The Vietnam War-Seeds of Conflict 1945 - 1960

1941Communist activist Ho Chi Minh secretly returns to Vietnam after 30 years in exile and organizes a nationalist organization known as the Viet Minh (Vietnam Independence League). After Japanese troops occupy Vietnam during World War II, the U.S. military intelligence agency Office of Strategic Services (OSS) allies with Ho Chi Minh and his Viet Minh guerrillas to harass Japanese troops in the jungles and to help rescue downed American pilots.
1945
[Image] HO CHI MINH  



March 9, 1945 - Amid rumors of a possible American invasion, Japanese oust the French colonial government which had been operating independently and seize control of Vietnam, installing Bao Dai as their puppet ruler.


Summer - Severe famine strikes Hanoi and surrounding areas eventually resulting in two million deaths from starvation out of a population of ten million. The famine generates political unrest and peasant revolts against the Japanese and remnants of French colonial society. Ho Chi Minh capitalizes on the turmoil by successfully spreading his Viet Minh movement.



[Image] PUPPET KING OF VIETNAM ;FOR BOTH INVADING JAPANESE AND LATER FOR ALLIES




July 1945 - Following the defeat of Nazi Germany, World War II Allies including the U.S., Britain, and Soviet Union, hold the Potsdam Conference in Germany to plan the post-war world. Vietnam is considered a minor item on the agenda.In order to disarm the Japanese in Vietnam, the Allies divide the country in half at the 16th parallel. Chinese Nationalists will move in and disarm the Japanese north of the parallel while the British will move in and do the same in the south.
During the conference, representatives from France request the return of all French pre-war colonies in Southeast Asia (Indochina). Their request is granted. Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia will once again become French colonies following the removal of the Japanese.August 1945 - Japanese surrender unconditionally. Vietnam's puppet emperor, Bao Dai, abdicates. Ho Chi Minh's guerrillas occupy Hanoi and proclaim a provisional government.
September 2, 1945 - Japanese sign the surrender agreement in Tokyo Bay formally ending World War II in the Pacific. On this same day, Ho Chi Minh proclaims the independence of Vietnam by quoting from the text of the American Declaration of Independence which had been supplied to him by the OSS -- "We hold the truth that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, among them life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This immortal statement is extracted from the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America in 1776. These are undeniable truths."




Ho declares himself president of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and pursues American recognition but is repeatedly ignored by President Harry Truman.
[Image]  AMERICAN PRESIDENT HARRY .S. TRUMAN 



September 13, 1945 - British forces arrive in Saigon, South Vietnam.


In North Vietnam, 150,000 Chinese Nationalist soldiers, consisting mainly of poor peasants, arrive in Hanoi after looting Vietnamese villages during their entire march down from China. They then proceed to loot Hanoi.
September 22, 1945 - In South Vietnam, 1400 French soldiers released by the British from former Japanese internment camps enter Saigon and go on a deadly rampage, attacking Viet Minh and killing innocent civilians including children, aided by French civilians who joined the rampage. An estimated 20,000 French civilians live in Saigon.
September 24, 1945 - In Saigon, Viet Minh successfully organize a general strike shutting down all commerce along with electricity and water supplies. In a suburb of Saigon, members of Binh Xuyen, a Vietnamese criminal organization, massacre 150 French and Eurasian civilians, including children.




September 26, 1945 - The first American death in Vietnam occurs, during the unrest in Saigon, as OSS officer Lt. Col. A. Peter Dewey is killed by Viet Minh guerrillas who mistook him for a French officer. Before his death, Dewey had filed a report on the deepening crisis in Vietnam, stating his opinion that the U.S. "ought to clear out of Southeast Asia."




October 1945 - 35,000 French soldiers under the command of World War II General Jacques Philippe Leclerc arrive in South Vietnam to restore French rule. Viet Minh immediately begin a guerrilla campaign to harass them. The French then succeed in expelling the Viet Minh from Saigon.





946February 1946 - The Chinese under Chiang Kai-shek agree to withdraw from North Vietnam and allow the French to return in exchange for French concessions in Shanghai and other Chinese ports.
March 1946 - Ho Chi Minh agrees to permit French troops to return to Hanoi temporarily in exchange for French recognition of his Democratic Republic of Vietnam. Chinese troops then depart.

May-September - Ho Chi Minh spends four months in France attempting to negotiate full independence and unity for Vietnam, but fails to obtain any guarantee from the French.


June 1946 - In a major affront to Ho Chi Minh, the French high commissioner for Indochina proclaims a separatist French-controlled government for South Vietnam (Republic of Chochinchina).


November 1946 - After a series of violent clashes with Viet Minh, French forces bombard Haiphong harbor and occupy Hanoi, forcing Ho Chi Minh and his Viet Minh forces to retreat into the jungle.


December 19, 1946 - In Hanoi, 30,000 Viet Minh launch their first large-scale attack against the French.


               Thus begins an eight year struggle known as the First Indochina War. 


"The resistance will be long and arduous, but our cause is just and we will surely triumph," declares Viet Minh military commander Vo Nguyen Giap. "If these [people] want a fight, they'll get it," French military commander Gen. Etrienne Valluy states.


1947
October 7- December 22 - The French conduct Operation Lea, a series of attacks on Viet Minh guerrilla positions in North Vietnam near the Chinese border. Although the Viet Minh suffer over 9000 causalities, most of the 40,000 strong Viet Minh force slips away through gaps in the French lines.


1949
March 8, 1949 - The French install Bao Dai as puppet head of state in South Vietnam.


July 1949 - The French establish the (South) Vietnamese National Army.


October 1949 - Mao Zedong's Communist forces defeat Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist Army in the Chinese civil war. Mao's victory ignites American anti-Communist sentiment regarding Southeast Asia and will result in a White House foreign policy goal of "containment" of Communist expansion in the region.
1950

January 1950 - The People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union recognize Ho Chi Minh's Democratic Republic of Vietnam.


China then begins sending military advisors and modern weapons to the Viet Minh including automatic weapons, mortars, howitzers, and trucks. Much of the equipment is American-made and had belonged to the Chinese Nationalists before their defeat by Mao. With the influx of new equipment and Chinese advisors, General Giap transforms his guerrilla fighters into conventional army units including five light infantry divisions and one heavy division.


February 1950 - The United States and Britain recognize Bao Dai's French-controlled South Vietnam government.


February 1950 - Viet Minh begin an offensive against French outposts in North Vietnam near the Chinese border.


February 7, 1950 - In America, the era of 'McCarthyism' erupts as Senator Joseph R. McCarthy of Wisconsin gives a speech claiming the U.S. State Department harbors Communists. As a consequence of McCarthyism, no U.S. politician is willing to appear to be 'soft' on Communism.


June 30, 1950 - President Harry S. Truman orders U.S. ground troops into Korea following Communist North Korea's invasion of the South. In his message to the American people, Truman describes the invasion as a Moscow-backed attack by "monolithic world Communism."




