The Long War
by digby
Those of you who are interested in the enigma that is Afghanistan should do yourselves a favor and pour yourself a stiff one and then click on over to Gary Farber’s place for this long, but fascinating post on the subject.
Come Februrary of 2010, we’ll have been fighting in Afghanistan longer than we fought the American revolutionary war (April, 1775 to September, 1783 = 100 months).
(That’s by the longest possible measure: the last actual major British land offensive ended in October of 1781, when Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown; the war formally ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris on on September 8, 1783.)
The date on which America “began” fighting the Vietnam War is an entirely debatable question, but for argument’s sake, let’s go with the commencement of U.S. air strikes on North Vietnam with Operation Flaming Dart on February 7, 1965, and major U.S. bombing of North Vietnam in Operation Rolling Thunder on March 2nd, 1965. The deployment of the 18th Tactical Fighter Wing to Da Nang for Flaming Dart led to the almost immediate deployment, on March 8th, 1965, of a Marine brigade (3,500 troops) to protect U.S. air bases in South Vietnam from ground attack.
By April of 1965, the U.S. had 60,000 ground troops in South Vietnam.
On June 27, 1965, the U.S. launched a major ground offensive against the National Liberation Front.
By December of 1965 the U.S. had 200,000 ground troops in South Vietnam.
On January 27, 1973, the U.S. signed a cease fire, and by March 1973, all U.S. combat operations troops had left Vietnam. America’s war in Vietnam was effectively over by them, although the final collapse of South Vietnam’s corrupt shell of a government didn’t take place until, April 30, 1975, the same date the last U.S. personnel fled Vietnam, and the last two American soldiers, Marines, died under hostile fire in Vietnam.
It was a war of eight to ten years.
And as matters presently stand, America looks sure to have a longer war in Afghanistan, our longest war evah, if not as of now, our ninth year of war in Afghanistan, but within, at most, a year or two from now.
So, as a former mayor of New York City used to ask: how are we doing?
The unanimous opinion is: we’re deep in a bloody hole.
What in the hell are we doing? Does anyone really know?
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