The real reason America lost Vietnam is because we spent too much time in court

Vietnam was the first war that the US was heavily involved in in which the laws of war as codified in the Geneva Conventions were used to prosecute US troops. Prior to Vietnam the US had not been party to the Geneva Conventions. We had signed them but never ratified them. But by the time we were in Vietnam we had ratified them. <br><br>Because of this we started prosecuting US troops for war crimes and mistreatment of enemy prisoners in a way we never had before. This created a lot of issues for troops and commanders. If you killed a prisoner in combat you might be in serious trouble. The fear of legal consequences impacts your ability to fight. This was true for everyone, officers, enlisted, pilots, grunts on the ground. This created a lot of hesitation. It impacted tactical decision making. It also impacted the willingness of commanders to push their troops into situations. <br><br>In World War Two we did mistreat prisoners. We did kill a lot of them. But this never led to prosecutions. Japanese prisoners in the Pacific were tortured and killed all the time. But no one was ever punished. In Vietnam thousands of US troops were prosecuted for crimes committed during the war. Thousands more were let go, but the threat of prosecution impacted the behavior of everyone involved. <br><br>In the end we lost the war because of our hesitation to fight. Because our troops were afraid to fight. Because the threat of legal consequences had made us risk averse.