July 26, 1950 - United States military involvement in Vietnam begins as President Harry Truman authorizes $15 million in military aid to the French.

American military advisors will accompany the flow of U.S. tanks, planes, artillery and other supplies to Vietnam. Over the next four years, the U.S. will spend $3 Billion on the French war and by 1954 will provide 80 percent of all war supplies used by the French.
September 16, 1950 - General Giap begins his main attack against French outposts near the Chinese border. As the outposts fall, the French lose 6000 men and large stores of military equipment to the Viet Minh.


September 27, 1950 - The U.S. establishes a Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG) in Saigon to aid the French Army.


1951
January 13, 1951 - 20,000 Viet Minh under Gen. Giap begin a series of attacks on fortified French positions in the Red River Delta (extending from Hanoi to the Gulf of Tonkin). The open areas of the Delta, in contrast to the jungle, allow French troops under the new command of Gen. Jean de Lattre to strike back with devastating results from the 'De Lattre Line' which encircles the region. 6000 Viet Minh die while assaulting the town of Vinh Yen near Hanoi in the first attack, causing Giap to withdraw.


March 23-28 - In the second attack, Giap targets the Mao Khe outpost near Haiphong. But Giap withdraws after being pounded by French naval gunfire and air strikes. 3000 Viet Minh are killed.



May 29-June 18 - Giap makes yet another attempt to break through the De Lattre Line, this time in the Day River area southeast of Hanoi. French reinforcements, combined with air strikes and armed boat attacks result in another defeat for Giap with 10,000 killed and wounded. Among the French causalities is Bernard de Lattre, the only son of General De Lattre.


June 9, 1951 - Giap begins a general withdrawal of Viet Minh troops from the Red River Delta.
September 1951 -


  Gen. De Lattre travels to Washington seeking more aid from the Pentagon.


November 16, 1951 - French forces link up at Hoa Binh southwest of Hanoi as Gen. De Lattre attempts to seize the momentum and lure Giap into a major battle.


November 20, 1951 - Stricken by cancer, ailing Gen. De Lattre is replaced by Gen. Raoul Salan. De Lattre returns home and dies in Paris two months later, just after being raised to the rank of Marshal.


December 9, 1951 - Giap begins a careful counter-offensive by attacking the French outpost at Tu Vu on the Black River. Giap now avoids conventional warfare and instead wages hit and run attacks followed by a retreat into the dense jungles. His goal is to cut French supply lines.


                 By year's end, French causalities in Vietnam surpass 90,000.



1952
January 12, 1952 - French supply lines to Hoa Binh along the Black River are cut. The road along Route Coloniale 6 is also cut.


February 22-26 - The French withdraw from Hoa Binh back to the De Lattre Line aided by a 30,000 round artillery barrage. Casualties for each side surpassed 5000 during the Black River skirmishes.


October 11, 1952 - Giap now attempts to draw the French out from the De Lattre Line by attacking along the Fan Si Pan mountain range between the Red and Black Rivers.


October 29, 1952 - The French counter Giap's move by launching Operation Lorraine targeting major Viet Minh supply bases in the Viet Bac region. But Giap outsmarts the French by ignoring their maneuvers and maintains his position along the Black River.


November 14-17 - The French cancel Operation Loraine and withdraw back toward the De Lattre Line but must first fight off a Viet Minh ambush at Chan Muong.


[Image]  AMERICAN PRESIDENT EISENHOWER 
1953
January 20, 1953 - Dwight D. Eisenhower, former five-star Army general and Allied commander in Europe during World War II, is inaugurated as the 34th U.S. President.


During his term, Eisenhower will greatly increase U.S. military aid to the French in Vietnam to prevent a Communist victory. U.S. military advisors will continue to accompany American supplies sent to Vietnam. To justify America's financial commitment, Eisenhower will cite a 'Domino Theory' in which a Communist victory in Vietnam would result in surrounding countries falling one after another like a "falling row of dominoes." The Domino Theory will be used by a succession of Presidents and their advisors to justify ever-deepening U.S. involvement in Vietnam.


March 5, 1953 - Soviet leader Josef Stalin dies. The outspoken Nikita Khrushchev succeeds him.


July 27, 1953 - The Korean War ends as an armistice is signed dividing the country at the 38th parallel into Communist North and Democratic South. The armistice is seen by many in the international community as a potential model for resolving the ongoing conflict in Vietnam.


November 20, 1953 - The French under their new commander Gen. Henri Navarre begin Operation Castor, the construction of a series of entrenched outposts protecting a small air base in the isolated jungle valley at Dien Bien Phu in northwest Vietnam.


Gen. Giap immediately begins massing Viet Minh troops and artillery in the area, sensing the potential for a decisive blow against the French. Giap's troops manually drag 200 heavy howitzers up rugged mountain sides to target the French air base. The French, aware of Giap's intentions, mass their own troops and artillery, preparing for a showdown, but have grossly underestimated Giap's strength.



1954March 13, 1954 - Outnumbering the French nearly five-to-one, 50,000 Viet Minh under Gen. Giap begin their assault against the fortified hills protecting the Dien Bien Phu air base.
Giap's artillery pounds the French and shuts down the only runway, thus forcing the French to rely on risky parachute drops for re-supply. Giap's troops then take out their shovels and begin construction of a maze of tunnels and trenches, slowly inching their way toward the main French position and surrounding it.

March 30-May 1 - The siege at Dien Bien Phu occurs as nearly 10,000 French soldiers are trapped by 45,000 Viet Minh. French troops soon run out of fresh water and medical supplies.
The French urgently appeal to Washington for help. The U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff now consider three possible military options: sending American combat troops to the rescue; a massive conventional air strike by B-29 bombers; the use of tactical atomic weapons.
President Eisenhower dismisses the conventional air raid and the nuclear option after getting a strong negative response to such actions from America's chief ally, Britain. Eisenhower also decides against sending U.S. ground troops to rescue the French, citing the likelihood of high casualty rates in the jungles around Dien Bien Phu. No action is taken.
May 7, 1954 - At 5:30 p.m., 10,000 French soldiers surrender at Dien Bien Phu. By now, an estimated 8000 Viet Minh and 1500 French have died. The French survivors are marched for up to 60 days to prison camps 500 hundred miles away. Nearly half die during the march or in captivity.

France proceeds to withdraw completely from Vietnam, ending a bitter eight year struggle against the Viet Minh in which 400,000 soldiers and civilians from all sides had perished.


