The unnecessary US bombing atrocity of Hanoi?

[cronus]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20719382

North Vietnam, 1972: The Christmas bombing of Hanoi

The biggest ever bombing campaign by US B-52 bombers took place over Christmas 40 years ago, when the US dropped 20,000 tonnes of explosives on North Vietnam. More than 1,000 Vietnamese died, but the assault may have helped bring about the peace deal signed a month later.

Operation Linebacker II was President Richard Nixon's attempt to hasten the end of the Vietnam War, as the growing strength of the Viet Cong caused heavy casualties among US ground troops.

The capture and torture of downed airmen in the north, regularly paraded on television, was also an embarrassment for Washington. Nixon was under pressure to bring the troops home.

At the same time, long-running negotiations in Paris between the warring parties had broken down.

The relationship between American negotiator Henry Kissinger and the government in the south was strained, while Le Duc Tho - representing the northern Communist government - was refusing to budge on the issue of prisoner releases. So the Americans decided to take decisive action.

(continued, like Dresden but with less reporters milling around)

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Where's the "unnecessary" part come in?

[FBM]

I was wondering the same thing.

[cronus]

The wording of the agreement was almost exactly the same as it had been at the beginning of December - before the Christmas bombing campaign.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

The wording of the agreement was almost exactly the same as it had been at the beginning of December - before the Christmas bombing campaign.

And?

[cronus]

The wording of the agreement was almost exactly the same as it had been at the beginning of December - before the Christmas bombing campaign.

And?

...seems it was all about not losing the face to me.

[FBM]

You got a war, buttloads of jets and buttloads of bombs and the headquarters of the enemy. Whether or not the bombing sped up negotiations or changed anything at all is hindsight. If it didn't have the desired effect, you can call it "ineffective," but "unnecessary" means something totally different.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

The wording of the agreement was almost exactly the same as it had been at the beginning of December - before the Christmas bombing campaign.

And?

...seems it was all about not losing the face to me.

And how is that unnecessary?

[cronus]

The wording of the agreement was almost exactly the same as it had been at the beginning of December - before the Christmas bombing campaign.

And?

...seems it was all about not losing the face to me.

And how is that unnecessary?

Yes, that is what I meant by 'comparing' it to Dresden and including the question mark....a matter of perception....

[Svartalf]

They did it on the T^t, why shouldn't we give them something for Xmas if it's militarily justified?

[Gawdzilla Sama]

My brother caught a plane for the Far East the day after the Tet offensive got started. Mom was freaking out.

[tattuchu]

The U.S. doesn't commit atrocities. Anything we do is okay, perfectly reasonable, not an atrocity at all, these aren't the droids you're looking for, as long as the not-atrocity is in our own best interest. Fortunately, anything and everything we do is in our own best interest

[Gawdzilla Sama]

The U.S. doesn't commit atrocities. Anything we do is okay, perfectly reasonable, not an atrocity at all, these aren't the droids you're looking for, as long as the not-atrocity is in our own best interest. Fortunately, anything and everything we do is in our own best interest

Luckily, I'm not the US.

[Elderito]

Well this isn't news, but it was covered up at the time by lying Nixon. The problem was the US administration argued that they wanted free and fair elections in the South on a referendum about weather South Viet Nam would remain independent or unify with the North. When Hanoi agreed Kissinger presented it to Saigon and they freaked out because they knew they would lose any election since they were unpopular as hell. Nixon could hardly tell the American people, "Oh, by the way your sons have been dying to prop up an unpopular regime, it isn't really about freedom you know" so Kissinger cooked up the bombing campaign to get better terms.

In essence the North agreed and we bombed them anyway. it was an atrocity and Kissinger got a Nobel Prize anyway.

Kind of like Iraq in which we invaded for three bullshit reasons and when they all turned out the propaganda machine went into gear to justify the invasion.

Governments seldom lie to one another but often lie to their own citizens, and the more ignorant they are the easier it is. No wonder the GOP hates American Universities.

[Jason]

So Vietnam was a bullshit war.. Iraq is a bullshit war (Freedom of the Iraqi women, but death to teh gays).. But Afghanistan is totally cool?