“Former U.S. secretary of state Henry Kissinger quietly acknowledged to China in 1972 that Washington could accept a communist takeover of South Vietnam if that evolved after a withdrawal of U.S. troops – even as the war to drive back the Communists dragged on with mounting deaths.”

This little nugget (reported by the Associated Press) was discovered in a collection of papers gathered from documents available at the U.S. government’s National Archives.

I only mention it here because it brought back fond memories of those days. I was working hard to keep my draft deferment and stay out of Vietnam. As I recall, it was important that we get on over to Vietnam so we could stop the commies. The deaths of 60 thousand Americans was considered (by our leaders) a small price to pay to “STOP COMMUNISM!”

And then one day someone in Washington decided, “You know what? I think I’m okay with letting the commies have South Vietnam. But see if you can get ’em to wait until we’re outta there.”

And it’s one, two three…what are we fightin’ for?