May 8, 1954 - The Geneva Conference on Indochina begins, attended by the U.S., Britain, China, the Soviet Union, France, Vietnam (Viet Minh and representatives of Bao Dai), Cambodia and Laos, all meeting to negotiate a solution for Southeast Asia.
July 21, 1954 - The Geneva Accords divide Vietnam in half at the 17th parallel, with Ho Chi Minh's Communists ceded the North, while Bao Dai's regime is granted the South. The accords also provide for elections to be held in all of Vietnam within two years to reunify the country. The U.S. opposes the unifying elections, fearing a likely victory by Ho Chi Minh.
October 1954 - Following the French departure from Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh returns after spending eight years hiding in the jungle and formally takes control of North Vietnam.
In the South, Bao Dai has installed Ngo Dinh Diem as his prime minister. The U.S. now pins its hopes on anti-Communist Diem for a democratic South Vietnam. It is Diem, however, who predicts "another more deadly war" will erupt over the future of Vietnam.
Diem, a Roman Catholic in an overwhelmingly Buddhist country, encourages Vietnamese Catholics living in Communist North Vietnam to flee south. Nearly one million leave. At the same time, some 90,000 Communists in the south go north, although nearly 10,000 Viet Minh fighters are instructed by Hanoi to quietly remain behind.


1955January 1955 - The first direct shipment of U.S. military aid to Saigon arrives. The U.S. also offers to train the fledgling South Vietnam Army.

May 1955 - Prime Minister Diem wages a violent crackdown against the Binh Xuyen organized crime group based in Saigon which operates casinos, brothels and opium dens.
July 1955 - Ho Chi Minh visits Moscow and agrees to accept Soviet aid.
October 23, 1955 - Bao Dai is ousted from power, defeated by Prime Minister Diem in a U.S.-backed plebiscite which was rigged. Diem is advised on consolidating power by U.S. Air Force Col. Edward G. Lansdale, who is attached to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
October 26, 1955 - The Republic of South Vietnam is proclaimed with Diem as its first president.
 In America, President Eisenhower pledges his support for the new government and offers military aid.
Diem assigns most high level government positions to close friends and family members including his younger brother Ngo Dinh Nhu who will be his chief advisor.
 Diem's style of leadership, aloof and autocratic, will create future political problems for him despite the best efforts of his American advisors to popularize him via American-style political rallies and tours of the countryside.
December 1955 - In North Vietnam, radical land reforms by Communists result in land owners being hauled before "people's tribunals." Thousands are executed or sent to forced labor camps during this period of ideological cleansing by Ho Chi Minh.
In South Vietnam, President Diem rewards his Catholic supporters by giving them land seized from Buddhist peasants, arousing their anger and eroding his support among them. Diem also allows big land owners to retain their holdings, disappointing peasants hoping for land reform

1956January 1956 - Diem launches a brutal crackdown against Viet Minh suspects in the countryside. Those arrested are denied counsel and hauled before "security committees" with many suspects tortured or executed under the guise of 'shot while attempting escape.'
April 28, 1956 - The last French soldier leaves South Vietnam. The French High Command for Indochina is then dissolved.
July 1956 - The deadline passes for the unifying elections set by the Geneva Conference. Diem, backed by the U.S., had refused to participate.
November 1956 - Peasant unrest in North Vietnam resulting from oppressive land reforms is put down by Communist force with more than 6000 killed or deported.
1957
January 1957 - The Soviet Union proposes permanent division of Vietnam into North and South, with the two nations admitted separately to the United Nations. 

 The U.S. rejects the proposal, unwilling to recognize Communist North Vietnam.

May 8-18 - Diem pays a state visit to Washington where President Eisenhower labels him the "miracle man" of Asia and reaffirms U.S. commitment.
 "The cost of defending freedom, of defending America, must be paid in many forms and in many places...military as well as economic help is currently needed in Vietnam," Eisenhower states.
Diem's government, however, with its main focus on security, spends little on schools, medical care or other badly needed social services in the countryside.

 Communist guerrillas and propagandists in the countryside capitalize on this by making simple promises of land reform and a better standard of living to gain popular support among peasants.
October 1957 - Viet Minh guerrillas begin a widespread campaign of terror in South Vietnam including bombings and assassinations. By year's end, over 400 South Vietnamese officials are killed.


1958June 1958 - A coordinated command structure is formed by Communists in the Mekong Delta where 37 armed companies are being organized.
1959
March 1959 - The armed revolution begins as Ho Chi Minh declares a People's War to unite all of Vietnam under his leadership. His Politburo now orders a changeover to an all-out military struggle. 


                                     Thus begins the Second Indochina War.


May 1959 - North Vietnamese establish the Central Office of South Vietnam (COSVN) to oversee the coming war in the South. Construction of the Ho Chi Minh trail now begins.The trail will eventually expand into a 1500 mile-long network of jungle and mountain passes extending from North Vietnam's coast along Vietnam's western border through Laos, parts of Cambodia, funneling a constant stream of soldiers and supplies into the highlands of South Vietnam. In 1959, it takes six months to make the journey, by 1968 it will take only six weeks due to road improvements by North Vietnamese laborers, many of whom are women. In the 1970s a parallel fuel pipeline will be added.
July 1959 - 4000 Viet Minh guerrillas, originally born in the South, are sent from North Vietnam to infiltrate South Vietnam.
July 8, 1959 - Two U.S. military advisors, Maj. Dale Buis and Sgt. Chester Ovnand, are killed by Viet Minh guerrillas at Bien Hoa, South Vietnam. They are the first American deaths in the Second Indochina War which Americans will come to know simply as The Vietnam War.


1960
April 1960 - Universal military conscription is imposed in North Vietnam. Tour of duty is indefinite.




April 1960 - Eighteen distinguished nationalists in South Vietnam send a petition to President Diem




 advocating that he reform his rigid, family-run, and increasingly corrupt, government. Diem ignores their advice and instead closes several opposition newspapers and arrests journalists and intellectuals.
[Image] PRESIDENT DIEM OF VIETNAM [AFTER REMOVAL OF KING BAO DAI] 



November 1960 - A failed coup against President Diem by disgruntled South Vietnamese Army officers brings a harsh crackdown against all perceived 'enemies of the state.' Over 50,000 are arrested by police controlled by Diem's brother Nhu with many innocent civilians tortured then executed. This results in further erosion of popular support for Diem.


Thousands who fear arrest flee to North Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh will later send many back to infiltrate South Vietnam as part of his People's Liberation Armed Forces. Called Viet Cong by Diem, meaning Communist Vietnamese, Ho's guerrillas blend into the countryside, indistinguishable from South Vietnamese, while working to undermine Diem's government.


December 20, 1960 - The National Liberation Front is established by Hanoi as its Communist political organization for Viet Cong guerrillas in South Vietnam.




























The Vietnam War
America Commits
1961 - 1964




1961
January 1961 - Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev pledges support for "wars of national liberation" throughout the world. His statement greatly encourages Communists in North Vietnam to escalate their armed struggle to unify Vietnam under Ho Chi Minh.
[Image]  AMERICAN PRESIDENT KENNEDY 

January 20, 1961- John Fitzgerald Kennedy is inaugurated as the 35th U.S. President and declares "...we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to insure the survival and the success of liberty." Privately, outgoing President Eisenhower tells him "I think you're going to have to send troops..." to Southeast Asia.


