"It's time we recognised that ours was, in truth, a noble cause." (President Nixon)

On 2 September 1945, nationalist leader Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnamese independence from France.

"All men are created equal," he said, "endowed with the rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

These words were taken directly from the US Declaration of Independence and were a direct appeal to the government in Washington for aid and recognition.

Despite Vietnamese refusals of help from both China and the Soviet Union, the US cast Ho Chi Minh as the partner of a Chinese-led communist conspiracy and declared war on Vietnam.

In 1965, US troops landed on China Beach in central Vietnam believing they were repelling a Communist invasion from the North on the freedom-loving people of the South.

One of those troops, Robert Muller, who was decorated for bravery, said: "It didn't take long to have that explode into the myth that it was. Vietnam was a lie. It was a lie from the beginning, throughout the war, and even today as they are trying to write it into the history books."

"A retreat of the US from Vietnam would be a Communist victory of massive proportions and would lead to World War Three," claimed Nixon.

"If we withdrew from Vietnam, the communists would control Vietnam. Pretty soon Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and all of South East Asia would be under the control of the communists and the domination of the Chinese," claimed John F Kennedy.

World War Three, of course, never materialised.

Instead, a war-ravaged Vietnam was abandoned to fend for itself. As punishment for their audacity to defeat the United States, they became the victims if a twenty-five year Western embargo.

The Vietnamese may have beaten the United States, but Washington still controlled their destiny.

Invasion of Cambodia | Aftermath of War