FatBratchney said:
WW2:The combined Allied AND Axis forces dropped over 2.5 million tonnes of high explosives in the COMBINED theatres of war in Europe/Asia/South Pacific.
Vietnam:MORE the DOUBLE the above figure is dropped on a small-illequipped 3rd world nation in South East Asia.
What "restraints" are you talking about?
4 Million Vietnamese WERE KILLED.
That is 3 million off from the Jewish Holocaust.
WHAT "restraints" are you talking about?
It is so very diffucult to hold back and NOT say something REALLY MEAN.
Especially -knowing how unmolested these common neo-con delusions go on almost every message board I've been to.
MORE public space filled with neo-con lies and revisions.
Once again the tonnes of bombs dropped vs. World War II is irrelevant, although it is interesting to note that over 50 million people died in World War II compared to only 4 million in Vietnam despite the fact that more than twice as many bombs were dropped in Vietnam. With your analogy, everyone in Vietnam should have been dead after the first two years of fighting.
The restraints that the United States was under during the war:
1. The United States military was not allowed to bomb within 100 miles of the Chinese border for most of the war.
2. Much of Hanoi and the area within 30 miles of Hanoi was often off limits for bombing by the United States military.
3. Most of North Vietnam's Harbors were often off limits to bombing or mining for most of the war by the United States military.
4. The United States military was restricted in bombing certain area's of Laos that the North Vietnamese used.
5. The United States military was restricted in launching any sort of ground invasion of North Vietnam.
6. The United States military was also restricted in launching any sort of MAJOR ground invasion of Cambodia and Laos for most of the war until the 1970s. Cambodia and Laos were extensively used by the North Vietnamese and Vietcong to launch brutal attacks on South Vietnam.
7. The United States military was not allow to bomb any area or near any area that may of had Soviet military advisors or Chinese military advisors in North Vietnam.
4 million Vietnamese died, but that includes South Vietnamese military personal, North Vietnamese personal, Vietcong, South Vietnamese civilians murdered by Vietcong and North Vietnamese forces, and yes, cases where US military firepower did cause civilian deaths, the vast majority which were not intential. If it had been the United States goal to cause mass death, the United States could have killed everyone in North Vietnam in a matter of months with nuclear weapons and other bombing measures.