Gino Piroli – 2/25/07

This page was last updated on March 4, 2007.

Annual Tet fundraiser a grand event; Gino Piroli; Beaver County Times; February 25, 2007.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject column.

“One of the finest tributes to our veterans has become an annual event hosted by the Vietnam Veterans of Greater Aliquippa.

“This year was the eighth annual Tet Offensive party and each year it has grown in size and popularity. From its humble beginning it has now raised more than $30,000 that is used exclusively in helping veterans throughout the county.

“There were more than 600 people who attended this years’ dinner on Feb. 17 at The Fez in Hopewell Township, and among those who spoke at the dinner were Beaver County Veterans Affairs Director Bill Muns, event committee member Jim Crytzer, U.S. Rep. Jason Altmire, D-4, McCandless Township, and Skip Haswell, president of the local chapter of the Vietnam Veterans Association.

“The dinner honors what has been called one of the biggest campaigns in military history. On the night of Jan. 31, 1968, more than 70,000 North Vietnamese, violating a temporary truce they had pledged to observe around the Tet lunar new year celebrations, surged into more than 13 provincial provinces in the heavily populated Mekong Delta, Kehsan, Bienhoa and even Saigon.

“Although U.S. military units were caught off-guard, they soundly defeated the North Vietnamese in these crucial battles. The North Vietnamese lost a staggering 50,000 soldiers and the United States and South Vietnamese lost 6,000.

“One of the consequences of this battle, although the U.S. was victorious, was public opinion turned against a war that many felt could not be won. President Lyndon Johnson saw his 80 percent approval rating in 1963 go down to 40 percent in 1967 and in March 1968 bottom out at 26 percent over his handling of the war.

“It’s almost the same scenario as our present situation, with declining public support for President George W. Bush and his handling of the war in Iraq.”

[RWC] Did you notice what Mr. Piroli failed to explain? He didn’t tell us why “public opinion turned against a war that many felt could not be won” despite the Tet Offensive being a huge military defeat for the communists and a huge military victory for the U.S. Indeed, years after the end of the war, the North Vietnamese themselves conceded they were about to throw in the towel after their stunning loss in the Tet Offensive.

So what happened?

Simple. The U.S. press reported the Tet Offensive as if it were a loss for the U.S. and a huge victory for North Vietnam. When they saw the U.S. press portraying their loss as a victory, the North Vietnamese knew they had a chance to win because the U.S. press had turned against the U.S. Therefore, instead of quitting, North Vietnam simply held on and let us defeat ourselves from within.

Unwittingly, Mr. Piroli was correct when he wrote, “It’s almost the same scenario as our present situation.”