The Kissinger Diaries: What He Really Thought About Vietnam

POLITICO: …From a very early stage, Kissinger understood the nature of the problem the United States faced. “All history proves that there is no cheap and easy way to defeat guerrilla movements,” he wrote in February 1962. “South Vietnam has been plagued by Communist Viet Cong attacks ever since it became independent in 1954. Their defeat can only be accomplished by adequate military force. … However, merely physical security will not solve the problem. The people of South Vietnam must develop a long-term commitment to their government if they wish to attain political and economic stability.”

But how could that happen if the United States undermined the legitimacy of the South Vietnamese government, as happened in 1963, when the Kennedy administration approved a bloody coup against the government of Ngo Dinh Diem? When the news broke of Diem’s murder, Kissinger denounced U.S. policy as “shameful.” “Conditions in Vietnam will, in my judgment, get worse,” he warned…

In October 1965 Kissinger flew to Saigon at the invitation of the U.S. ambassador to South Vietnam, Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. An expert on European history and nuclear strategy, Kissinger had never previously been to Vietnam. He knew little if anything about the country’s history and not a word of its language. But he already knew one thing: This was a war that could not be won by military means… (more)

EDITOR: Kissinger was selected as National Security Advisor by President Richard Nixon because he reflected the Presidents views. Lyndon Johnson had declined to run for reelection in recognition of the mess he had on his hands. Nixon and Kissinger from the outset were seeking a negotiated resolution of the conflict, one that would give the South at a least a chance to pull together and to hold out and for the U. S to withdraw hundreds of thousands of troops with dignity. He was stonewalled five four years.