because it was filmed; we seem to care more than the tens of thousands killed in WW II and all the wars since.....

Read some books on WW II and this seems tame to me........War is HELL

that's some statement.. It's not true though..
Obviously the arguement can be twisted about what makes a "major" battle and dismiss everything presented as a lost battle by the US as not big enough. But the US did loose battles in Vietnam. There's a whole list.

But here, for arguments sake

Battle for Firebase Ripcord:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fire_Support_Base_Ripcord

attempt to block the Ho Chi Minh trail, finishing part of Operation Texas Star (rural reconstruction, and development along with offensive operations )
troops ran into unexpected numbers of NVA regular troops

NVA assaulted remote Fire Support Base Ripcord, and result was to evacuate the base.
Four American battalions from the 3rd Brigade, 101st Division conducted a fighting aerial evacuation that lasted 23 days, with the loss of at least 75 American KIA and 463 wounded. Dozens of helicopters were shot down or damaged, while several soldiers and all major items of equipment were left behind.


I'de call that a major battle, lasting 3 weeks and change
Many KIA, wounded and loss of terrain and heavy equipment..Not exactly the desired result of Op Texas Star.

That's not a small battle. 75 US KIA is not a small number. And the US lost that battle.


I'll sit here and wait for the obligatory "you American hater Eurotrash scum" from the usual suspects..
But I'm not, I just prefer facts over revisionism.

Zero issue with the shot.

Yes indeed. A S&W humpback .38 Special?

AK's didn't jam, RPGs and mortars more plentiful, home field advantage with motivated monocultural soldiers, ignoring Geneva Convention limitations, hiding among civilians, using hit-n-run tactics which Ghengis Khan used to successfully take over most of the old world.

Time and time again, it's difficult to near impossible for any modern army to overcome all of that combined without resorting to extremes.

Enemy KIA was estimated at almost 500.

So Fint, so your argument is that
1 dead NVA or VC with his limited training and equipment living on one bowl of rice a day

is worth exactly the same as

1 killed US Serviceman with all the training and logistics behind him?



General Giap and Westmoorland would be rolling over the floor with a belly ache from laughing at you if they were still around and reading this.

5 or 6 to one doesn't seem like much of a loss to me. The U.S. simply decided that the ground was not worth holding...and did not reinforce. The Americans were incredibly outnumbered and there was no intent to give up any more lives due t the unpopularity of the war and its impending end (political decision, not a military one). The massive losses by NVA crippled them in the area and (like TET) would have cost them the war...if US popular opinion had not been more important than finishing what we started.

That does not mean the battle was won.

But it does show that you could be a general in that war of attrition just like Westmoorland.
With a spreadsheet showing superior bodycount over the enemy's bodycount.

The only problem is : the Enemy did not care about bodycount, General Giap had no problem wasting 10 of his for 1 of yours.
And in the end, he won that war of attrition because he knew that the US with all the technology , production and power, could not deliver the manpower and motivation from the homefront. This execution foto helped him in that.

US GI will not live and fight motivated on one stinking bowl of rice per day
And the US civilian population will not accept sending more and more of their own to die over some patch of jungle they don't care about.

You can't win wars by picking your own parameters on which you decide a battle is won.

You are apparently not conversant with the Geneva Convention or the commonly accepted rules of war.

What, you are going to try and use reason on him?
When Mohammedans become peaceful and can get along with their neighbors. Yeah, no time soon.

they used everything they had in the TET and LBJ let them build back up.