Judy: and it is true that public opinion's turning
against
the Vietnam War was crucial. But military defeat and
the ending of war (and of course they are not
identical) are not to be attributed to that alone.
Eric: In the case of Vietnam, we had no real
military defeat, but under pressure from massive
public distaste for it, we withdrew. And South
Vietnam held its borders in the conflict until we
withdrew funding later, again in response to
public distaste, and the North Vietnamese (Soviet)
tanks came rolling in.
But rather than get sidetracked by historical
revisionism of Vietnam, think of WW2 versus Iraq.
Although public opinion was solidly against entry
into WW2, opinion changed as we went into it. The
Marines sometimes lost more troops in a day than
we have lost in the entire Iraq conflict,
including civilian and mercenary casualties, and
yet we kept on plugging through the Pacific.
If we had the WW2 level of public support for the
Iraq invasion, no one would doubt that we were
winning, having suffered only a few thousand
casualties. So given the limits of military power,
I think national morale (in a liberal democracy)
is key.
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