I was in Vietnam for a few days on business. When business was over, we got a chance to visit the Cu Chi tunnels just North of Saigon. The Americans tried to carpet bomb the tunnels to oblivion. Didn't work. They tried tunnel rats, mostly poor Mexican guys who were unlucky enough to get drafted to fight in a country half a world away, but even that didn't work.

The tunnels themselves are a feat of engineering. They run for an area of around two hundred kilometers and were built entirely by hand. No fancy tools or anything.

I can imagine how the GIs must have felt... fighting an enemy that seemed to rise up from the ground. Not comprehending how an enemy in front of you can suddenly be behind you.

As was qouted to me by someone, "The Americans may have never lost a battle in Vietnam. But they sure as hell lost the war."

Having seen the Cu Chi Tunnels, I can understand how that could have been.