To the editor: The summary of the guest taxpayer Viet Thanh Nguyen of all the bad in the participation of the United States in the Vietnam War is, in a nutshell, the most accurate representation of that period from 1954 to 75 (“Americans are still learning the wrong lessons of Vietnam,” April 30). From presidents Eisenhower to Kennedy to Johnson and finally Nixon, we had the latest in bipartisan dishonesty and arrogance in the search for a classical imperialist strategy to expand US economic and political influence on Southeast Asia. Illuminate the American people with appeals to defend democracy by sending advisors and more than 500,000 troops at the end of Johnson's term was the height of arrogance and imperial ambitions.
Nguyen is successful with respect to the absolute failure of this society to face this level of embezzlement. There was nothing noble with our misfortune from Vietnam. And our media, the public education system and the representative government failed in the citizens, as well as the 3 million Vietnamese that died.
Bob Teigan, Santa Susana
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To the editor: This Vietnam veteran agrees with each word in Nguyen's good summary of the lessons that we should have learned from our wrong behavior in Vietnam. A often heard feeling expressed by US troops was: “We are involuntary, led by the incompetent to do the impossible.”
Bill Smart, Santa Barbara
