sorry that I am too late to upvote this. Lots of good information and speculation in what you wrote. I think the major difference here is the disruption of global commerce which seems to be relatively easy to accomplish, during the war in Vietnam I don't think there was much industry to disrupt, plus there was the Soviet Union helping out on the other side. I realize that a great deal of my "known history" is BS because of my public school education, but I have always kind of felt like the war in Vietnam was never actually meant to be won, just sustained. For profit or political reasons, I can't really say. But I do recall hearing about certain rules of engagement that frustrated pilots to no end such as not being able to pursue into Laos or Cambodia.

But don't take my words as an opinion. I'm not well versed on any of this and don't really have a strong opinion either way, nor would I expect anyone to listen to me if I did.

I am an isolationist and would like to see the US close all overseas bases and not engage with anyone who wasn't a direct threat... a REAL threat, not one that has financial or natural resources that my government would like to control or influence.