Kevin Brooks wrote:

snip

I guess my point was that had the US not done
anything in Vietnam, it would have left the door open for more adventurous
action (than what was actually experienced) on the part of the USSR and PRC
supporting communist factions in other nearby nations.

Perhaps, but any direct support to communist insurgents in say Thailand would
have required the cooperation (at least in over-flight rights) of both Vietnam
and either Cambodia or Laos and the staging of operations in either Cambodia or
Laos. With Vietnam and Cambodia at "odds", would it have been likely that they
would have had the inclination to support such operations? It may have been
possible, but not certainly as "neat" as the support to NVN and the Pathet Lao
was.


BUFDRVR

"Stay on the bomb run boys, I'm gonna get those bomb doors open if it harelips
everyone on Bear Creek"