Ok i hate to start a related thread shortly after my POW one, but this is sufficiently different of a question.
I remember reading about how the Vietnam war went down (i.e. when US packed the bags). The party line is something like: Nixon promised ‘peace with honor’, but the North Vietnamese demanded bombing cessations before they would negotate; the US wouldn’t because it would expose their troops to disaster, allowing the North Vietnamese to negotiate from a much better position.
Apparently (according to my wiki-enemy) Nixon ordered a brutal bombing campaign of Hanoi years later that finally brought them to the table, while Kissinger diplomatically isolated NV from the USSR and ‘Red’ China.
Not trying to get into a debate about whether that party line above is correct, but it struck me as weird that it would take so long. Pretend that you are newly elected President Nixon, just inaugurated, and you actually want to withdraw from the conflict ASAP. Honor or not. How would it go down? Would a negotation even be required, or could troops just be evac’d? What about all the equipment? Would he direct Kissinger to make a ‘wait six months’ deal with the NV before they could have the whole country?
So how quickly can we bail from this . . . weeks, months, years?