Arrogance & USA

  The USA entered Vietnam riding on a high wave of confidence,
since at the time the US was the most powerful superpower,
outweighing the USSR in terms of nukes and foreign policy 
successes. Going into an unwinnable situation with their hands
tied behind their backs by diplomatic considerations and crap
policy coordination between the military and the state depart-
ment, the US still expected to win the war, mainly because it
had never lost one in living memory. The almost inevitable 
failure, and the atrocities (My Lai, Trang Bang, etc) committed
by US troops frustrated at the type of war they were fighting
(The USArmy had trained for conventional engagements in NW
Europe, only to be deployed in guerilla war in SE Asia) dealt
a crippling blow to US confidence and inspired the Detente of
the 1970's, when the USA tried to reconcile with the USSR,
mainly out of fears that the Soviets were capable of decisively
squashing the West both in nuclear and conventional military 
fields. So, the US entered Vietnam because the political atmos-
phere at the time would have made it political suicide for the
administration not to.
  Greetings from the UAE.