Who won the Vietnam War

They walked the rounds in on us
methodically adjusting the range
just like we'd been trained to do.
TANKS! Sweet Mary, Mother of God!
They have TANKS!
-- Battle for the Dong Ha Bridge, South Vietnam, 1972

Noting that a Starbucks coffee shop has recently opened in what was once known as Saigon, a Repubic letter-writer (1/13) asks why 58,000 Americans died during the Vietnam war. My question of many years remains unanswered, too. In 1972 almost all American combat forces had been withdrawn from South Vietnam. Although America had conceded defeat, the Communists in the North hadn't gotten the message. They procured hundreds of PT-76 and T-54 tanks and hundreds of 130mm artillery guns from their Soviet allies, and launched a very contenvional military attack on the Vietnamese in the South. If Vietnamization had failed and America was defeated in 1972, something America's left can't stop telling us, why was a massive Soviet and Chinese backed in invasion from the North necessary?  It took three years for the North Viethamese supplied with even more tanks and artillery by their Soviet and Communist Chinese allies to defeat the South Vietnamese. AK-47s, tanks and artillery may be able to force a government on people who don't want it, but they can't stop people from yearning for an American cup of coffee. 

New Year's Resolution for the Republic‏

In the New Year the Arizona Republic should resolve that it will be an alternative to the endless river of humorless "Progressive" and "Conservative" logorrhea we call the media. The Republic will feature the curmudgeons Clay and Doug, and hire an excorist to prevent Doug from being taken over by the Dark Side and Darth Hannity.