This Time We Win: Revisiting the Tet Offensive

(Hardback)

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Description

Most of what Americans know about the Tet Offensive is wrong. The brief 1968 battle during the Vietnam conflict marked the dividing line between gradual progress towards an ill-defined victory, and slow descent to a humiliating defeat. The fact that the enemy was, in fact, handily defeated on the ground was immaterial; that they could mount an attack at all was deemed a military triumph for the Vietcong. At least this is the received wisdom of Tet.

In This Time We Win, James S. Robbins at last provides an antidote to the flawed Tet mythology that continues to shape the perceptions of American military conflicts against unconventional enemies and haunt our troops in combat. Indeed, Americas enemies recognize and find inspiration in the prevailing Tet narrative.

In his thorough re-examination of the Tet Offensive, Robbins examines the battle in the familiar frameworks of terrorism, war crimes, intelligence failure, troop surges, leadership breakdown, and media bias. The result is an explosion of the conventional wisdom on this infamous battle, one that offers real lessons for todays unconventional wars. Without a clear understanding of these lessons, we will find ourselves reliving the Tet Offensive again and again.

Reviews

"History is written by the victors, but eventually the truth comes out." -Bui Diem, former South Vietnamese Ambassador to the US "The Tet Offensive is a standing inspiration to today's terrorists and insurgents. This Time We Win is a direct assault on the logic that transforms U.S. tactical victories into strategic defeats." -Barry R. McCaffrey, General, USA (Ret.) "Tough questions and startling answers. Forget what you've heard about the Tet Offensive. Jim Robbins sets the record straight." -Colonel Jack Jacobs, US Army Retired. Medal of Honor, 1969, Vietnam "This book is a wonderfully detailed chronicle of how North Vietnam's crushing military defeat at Tet was converted into a political victory in the US which would sap the American will to win. I recommend this book to American veterans still perplexed at this dichotomy as well as to the public. It is truly a great account of this critical period." -John O'Neill, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Unfit for Command "For over forty years the American experience in the Tet Offensive has been used and abused by those who try to apply the analogy of Tet to contemporary policy. This Time We Win corrects simplistic interpretations of Tet that are often used to create the impression of inevitable defeat in Vietnam and other conflicts. This book deserves a wide readership." -Brigadier General H.R. McMaster, author of Dereliction of Duty: Lyndon Johnson, Robert McNamara, The Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Lies that Led to Vietnam

Author Bio

James S. Robbins is senior editorial writer for foreign affairs at the Washington Times and executive director of the American Security Council Foundation. A former special assistant in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Robbins is a frequent commentator on national security issues on national and international television and radio. He holds a PhD from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.