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The war in Vietnam was not lost in the field, nor was it lost on the front pages of the 'New York Times' or the college campuses. It was lost in Washington, D.C.

The deceit and distortion surrounding the American invasion of Vietnam is by now so familiar that it has lost its power to shock.

A generation ago, American war planners made the mistake of believing that short-term Communist sympathies would unite China and Vietnam. We were wrong, and it tragically misshaped our policy in Vietnam.

If the war has faded into history, democracy's defeat in Vietnam has left deep marks in the consciousness of both nations.

No event in American history is more misunderstood than the Vietnam War. It was misreported then, and it is misremembered now.

In times of war, it is often best to look to our history to see how past generations of Americans dealt with the loss of their countrymen in just causes.

The conclusion that many uniformed military came away from Vietnam with was that political interference, dominance of strategy and even tactics were a very bad way to conduct a war, and that indeed, if that was going to be our practice, that we shouldn't wage conflict again.

As I've said many times and publicly, a war between China and Taiwan that involves the United States is a lose-lose-lose.

Vietnam ended a failure: repeatedly, to me, Kissinger described it as his greatest, and most persistent regret. But Congress was more to blame than Kissinger.