Jenny Brown
>
>I agree that comparing this to Vietnam is probably not that helpful, but it
>drives me nuts that the debate about why the U.S. withdrew is always about
>what the U.S. actors did (troops, protesters) not what the Vietnamese did.
>Yes, theoretically, it's what we have more control over, but it's
>uncomfortably similar to big power chauvinism: All that matters is what
>'Americans' do.
You're absolutely right, of course. What the Vietnamese people did from 1945 - 1975 should be celebrated throughout the world as one of the most amazing achievements in human history. I certainly did not mean to minimize or dismiss this achievement in my post.