There is a lot of misundestanding of what happened during the Vietnam war, mostly due to biased reporting. Here is a good discussion of what actually happened, and how Democrats snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, just as they want to do in Iraq.

http://www.nysun.com/article/62852

Hillary Clinton basically told General Petraeus that he was a liar because of his optimism. I wonder , if she was President, if she would put a general in charge who told her we were bound to lose. It seems to me that she is a hypocrite because surely she would want a commander who thought he could win. During the civil war McClellen didn't think he could beat Lee (and he couldn't), so Lincoln found Grant who knew how to beat Lee.