Lowest estimates say 1.5 million Vietnamese killed while liberating them

[NNN0LHI]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_war

Casualties

Main article: Vietnam War casualties

Estimating the number killed in the conflict is extremely difficult. Official records from North Vietnam are hard to find or nonexistent and many of those killed were literally obliterated by bombing. For many years the North Vietnamese suppressed the true number of their casualties for propaganda purposes. It is also difficult to say exactly what counts as a "Vietnam war casualty"; people are still being killed today by unexploded ordnance, particularly cluster bomblets. More than 40,000 Vietnamese have been killed so far by landmines and unexploded ordnance.

Environmental effects from chemical agents and the colossal social problems caused by a devastated country with so many dead surely caused many more lives to be shortened.

The lowest casualty estimates, based on North Vietnamese statements which are now discounted by Vietnam, are around 1.5 million Vietnamese killed. Vietnam's Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs released figures on April 3, 1995, reporting that 1.1 million fighters—Viet Cong guerrillas and North Vietnamese soldiers—and nearly 2 million civilians in the north and the south were killed between 1954 and 1975. Other figures run as high as 4 million civilian casualties with 1 million casualties being NVA or VC fighters. Robert McNamara, in his regretful memoir of the war, references a figure of 3.2 million. The number of wounded fighters was put at 600,000. It remains even more unclear how many Vietnamese civilians were wounded.

Of the U.S. military, 58,226 were killed in action or classified as missing in action. A further 153,303 US military personnel were wounded to give total casualties of 211,529. The United States Army took the majority of the casualties with 38,179 killed and 96,802 wounded; the Marine Corps lost 14,836 killed and 51,392 wounded; the Navy 2,556 and 4,178; the Air Force lost 2,580 and 931; with the lowest deaths in terms of numbers and percentages among the branches being the Coast Guard, with seven dead and 60 wounded.

U.S. allies took casualties as well. South Korea provided the largest outside force and suffered between 4,400 and 5,000 killed full details including WIA and MIA appear difficult to find. Australia lost 501 dead and 3,131 wounded out of the 47,000 troops they had deployed to Vietnam. New Zealand had 38 dead and 187 wounded. Thailand had 351 casualties. It is difficult to locate accurate figures for the losses of the Philippines. Although Canada was not involved in the war, thousands of Canadians joined the U.S. armed forces and served in Vietnam. The US fatal casualties include at least 56 Canadian citizens. It is difficult to estimate the exact number because some Canadians crossed the border to volunteer for service under false pretenses whereas others were permanent residents living in the United States who either volunteered or were drafted. See also Canada and the Vietnam War.

In the aftermath of the war many U.S. citizens came to believe that some of the 2,300 US soldiers listed as Missing in Action had in fact been taken prisoner by the DRV and held indefinitely. The Vietnamese list over 200,000 of their own soldiers missing in action.

[kenny blankenship]

1. We freed them from the burdens and cares of peasant life

as well as the horrors of life under Communism. Can't you see, they are throwing flowers and kisses from their unmarked graves.

[Vexatious Ape]

2. Imagine

Nobody in the mainstream ever talks about how many Vietnamese we killed in that "conflict". We all know about the 58,000 Americans but we never discuss Vietnamese deaths. Orwellian "unpersons". Imagine a Germany that never acknowledges the people they killed in WW2 or the Jew's they exterminated in the death camps--they only lament over the deaths of the German soldiers. That would be outrages. We're outrages.

[sandnsea]

3. And 7 million tons of bombs

If we hadn't had our hands tied and just been able to fight that war, we would have won. :sarcasm:

[The2ndWheel]

4. But it's worth it

It's always worth it. Albright told us it was worth it in Iraq. It was worth exterminating anyone that stood in the way of American expansion. I mean, we are productive, freedom loving country now. That wouldn't have happened, had we not killed people.

So thank you Vietnamese people. You made us love freedom more. Just like the Africans, the native people to this land, the people of the Philippines, Latin Americans, Mexicans, now the Iraqi's, and soon the Iranians. Without your death and destruction, freedom could not be.

[FormerDittoHead]

5. And now they're our friends and trading partners - see? It's all worth it.

And remember the domino theory? ANOTHER one the Cons got wrong!...

As an aside, I remember watching Washington Journal a few months ago, and there was someone at the desk who objected to the Iraq war.

A caller called up and discussed his comparisons of Iraq to Vietnam - "and what would you do?" the caller asked, "say to the families of those who died in Vietnam that their fathers, sons and brothers also died in vain?"

I shouted to the screen, "EXACTLY"...

[DrDebug]

6. When will hit the million in Iraq

The confirmed and verified count from Iraq Body Count is 33679-37795, but that is based on the news reports.

It also tends to increase year after year.



So what is the real amount? Did we pass 250,000 already?

[Octafish]

7. The Military-Industrial Complex made a killing...

... in the name of stopping the spread of communism.

John Newman documented what led up to the debacle in "JFK and Vietnam." The historian's work chronicles how JFK knew that the USA could not prevail in a conventional land war in SE Asia. The Joint Chiefs, the Cabinet, most of Congress and the captains of industry feared the dominoes.

PS: And the numbers from Don's OP don't include the 1-2 million Cambodians who died at the hands of the commie rat bastard Khmer Rouge or the 750,000 Laotians who died in all the fighting.

[NNN0LHI]

8. Maybe they hated us for our freedoms? n/t

[killbotfactory]

9. 1 million, 3 million, just a statistic

And now we do business with them. What a useless war.

[NNN0LHI]

10. Not only do we do business with them now they were our allies during WW II

Its unbelievable when when I stop and think about it.

Don