I was just reading Frank Mickadeit's column about anti-Nguoi Viet protester Trong Doan, and was struck that Frank twice referred to the America's involvement in the Vietnam War as an "occupation."

What the United States was doing in Vietnam was fighting communist Viet Cong guerrillas and the North Vietnamese Army in support of an allied government, the Republic of (South) Vietnam. There were more than half-a-million American troops in Vietnam by the end of 1968.

Our military involvement was massive, and during the Johnson Administration we took over primary the conduct of the war from the South Vietnamese government -- but it was not an occupation.

We did not invade Vietnam and take over the administration of that country, as we did in Japan and Germany. There was no American military (or civil) government of Vietnam. An independent South Vietnamese government existed throughout America's involvement in Vietnam. Characterizing our involvement as an occupation is plain wrong.

UPDATE: The Bolsavik agrees with me.