Mark Moyar

In the case of Vietnam, we had viable partners.

A case of Afghanistan, I think clearly that was kind of doomed because we never really found anybody.

Of course, as soon as we withdraw our air support, the head of the country flees the country.

I mean, the South Vietnamese will continue to fight as the U.S.

and the Congress pull out aid.

Yeah, that's right.

You know, the initial period is kind of a emergency rescue operation.

You got to push all the North Vietnamese back.

And so that's all quite effective.

But after a while, when things just start to drag on, then you do increasingly have people wondering,

you know, are we just going to sit here forever?

And this is similar to Afghanistan in that you have, you know, Afghanistan, when the Americans were there, we, you know, kill Taliban day after day after day.

But they kept coming in from Pakistan.

And so the American people generally don't have an unlimited patience for that sort of thing.

And and, you know, I think

Big part of the problem, too, was Lyndon Johnson never really made an effort to sell the war.

He himself will admit that.

He will admit that he was so focused on becoming a domestic policy president.

He was going to have the great society and civil rights that if he talked too much about the war, that was going to distract from this.

But again, that that that will lead to some of the ultimate disillusionment when if the president's not out there explaining to you why you're fighting, it's hard to understand.