The youthful Kennedy administration is inexperienced in matters regarding Southeast Asia. Kennedy's Secretary of Defense, 44-year-old Robert McNamara
[Image] ROBERT MCNAMARA 



, along with civilian planners recruited from the academic community, will play a crucial role in deciding White House strategy for Vietnam over the next several years.


 Under their leadership, the United States will wage a limited war to force a political settlement.




However, the U.S. will be opposed by an enemy dedicated to total military victory "...whatever the sacrifices, however long the struggle...until Vietnam is fully independent and reunified," as stated by Ho Chi Minh. [Image]  AMERICAN PRESIDENT LYNDON JOHNSON 
May 1961 - Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson visits President Diem in South Vietnam and hails the embattled leader as the 'Winston Churchill of Asia.'
May 1961 - President Kennedy sends 400 American Green Beret 'Special Advisors' to South Vietnam to train South Vietnamese soldiers in methods of 'counter-insurgency' in the fight against Viet Cong guerrillas.
The role of the Green Berets soon expands to include the establishment of Civilian Irregular Defense Groups (CIDG)made up of fierce mountain men known as the Montagnards.


[Image] Montagnards 

 These groups establish a series of fortified camps strung out along the mountains to thwart infiltration by North Vietnamese.
[Image] Green Berets  


Fall - The conflict widens as 26,000 Viet Cong launch several successful attacks on South Vietnamese troops. Diem then requests more military aid from the Kennedy administration.
October 1961 - To get a first-hand look at the deteriorating military situation, top Kennedy aides, Maxwell Taylor
[Image] Maxwell Taylor




 and Walt Rostow,


[Image] WALT ROSTOW 





 visit Vietnam. "If Vietnam goes, it will be exceedingly difficult to hold Southeast Asia," Taylor reports to the President and advises Kennedy to expand the number of U.S. military advisors and to send 8000 combat soldiers.

Defense Secretary McNamara and the Joint Chiefs of Staff recommend instead a massive show of force by sending six divisions (200,000 men) to Vietnam. However, the President decides against sending any combat troops.
October 24, 1961 - On the sixth anniversary of the Republic of South Vietnam, President Kennedy sends a letter to President Diem and pledges "the United States is determined to help Vietnam preserve its independence..."


President Kennedy then sends additional military advisors along with American helicopter units 


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to transport and direct South Vietnamese troops in battle


[Image] South Vietnamese troops in battle 



, thus involving Americans in combat operations. Kennedy justifies the expanding U.S. military role as a means "...to prevent a Communist takeover of Vietnam which is in accordance with a policy our government has followed since 1954."
 The number of military advisors sent by Kennedy will eventually surpass 16,000.


December 1961 - Viet Cong guerrillas


[Image] Viet Cong guerrillas




 now control much of the countryside in South Vietnam and frequently ambush South Vietnamese troops. The cost to America of maintaining South Vietnam's sagging 200,000 man army and managing the


overall conflict in Vietnam rises to a million dollars per day.



1962January 11, 1962 - During his State of the Union address, President Kennedy states, "Few generations in all of history have been granted the role of being the great defender of freedom in its maximum hour of danger. This is our good fortune..."

January 15, 1962 - During a press conference, President Kennedy is asked if any Americans in Vietnam are engaged in the fighting. "No," the President responds without further comment.

February 6, 1962 - MACV, the U.S. Military Assistance Command for Vietnam, is formed. It replaces MAAG-Vietnam, the Military Assistance Advisory Group which had been established in 1950.
February 27, 1962 - The presidential palace in Saigon is bombed by two renegade South Vietnamese pilots flying American-made World War II era fighter planes. President Diem and his brother Nhu escape unharmed. Diem attributes his survival to "divine protection."
March 1962 - Operation Sunrise begins the Strategic Hamlet resettlement program in which scattered rural populations in South Vietnam are uprooted from their ancestral farmlands and resettled into fortified villages defended by local militias. However, over 50 of the hamlets and are soon infiltrated and easily taken over by Viet Cong who kill or intimidate village leaders.
As a result, Diem orders bombing raids against suspected Viet Cong-controlled hamlets. The air strikes by the South Vietnamese Air Force are supported by U.S. pilots, who also conduct some of the bombings. Civilian causalities erode popular support for Diem and result in growing peasant hostility toward America, which is largely blamed for the unpopular resettlement program as well as the bombings.

May 1962 - Viet Cong organize themselves into battalion-sized units operating in central Vietnam.
May 1962 - Defense Secretary McNamara visits South Vietnam and reports "we are winning the war."
July 23, 1962 - The Declaration on the Neutrality of Laos signed in Geneva by the U.S. and 13 other nations, prohibits U.S. invasion of portions of the Ho Chi Minh trail inside eastern Laos.



August 1, 1962 - President Kennedy signs the Foreign Assistance Act of 1962 which provides "...military assistance to countries which are on the rim of the Communist world and under direct attack."
August 1962 - A U.S. Special Forces camp is set up at Khe Sanh


[Image] Khe Sanh [Image]

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 to monitor North Vietnamese Army (NVA) infiltration down the Ho Chi Minh trail.



1963January 3, 1963 - A Viet Cong victory in the Battle of Ap Bac


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                  Jan. 2-3, 1963  - Ap Bac, (First battle of the American War) 


r.
[Image] CIVILIANS UNDER NAPALM BOMB ATTACK BY U.S. TROOPS IN VIETNAM
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  [Image] 1963: 5th Special Forces, Central Highlands
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1963,  Mekong Delta
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Rescue at Ba Dong, September, 1963
(114th Aviation Co. Vinh Long)  [Image][Image][Image]
Saigon Coup, November 1, 1963
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1962-64 [Image] [Image] 
'The President's Choice' 
  The beautiful, deadly Mekong [Image]  
The cold, northern I Corps  [Image]  
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  [Image]Ba-To Base Camp - I Corps [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image]
   A wounded, proud Ranger - Mekong Delta
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[Image] [Image] [Image] Huey 'Hog' Power -  Mekong Delta   [Image] [Image]
    

1965-67: With The Marines in I Corps 
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 1967 - Hill 881 South - Khe Sanh  


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 makes front page news in America as 350 Viet Cong fighters defeat a large force of American-equipped South Vietnamese troops attempting to seize a radio transmitter. Three American helicopter crew members are killed.



The South Vietnamese Army is run by officers personally chosen by President Diem, not for their competence, but for their loyalty to him. Diem has instructed his officers to avoid causalities. Their primary mission, he has told them, is to protect him from any coups in Saigon.


May 1963 - Buddhists riot in South Vietnam 
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Police say the monks brought stones to use as missiles
after they are denied the right to display religious flags during their celebration of Buddha's birthday. In Hue, South Vietnamese police and army troops shoot at Buddhist demonstrators, resulting in the deaths of one woman and eight children.


