Be it in Bosnia, Iraq or Afghanistan, whenever there is a US military commitment, the specter of Vietnam still haunts us. As the President set about determining his Afghan policy, books about Vietnam were flying off the selves in Washington. The long national nightmare of Vietnam still influences Americas policy makers. Thirty-four years after the fall, we still seek to understand what really happened in Vietnam, what were the military and political mistakes and even successes, and what are the real as opposed to the perceived lessons. Lewis Sorley, former soldier, third generation West Point graduate and confidante of Gen. Patraeus, in his new book A Better War: The Unexamined Victories and Final Tragedy of America's Last Years in Vietnam, gives us a very revisionist view of that war and how it ended.My conversation with Lewis Sorley:
