Thank you, Mr. Rumsfeld, for proving “old men lie” and “young men die.”

It was called the “Domino Theory.” If we didn’t stop the advance of Communism in Asia, Communism would eventually engulf the world. The “Domino Theory” became the raison d'être for Vietnam. Of course it wasn’t true. But we learned that too late:

58,148 killed during service;
114 captured and died in captivity;
9,000 suicides as a direct result of the war (1.7 x the non-Veteran population).

Total of approximately 67,000 Americans.

Fighting with the U.S.:

223,748 South Vietnamese soldiers killed,
5,282 of other nationalities.

A total of approximately 300,000.

Fighting for North Vietnam:

1,000,000 military casualties;
600,000 wounded.

Civilian casualties:

2,000,000 in the north,
2,000,000 in the south.

A total of 5.1 million total Vietnamese casualties.

But today…today Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said: the United States wants to expand its military relationship with Vietnam, but has no plans to seek access to military facilities in this former enemy nation.

Thank you, Mr. Rumsfeld, for proving “old men lie” and “young men die.”