Political pressure now mounts on the Kennedy administration to disassociate itself from Diem's repressive, family-run government. "You are responsible for the present trouble because you back Diem and his government of ignoramuses," a leading Buddhist tells U.S. officials in Saigon.


June-August - Buddhist demonstrations spread.




 Several Buddhist monks publicly burn themselves to death as an act of protest. The immolations are captured on film by news photographers and shock the American public as well as President Kennedy.
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NOTE:-
[SUCH SCENES FINALLY GAVE RISE TO MODERN SUICIDE BOMBINGS NOW]






Diem responds to the deepening unrest by imposing martial law. South Vietnamese special forces, originally trained by the U.S. and now controlled by Diem's younger brother Nhu wage violent crackdowns against Buddhist sanctuaries in Saigon, Hue and other cities.


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Nhu's crackdowns


[Image] NGO DINH NHU 



 spark widespread anti-Diem demonstrations. Meanwhile, during an American TV interview, Nhu's wife, the flamboyant Madame Nhu, coldly refers to the Buddhist immolations as a 'barbecue.'
[Image] MRS NHU 





 As the overall situation worsens, high level talks at the White House focus on the need to force Diem to reform.


July 4, 1963 - South Vietnamese General Tran Van Don, a Buddhist


[Image] General Tran Van Don,  



, contacts the CIA in Saigon about the possibility of staging a coup against Diem.




August 22, 1963 - The new U.S. ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge


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 arrives in South Vietnam.
August 24, 1963 - A U.S. State Department message sent to Ambassador Lodge is interpreted by Lodge to indicate he should encourage the military coup against President Diem.
August 26, 1963 - Ambassador Lodge meets President Diem for the first time. Under instructions from President Kennedy, Lodge tells Diem to fire his brother, the much-hated Nhu, and to reform his government. But Diem arrogantly refuses even to discuss such matters with Lodge.
August 26, 1963 - President Kennedy and top aides begin three days of heated discussions over whether the U.S. should in fact support the military coup against Diem.

August 29, 1963 - Lodge sends a message to Washington stating "...there is no possibility, in my view, that the war can be won under a Diem administration." President Kennedy then gives Lodge a free hand to manage the unfolding events in Saigon. However, the coup against Diem fizzles due to mistrust and suspicion within the ranks of the military conspirators.

September 2, 1963 - During a TV news interview with Walter Cronkite,




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 President Kennedy describes Diem as "out of touch with the people" and adds that South Vietnam's government might regain popular support "with changes in policy and perhaps in personnel."

Also during the interview, Kennedy comments on America's commitment to Vietnam "If we withdrew from Vietnam, the Communists would control Vietnam. Pretty soon, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Malaya, would go..."


October 2, 1963 - President Kennedy sends Ambassador Lodge a mixed messaged that "no initiative should now be taken to give any encouragement to a coup" but that Lodge should "identify and build contacts with possible leadership as and when it appears."
October 5, 1963 - Lodge informs President Kennedy that the coup against Diem appears to be on again.The rebel generals, led by Duong Van "Big" Minh, first ask for assurances that U.S. aid to South Vietnam will continue after Diem's removal and that the U.S. will not interfere with the actual coup. This scenario suits the White House well, in that the generals will appear to acting on their own without any direct U.S. involvement. President Kennedy gives his approval.


 The CIA in Saigon then signals the conspirators that the United States will not interfere with the overthrow of President Diem.


October 25, 1963 - Prompted by concerns over public relations fallout if the coup fails, a worried White House seeks reassurances from Ambassador Lodge that the coup will succeed.


October 29, 1963 - An increasingly nervous White House now instructs Lodge to postpone the coup. Lodge responds it can only be stopped by betraying the conspirators to Diem.


November 1, 1963 - Lodge has a routine meeting with Diem from 10 a.m. until noon at the presidential palace, then departs. At 1:30 p.m., during the traditional siesta time, the coup begins as mutinous troops roar into Saigon, surround the presidential palace, and also seize police headquarters. Diem and his brother Nhu are trapped inside the palace and reject all appeals to surrender.


 Diem telephones the rebel generals and attempts, but fails, to talk them out of the coup. Diem then calls Lodge and asks "...what is the attitude of the United States?" Lodge responds "...it is four thirty a.m. in Washington, and the U.S. government cannot possibly have a view." Lodge then expresses concern for Diem's safety, to which Diem responds "I am trying to restore order."


At 8 p.m., Diem and Nhu slip out of the presidential palace unnoticed and go to a safe house in the suburbs that belongs to a wealthy Chinese merchant.


November 2, 1963 - At 3 a.m., one of Diem's aides betrays his location to the generals. The hunt for Diem and Nhu now begins. At 6 a.m., Diem telephones the generals. Realizing the situation is hopeless, Diem and Nhu offer to surrender from inside a Catholic church. Diem and Nhu are then taken into custody by rebel officers and placed in the back of an armored personnel carrier. While traveling to Saigon, the vehicle stops and Diem and Nhu are assassinated.



At the White House, a meeting is interrupted with the news of Diem's death. According to witnesses, President Kennedy's face turns a ghostly shade of white and he immediately leaves the room.
 Later, the President records in his private diary, "I feel that we must bear a good deal of responsibility for it."
Saigon celebrates the downfall of Diem's regime. But the coup results in a power vacuum in which a series of military and civilian governments seize control of South Vietnam, a country that becomes totally dependent on the United States for its existence. Viet Cong use the unstable political situation to increase their hold over the rural population of South Vietnam to nearly 40 percent.
November 22, 1963 - President John F. Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas.

 Lyndon B. Johnson is sworn in as the 36th U.S. President. He is the fourth President coping with Vietnam and will oversee massive escalation of the war while utilizing many of the same policy advisors who served Kennedy.




November 24, 1963 - President Johnson declares he will not "lose Vietnam" during a meeting with Ambassador Lodge in Washington.

By year's end, there are 16,300 American military advisors in South Vietnam which received $500
MIllion in U.S. aid during 1963.

1964January 30, 1964 - General Minh is ousted from power in a bloodless coup led by General Nguyen Khanh who becomes the new leader of South Vietnam.
March 1964 - Secret U.S.-backed bombing raids begin against the Ho Chi Minh trail inside Laos, conducted by mercenaries flying old American fighter planes.

March 6, 1964 - Defense Secretary McNamara visits South Vietnam and states that Gen. Khanh "has our admiration, our respect and our complete support..." and adds that, "We'll stay for as long as it takes. We shall provide whatever help is required to win the battle against the Communist insurgents."
Following his visit, McNamara advises President Johnson to increase military aid to shore up the sagging South Vietnamese army. McNamara and other Johnson policy makers now become focused on the need to prevent a Communist victory in South Vietnam, believing it would damage the credibility of the U.S. globally. The war in Vietnam thus becomes a test of U.S. resolve in fighting Communism with America's prestige and President Johnson's reputation on the line.


