In 1972, Nixon bombed Hanoi at Christmas. Operation Linebacker II. Twelve days. Hundreds of B-52 sorties.
https://x.com/nxt888/status/2037474596103061836
In 1972, Nixon bombed Hanoi at Christmas.
Operation Linebacker II.
Twelve days.
Hundreds of B-52 sorties.
Targets included hospitals, residential areas, and Bach Mai Hospital, a civilian medical facility struck multiple times, killing doctors and patients.
The world protested.
The images were everywhere.
Even American allies expressed horror.
Nixon called it "peace with honor."
The Vietnamese called it what it was: the desperate escalation of a power that knew it had lost, trying to bomb its way to a negotiating position that would allow it to leave without complete humiliation.
It didn't work.
The Paris Peace Accords were signed six weeks later, on essentially the same terms that had been available before the Christmas bombing.
Fifty years later, the grandchildren of the people who survived that bombing are signing contracts to build the infrastructure that will power Vietnam's future.
The grandchildren of the pilots are writing think pieces about concerning partnerships.
History's verdict on who made the right decisions is already written.
It was written on April 30, 1975.
It is being written again today, in the language of kilowatts and construction contracts and sovereign infrastructure decisions made without asking Washington's permission.
The arc of this story does not bend toward American preferences.
It bends toward Vietnamese determination.
It always has.
posted by Satish Sharma at
01:40
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