Vietnam was not a military defeat

Kevin Drum of The Washington Monthly authored commentary which appeared in the August 24th edition of the Los Angeles Times in which he stated that Vietnam was "the nation's first-ever military defeat."

Vietnam may represent this nation's first defeat, but it most certainly was not a military defeat. It was a political defeat. The United States military never lost a battle in Vietnam. We were defeated by ourselves, here in the United States, much in the same way that many in this country now seek to bring defeat to America in Iraq.