The cost to America of maintaining South Vietnam's army and managing the overall conflict in Vietnam now rises to two million dollars per day.


March 17, 1964 - The U.S. National Security Council recommends the bombing of North Vietnam. President Johnson approves only the planning phase by the Pentagon.May - President Johnson's aides begin work on a Congressional resolution supporting the President's war policy in Vietnam. The resolution is shelved temporarily due to lack of support in the Senate, but will later be used as the basis of the Gulf of Tonkin resolution.



Summer - As 56,000 Viet Cong spread their successful guerrilla war throughout South Vietnam, they are reinforced by North Vietnamese Army (NVA) regulars pouring in via the Ho Chi Minh trail.

Responding to this escalation, President Johnson approves Operation Plan 34A, CIA-run covert operations using South Vietnamese commandos in speed boats to harass radar sites along the coastline of North Vietnam. The raids are supported by U.S. Navy warships in the Gulf of Tonkin including the destroyer U.S.S. Maddox which conducts electronic surveillance to pinpoint the radar locations.

July 1, 1964 - General Maxwell D. Taylor, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is appointed by President Johnson as the new U.S. ambassador to South Vietnam. During his one year tenure, Taylor will have to deal with five successive governments in politically unstable South Vietnam.President Johnson also appoints Lt. Gen William C. Westmoreland to be the new U.S. military commander in Vietnam. Westmoreland is a West Point graduate and a highly decorated veteran of World War II and Korea.

July 16-17 - Senator Barry Goldwater is chosen as the Republican nominee for president at the Republican National Convention in San Francisco. During his acceptance speech Goldwater declares, "Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice."

Goldwater is an arch conservative and virulent anti-Communist whose campaign rhetoric will impact coming White House decisions concerning Vietnam. Above all, Johnson's aides do not want the President to appear to be 'soft on Communism' and thus risk losing the November presidential election. But at the same time, they also want the President to avoid being labeled a 'war monger' concerning Vietnam.

July 31, 1964 - In the Gulf of Tonkin, as part of Operation Plan 34A, South Vietnamese commandos in unmarked speed boats raid two North Vietnamese military bases located on islands just off the coast. In the vicinity is the destroyer U.S.S. Maddox.
August 2, 1964 - Three North Vietnamese patrol boats attack the American destroyer U.S.S. Maddox in the Gulf of Tonkin ten miles off the coast of North Vietnam. They fire three torpedoes and machine-guns, but only a single machine-gun round actually strikes theMaddox with no causalities. U.S. Navy fighters from the carrier Ticonderoga, led by Commander James Stockdale, attack the patrol boats, sinking one and damaging the other two.


At the White House, it is Sunday morning (twelve hours behind Vietnam time). President Johnson, reacting cautiously to reports of the incident, decides against retaliation. Instead, he sends a diplomatic message to Hanoi warning of "grave consequences" from any further "unprovoked" attacks.

 Johnson then orders the Maddox to resume operations in the Gulf of Tonkin in the same vicinity where the attack had occurred. Meanwhile, the Joints Chiefs of Staff put U.S. combat troops on alert and also select targets in North Vietnam for a possible bombing raid, should the need arise.

August 3, 1964 - The Maddox, joined by a second destroyer U.S.S. C. Turner Joy begin a series of vigorous zigzags in the Gulf of Tonkin sailing to within eight miles of North Vietnam's coast, while at the same time, South Vietnamese commandos in speed boats harass North Vietnamese defenses along the coastline. By nightfall, thunderstorms roll in, affecting the accuracy of electronic instruments on the destroyers. Crew members reading their instruments believe they have come under torpedo attack from North Vietnamese patrol boats. Both destroyers open fire on numerous apparent targets but there are no actual sightings of any attacking boats.

August 4, 1964 - Although immediate doubts arise concerning the validity of the second attack, the Joint Chiefs of Staff strongly recommend a retaliatory bombing raid against North Vietnam.

Press reports in America greatly embellish the second attack with spectacular eyewitness accounts although no journalists had been on board the destroyers.

At the White House, President Johnson decides to retaliate.
Thus, the first bombing of North Vietnam by the United States occurs as oil facilities and naval targets are attacked without warning by 64 U.S. Navy fighter bombers. "Our response for the present will be limited and fitting,"

President Johnson tells Americans during a midnight TV appearance, an hour after the attack began. "We Americans know, although others appear to forget, the risk of spreading conflict. We still seek no wider war."

Two Navy jets are shot down during the bombing raids, resulting in the first American prisoner of war, Lt. Everett Alvarez of San Jose, California, who is taken to an internment center in Hanoi, later dubbed the "Hanoi Hilton" by the nearly six hundred American airmen who become POWs.

August 5, 1964 - Opinion polls indicate 85 percent of Americans support President Johnson's bombing decision. Numerous newspaper editorials also come out in support of the President.

Johnson's aides, including Defense Secretary McNamara, now lobby Congress to pass a White House resolution that will give the President a free hand in Vietnam.
August 6, 1964 - During a meeting in the Senate, McNamara is confronted by Senator Wayne Morse of Oregon who had been tipped off by someone in the Pentagon that the Maddox had in fact been involved in the South Vietnamese commando raids against North Vietnam and thus was not the victim of an "unprovoked" attack. McNamara responds that the U.S. Navy "...played absolutely no part in, was not associated with, was not aware of, any South Vietnamese actions, if there were any..."
August 7, 1964 - In response to the two incidents involving the Maddox and Turner Joy, the U.S. Congress, at the behest of President Johnson, overwhelmingly passes the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution put forward by the



White House allowing the President "to take all necessary steps, including the use of armed force" to prevent further attacks against U.S. forces. The Resolution, passed unanimously in the House and 98-2 in the Senate, grants enormous power to President Johnson to wage an undeclared war in Vietnam from the White House.
The only Senators voting against the Resolution are Wayne Morse, and Ernest Gruening of Alaska who said "all Vietnam is not worth the life of a single American boy."
August 21, 1964 - In Saigon, students and Buddhist militants begin a series of escalating protests against General Khanh's military regime. As a result, Khanh resigns as sole leader in favor of a triumvirate that includes himself, Gen. Minh and Gen. Khiem. The streets of Saigon soon disintegrate into chaos and mob violence amid the government's gross instability.
August 26, 1964 - President Johnson is nominated at the Democratic National Convention.
During his campaign he declares "We are not about to send American boys nine or ten thousand miles away from home to do what Asian boys ought to be doing for themselves."
September 7, 1964 - President Johnson assembles his top aides at the White House to ponder the future course of action in Vietnam.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Vietnam War Part of the Cold War [Image]
A UH-1D helicopter piloted by Maj. Bruce P. Crandall climbs skyward after discharging a load of US infantrymen on a search and destroy mission. Date1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975 (19 years,180 days) LocationSouth Vietnam, North Vietnam,Cambodia, Laos

