What Are We Doing in Vietnam?

Our fellow-citizens now calling for immediate negotiation on Vietnam and speedy withdrawal make a point of “the impossibility” of winning the war. This alleged impossibility seems to be an article rather of faith than of reason; it is merely asserted, without evidence or proof. But it is asserted with such confidence by the Softs as to affect many of those who want to be Hards. Everyone begins to assume that the war could not be won. The debate shifts ground: it becomes no longer a question of winning or losing, of holding firm in Southeast Asia or withdrawing, but simply of when to withdraw —right away or a bit later.

In the last issue of NR, Anthony Harrigan cut through the assumption. On the basis of his own observations in Vietnam, he affirmed his agreement with the belief of our soldiers in the field that we can win the war. In the New York Times Magazine, Feb. 21, Hanson Baldwin expressed the same conviction, and explained why the winning of the war is the only proper objective.

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James Burnham

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Our fellow-citizens now calling for immediate negotiation on Vietnam and speedy withdrawal make a point of “the impossibility” of winning the war. This alleged impossibility seems to be an article rather of faith than of reason; it is merely asserted, without evidence or proof. But it is asserted with such confidence by the Softs as to affect many of those who want to be Hards. Everyone begins to assume that the war could not be won. The debate shifts ground: it becomes no longer a question of winning or losing, of holding firm in Southeast Asia or withdrawing, but simply of when to withdraw —right away or a bit later.

In the last issue of NR, Anthony Harrigan cut through the assumption. On the basis of his own observations in Vietnam, he affirmed his agreement with the belief of our soldiers in the field that we can win the war. In the New York Times Magazine, Feb. 21, Hanson Baldwin expressed the same conviction, and explained why the winning of the war is the only proper objective.