Friday, August 24, 2007

A LITTLE VIETNAM HISTORY (FOR THE WINGNUTS)

The wingnuts, egged on by Pres. Fredo's reference to Vietnam, have been screaming about the dangers of a rapid withdrawal from Iraq. Aside from the fact that almost no one has called for a rapid withdrawal, there is a HUGE confusion about what happened in Vietnam.

The troop levels in Vietnam peaked in early 1969 at about 543,000. After that, Pres. Nixon began a slow drawdown:

Republican Richard Nixon ran for the presidency declaring that he would bring “peace with honor” if elected. ... During his campaign for the presidency, Nixon announced that he had a secret plan to end the war. In July 1969, after he had become president, he issued what came to be known as the Nixon doctrine, which stated that U.S. troops would no longer be directly involved in Asian wars. He ordered the withdrawal of 25,000 troops, to be followed by more, and he lowered draft calls.


This withdrawal culminated in 1973: "On March 29, 1973, the last U.S. troops left Vietnam."

Here's more information about the drawdown from an official U.S. Army publication:

The President's initial announcement of troop withdrawal was made during a joint conference with South Vietnamese President Thieu in June 1969. At that time he stated that 25,000 U.S. troops would be withdrawn from Vietnam during July and August 1969. Since that time, and up to June 30, 1972, over half a million American servicemen, 336,000 of them Army personnel, have been redeployed from the Republic of Vietnam. These withdrawals were made in twelve increments, the last five of them during fiscal year 1972.

The eighth redeployment increment, some 28,700 U.S. troops, was completed on August 31, 1971. Major Army units included the 1st Brigade of the 5th Infantry Division (Mechanized), and the 173d Airborne Brigade. To reach the President's specified goal of 184,000, the ninth increment of 42,000 troops was redeployed between September 1 and November 30, 1971, and included the 11th and 198th Infantry Brigades of the 23d Infantry Division.

On November 12, 1971, President Nixon announced another reduction of 45,000 U.S. troops to attain a level of 139,000 by January 31, 1972. Thus the tenth increment was initiated on December 1, 1971, and totaled 45,000 spaces. Major units redeployed were the 1st and 3d Brigades of the 101st Airborne Division (Airmobile).

On January 13, 1972, the President announced a further reduction of 70,000 U.S. troops beginning February 1, 1972, to reach a level of 69,000 troops in Vietnam by May 1, 1972. The eleventh increment brought the remainder of the 101st Airborne Division (Airmobile) home, the last U.S. Army division to redeploy.

Finally, on April 26, 1972, the President announced that an additional 20,000 U.S. troops would depart the battle zone in May and June 1972, bringing the over-all U.S. troop level down to 49,000 and the Army to 31,900.



Here's a table I found here:

Year American SVN Aust. Korea New Zeal Philip Thai
1959 760 243000 -- -- -- -- --
1960 900 243000 -- -- -- -- --
1961 3205 243000 -- -- -- -- --
1962 11300 243000 -- -- -- -- --
1963 16300 243000 -- -- -- -- --
1964 23300 514000 198 200 30 20 --
1965 184300 642500 1560 20620 120 70 20
1966 385300 735900 4530 25570 160 2060 240
1967 485600 798700 6820 47830 530 2020 2200
1968 536100 820000 7660 50000 520 1580 6000
1969 475200 897000 7670 48870 550 190 11570
1970 334600 968000 6800 48450 440 70 11570
1971 156800 1046250 2000 45700 100 50 6000
1972 24200 1048000 130 36790 50 50 40
1973 50 1110000 -- -- -- -- --

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