                    ResultNorth Vietnamese victory
Withdrawal of American forces from Indochina Dissolution of South Vietnam Communist governments take power in Vietnam, Cambodiaand Laos Territorial
changesUnification of North and South Vietnam under North Vietnamese rule. Belligerents Anti-Communistforces:
[Image] South Vietnam
[Image] United States
[Image] South Korea
[Image] Australia
[Image] Philippines
[Image] New Zealand
[Image] Thailand
[Image] Khmer Republic
[Image] Kingdom of Laos
[Image] Republic of ChinaCommunistforces:
[Image] North Vietnam
[Image] Viet Cong
[Image] Khmer Rouge
[Image] Pathet Lao
[Image] People's Republic of China
[Image] Soviet Union
[Image] North Korea Commanders and leaders [Image] Ngô Đình Diệm
[Image] Nguyễn Văn Thiệu
[Image] Nguyễn Cao Kỳ
[Image] Cao Văn Viên
[Image] Lyndon B. Johnson
[Image] Richard Nixon
[Image] William Westmoreland
[Image] Creighton Abrams
[Image] Lon Nol
...and others[Image] Hồ Chí Minh
[Image] Lê Duẩn
[Image] Võ Nguyên Giáp
[Image] Văn Tiến Dũng
[Image] Trần Văn Trà
[Image] Nguyễn Văn Linh
[Image] Nguyễn Hữu Thọ
[Image] Pol Pot
...and others Strength ~1,830,000 (1968)
South Vietnam: 850,000
United States: 536,100
Free World Forces: 65,000[1][2]
South Korea: 50,000,[3]
Australia: 7,672
Thailand, Philippines: 10,450
New Zealand: 552~461,000
North Vietnam: 287,465 (Jan 1968)[4]
PRC: 170,000 (1969)
Soviet Union: 3,000
North Korea: 300-600 Casualties and losses [Image] South Vietnam
220,357 dead;[5]1,170,000 wounded
[Image] United States
58,220 dead; 1,719 missing;303,635 wounded
[Image] South Korea
5,099 dead; 10,962 wounded; 4 missing
[Image] Australia
521 dead; 3,000 wounded
[Image] New Zealand
37 dead; 187 wounded
[Image] Thailand
1,351 dead[5]
[Image] Kingdom of Laos
30,000 killed, wounded unknown[11]Total dead: 315,384Total wounded: ~1,490,000+[Image] [Image] North Vietnam & NLF
1,176,000 dead/missing;[5]
600,000+ wounded[12]
[Image] P.R. China
1,446 dead; 4,200 wounded
[Image] Soviet Union
16 dead[13]
Total dead: ~1,177,462 (highest estimate)Total wounded: ~604,200+ Vietnamese civilian dead (both sides): ~200,000–2,000,000[14]
Cambodian civilian dead: 200,000–300,000*[15][16][17]
Laotian civilian dead: ~20,000–200,000*
Total civilian dead: ~420,000–2,500,000
Total dead:


 ~1,912,846-3,992,846
*= approximations, see Casualties below
For more information on casualties see Vietnam War casualties


[Image]
[Image]U.S. helicopter spraying chemical defoliants in the Mekong Delta, South Vietnam
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[Image]A U.S. B-66 Destroyerand four F-105 Thunderchiefs dropping bombs on North VietnamUnder the Paris Peace Accords, between North Vietnamese Foreign Minister Lê Ðức Thọ and U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, and reluctantly signed by South Vietnamese President Thiệu, U.S. military forces withdrew from South Vietnam and prisoners were exchanged. North Vietnam was allowed to continue supplying communist troops in the South, but only to the extent of replacing materials that were consumed. Later that year the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Kissinger and Thọ, but the Vietnamese negotiator declined it saying that a true peace did not yet exist.[Image][Image]Evacuation of CIA Station personnel by Air America, mistakenly thought to be U.S. Embassy workers on 29 April, 1975
[Image][Image]Victorious NVA troops at the Presidential Palace, Saigon.
On 30 April 1975, VPA troops overcame all resistance, quickly capturing key buildings and installations. A tank crashed through the gates of the Independence Palace, and at 11:30 a.m. local time the NLF flag was raised above it. President Duong Van Minh, who had succeeded Huong two days earlier, surrendered.The Communists had attained their goal, but the cost of victory was high
                                                 Result:-IN THE FIRST ROUND  it was a stale mate victory for both Americans and north Vietnam till American soldiers withdrew from Vietnam; when it became a final victory for communists.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------IN THE SECOND ROUND OF WAR:-

IN AFGHANISTAN BETWEEN INVADING SOVIET ARMY AND AMERICAN SPONSORED ISLAMIC MILITIA ;SOVIETS WERE DEFEATED-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOW THE THIRD ROUND -
[Image]C
AGAIN IN AFGANISTAN (MAINLY);BETWEEN AMERICANS AND THE ORIGINAL ISLAMIC MILITIA TRAINED AND ARMED BY AMERICA -KNOWN AS TALIBAN /ALQUIDA ETC ;THE WORLD IS LOOKING FOR THE END OF IT ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  HOPE THERE IS NO FOURTH ROUND


-MAY BE WITH PAKISTAN?
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                              Monday, May 23, 2011UK involvement could cost at least $1.5 billion  

 by Chris in Paris on 5/23/2011 06:30:00 AM 
And remember, they are the side show compared to the US involvement. Where is this money coming from? We can't have politicians screaming about austerity and cuts for the poor and middle class yet not challenge war costs. These interventions really need to stop, including Afghanistan and Iraq.
Britain's involvement in the Libya conflict will cost the taxpayer as much as £1bn if it continues into the autumn as expected, according to expert analysis and data gathered by the Guardian.


Two months after western powers began bombing Libyan targets to protect civilians in Operation Unified Protector, the cost to Britain so far of the dozens of bombs dropped, hundreds of sorties flown and more than 1,000 service personnel deployed is estimated at more than £100m, according to British defence officials.


But defence economists have told the Guardian the costings are conservative. Francis Tusa, editor of the Defence Analysis newsletter, estimates that by the end of April Libyan operations had already cost the UK about £300m and that the bill was increasing by up to £38m a week.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WONDER WHY BRITAIN WITH ALL THE PRESENT TALKS ABOUT AUSTERITY DUE TO CASH CRUNCH SHOULD SPEND SO MUCH FOR A FUTILE WAR AS LIBYA?DO THEY EXPECT THEY WILL  RULE IN LIBYA  FREE OF GADAFFI  ; OIL MAKE UP FOR THE WAR EXPENSES?


SO WHY NOT HELP SYRIAN PEOPLE ALSO?
AND YEMENI PEOPLE ALSO NEED BRITISH HELP IN THEIR FREEDOM STRUGGLE AGAINST DESPOTS
 BUT - THEY HAVE NO OIL . 





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                                       WASHINGTON, June 24, 2011





Libya: House Rejects Obama Authorizing U.S. Strikes, Threatens to Cut Funding
Obama and Boehner Unite on the Golf Course









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Text Size-/+By KIRIT RADIA (@KiritRadia_ABC) and JOHN PARKINSON (@JRPabcDC)WASHINGTON, June 24, 2011

The House of Representatives this afternoon declined to grant the president the authority to continue supporting the NATO mission in Libya, another sign of rebellion brewing thousands of miles away on Capitol Hill as NATO's bombing campaign in support of Libyan rebels enters its fourth month.
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Frustrated lawmakers from both parties, who later rejected a measure that would have limited funding, have threatened to cut off funding for U.S. operations there amid concerns about their cost and growing dissatisfaction with the Obama administration's skirting of the War Powers Resolution.With wide bipartisan opposition, a vote on a resolution sponsored by Rep. Alcee Hastings of Florida to authorize operations failed today 123-295, with 70 Democrats joining 225 Republicans in opposing authorization. Just eight Republicans and 115 Democrats voted to give the president the authority.Aside from granting the president power to wage operations in Libya for the next year, the resolution would have expressed opposition to U.S. ground forces "unless the purpose of the presence is limited to the immediate personal defense of United States Government officials (including diplomatic representatives) or to rescuing members of NATO forces from imminent danger."Finally, the measure declares that the president shall consult frequently with Congress regarding U.S. efforts in Libya.The War Powers Resolution requires the president to seek Congressional approval for its engagement there within 90 days of entering hostilities. That period has ended, so the president needed authorization, according to the law.White House and State Department lawyers have argued no approval from Congress is needed given the limited scope of U.S. involvement, which they do not consider hostilities.
Anti-Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi protesters... View Full SizeRoundtable: Experts Debate Pakistan and Libya Watch Video[Image]Special Report: Target Libya Watch Video[Image]Rupert Murdoch Defends His Empire Watch VideoThe House of Representatives also voted today on a second resolution related to Libya which have cut funding from operations, except for a few specific actions to support the NATO mission .The second resolution, which was introduced by Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Fla., also failed, by a vote of 180-238. Eighty-nine Republicans joined 149 Democrats in defeating the measure. Only 144 Republicans and 36 Democrats voted for it. Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark., was in the chair when the vote was called at 2:00 p.m.Two candidates seeking the Republican nomination for president in 2012, Reps. Ron Paul, R-Texas, and Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., voted against authorization. Both contenders also voted against the Rooney Resolution.The resolution would have specifically limited "the use of funds appropriated to the Department of Defense for United States Armed Forces in support of North Atlantic Treaty Organization Operation Unified Protector with respect to Libya, unless otherwise specifically authorized by law."Exceptions to the Rooney Resolution ruled that the limitation on funds would not apply with respect to search and rescue; intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance; aerial refueling; and operational planning.Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ultimately took the votes as an endorsement of the Obama administration's campaign."I am pleased that a very important statement was made today by the House on a bipartisan basis that recognizes the need for us to continue on this important mission," Clinton told reporters. "We would have preferred a different outcome on the Hastings resolution but ultimately we are gratified that the House has decisively rejected efforts to limit funding for the Libyan mission."Congressional aides said support dwindled for the measure as lawmakers grew concerned that all the exceptions inherently authorized the president to conduct operations there, but that ultimately the message was clear to the president."Reflecting the sentiment of the American people, the House overwhelmingly voted against authorizing the operations in Libya today, and a second bill going even further than that by restricting funds received hundreds of votes," Michael Steel, press secretary for House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, said. "Taken together, these votes illustrate the unfortunate failure of the White House to make the case for this operation to the American people and the Congress."This measure would have effectively ended all drone strikes and airstrikes by U.S. aircraft.When the House returns from recess after Independence Day, Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, who has worked endlessly for the past few months to end U.S. armed forces in Libya, has introduced an amendment to the FY2012 Defense Appropriations bill that would completely defund the operation for FY2012.The Obama administration, which initially was reluctant to get involved in the conflict, is pushing back and making the case to Congress why American involvement in Libya is important.Clinton Thursday met with members of the House Democratic Caucus to urge them to vote against defunding the operation.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


US costs for maintaining NATO's collective security are  staggering. According to recent reports, 75% of NATO's military expenditures are paid for out of the US budget (as opposed to 50% at the beginning of the decade

The economies of the NATO countries are also burdened by maintaining forces in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the recently ended economic crisis has forced many countries to reduce their armed forces and defense spending. Budget cutting by European countries reduced their total military expenditures by 15% between 2001 and 2009. The process is not expected to stop in the years immediately ahead: Great Britain will cut military spending by 8% over the next four years, and it is planning to downsize many military units. France plans to reduce spending on the Army by 17%, the Air Force by 24% and the Navy by 11%. The French Armed Forces will be downsized by 55,000 people. (17%). Germany, which refused to participate in the Libyan operation, is planning to take similar steps.v It would be difficult to imagine a less auspicious context for the start of a new war, considering that the burden falls primarily on NATO's European members.
the United States is clearly tired of its role as the main strike force and "defense donor." Therefore, it is gently extricating itself from the war in Libya, which had cost the country more than $600 million as of April 11

It is already clear that the war cannot be won in the near future without real rebel successes on the ground, and its prolongation is making things equally difficult for all participants. NATO's reputation may be damaged if it abandons Libya without making any real progress
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April: US President Barack Obama condemns Syria's "outrageous" use of violence after security forces reportedly shoot dead at least 80 people Photo: AP
 UN envoy warns Yemeni state could collapseBy Mosaic NewsJULY 26, 2011, 12:00 PMYemen: Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Qirb is holding talks with European officials to discuss the developments in Yemen. At the end of his mission in Sanaa, the UN secretary-general's envoy to Yemen, Jamal al-Omar, warned of the country's collapse and the severity of the security situation and living conditions in the country. Al-Omar stated that he will submit a report on the Yemeni crisis to the UN Security Council.
Bahrain: A number of regions witnessed night demonstrations denouncing the regime's crackdown and arrest campaign targeting protestors. Bahrain's opposition, headed by al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, confirmed that it has conclusive evidence of 50 different kinds of "shameful violations" committed by the regime that will be presented to a fact-finding commission.


Syria: The new draft law which allows a multi-party system in Syria has failed to mollify protestors demanding reform in the country. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that night protests were held in Hama, Rif Dimashq, Homs, Deir az-Zour, Idlib and Latakia. The organization reported that three people, including one woman, were killed by the security forces' gunfire in the past 24 hours. Meanwhile, the government's arrest campaign continues in a number of regions. The US State Department described the Syrian army's manner of dealing with the protestors as "barbaric."