Is Iraq Another Vietnam?

The similarities between Vietnam & Iraq our extraordinary

Lets be honest, and put our political aspirations aside...I don't care if you were for the war or against the war, because that is the past so lets forget about it

What I want to know is to honestly ask our selves if Iraq is another Vietnam or pretty damn close?
Lets look at what exactly is happening

We don't know when were leaving
We are fighting a never ending war
Our Soldiers are dying daily
We don't have an exit strategy
We don't even know who were fighting! (Saddam-loyalists, Muslim extremists, Anti-Americans, angry Iraqi citizens)


If you disagree and think Iraq is nothing even close to another Vietnam I would like to hear why you think so

Thank you

i think that iraq is definately on its way to becoming another Nam

the iraqis seem to have a copy of the vietcong strategy book (available at all good bookstores), geurilla warfare, 'Terrorism', suicide bombings, 'kidnapping' american soldiers (funny that its kidnapping and not taking POWs like what the coalition does)...

and the yanks are doing the same things too. killing civs (accidently AND ON PURPOSE), using napalm (illegal under the UN if i remember rightly), beating up POWs, getting their butts kicked (ooops! did i say that?)

Its as pointless as Vietnam, but will not be as deadly for either party. It will still be deadly though.

that i belive it could get as bad as vietnam if the people of america dont do something quick! just think of the american GIs and the british Squaddies who are dying each day just so some RatBastad safe in an office somewhere can line his pockets with money!

current mood:

Just why exactly is Iraq like another Vietnam.....really?
Kill...you gave some legit reasoning. But "what" exactly is the reasoning behind your thinking this. I'm sure that some think as you do, there is nothing wrong with thinking or feeling that way. I do think that in all honesty that the two...Iraq and Veitnam...are starkly different. In a conflict, similarities will be a "given".
Daystar commented that "the iraqis seem to have a copy of the vietcong strategy book". Maybe that is another similarity....another "given for this day and age.
Personally, we all know that, in truth, it is the press, the media, that it is making seem 'similar'....in particular, the mainstream "leftist" press and media.
It harks back to the old saying that if you read it and think about it long and hard enough, you'll eventually start believing it. The sad part is, people will vote based on "perceptions."

IMHO, I don't see this as a Vietnam.....why?

First off.....no draft.

Secondly, comments are thrown around that" Our Soldiers are dying daily". Wrong. Take this for an example: we have lost 57 in ambushes since May 1, a period of about 148 days, which averages to about one death every two-and-a-half days. So far our combat deaths in Iraq are about 200, compared to what - about 50,000? - in Vietnam. And the Vietnam war went on for more than ten years, whereas this war (including the post-war recovery with its attendant dangers and tasks) is not yet in its sixth month, with the major fighting concluded in less than two months.

Just looking at the numbers, the height of conflict in Vietnam featured some 200 KIAs daily, versus a half dozen KIA on a bad week in Iraq. Every soldier lost is a tragedy, but there's little reason to believe Iraq could become either the military or political debacle that was Vietnam. Not even close. The Iraqi guerrilla forces don't have the external logistics, popular support, supply channels, or command hierarchy that the Vietcong did.

The military industrial complex went to LBJ and he gave them a war with restrictions that the US could not win.

"Perceptions" play the role.......
Facts will be discarded or dismissed for the greater "perception". Example: The fact that NVN actually lost every battle of the Tet offensive had nothing to do with the supposed "perception" afterward that the US was losing in Vietnam - Iraq will become "another Vietnam" when the screeching of those claiming that Iraq is another Vietnam drown out those rational voices trying to talk about the facts - not too long off IMHO......

Comments are made to the extent that "We don't have an exit strategy". The key to our exit strategy is obvious: train up Iraqi soldiers, arm Iraqi people so everyone has equal say in matters, and leave. We cannot bring the mountain to Muhammad. Either Muhammad will embrace freedom, or he will get bogged down in bloody civil war. I believe in achieving that goal (exit strategy and rebuilding) as quickly as possible, then leave.

Besides, the experts at LRC www.lewrockwell.com... have already determined that the mantle of the "New Vietnam" is Liberia already.

There can only be one 'New Vietnam'. The best Iraq can hope for is to be the 'Formerly New Vietnam', or maybe 'The Quagmire Formerly Known As The New Vietnam'.


Here's some interesting articles suggesting opposite of what this topic indicates and what some may feel, perceive, or think:

"Why Iraq is not like Vietnam"
Link:
www.csmonitor.com...

"Jack Kelly: Iraq is no Vietnam"
Link:
www.post-gazette.com...

"The Vietnam Playbook"
Link:
www.nationalreview.com...

"Iraq isn't Vietnam"
Link:
dynamic.washtimes.com...


regards
seekerof

I don't think the war will last long enough so that 56,000 people will die in the Iraqi desert. I think that is the number of Vietnam causalties. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

I'll answer the question in 10 years time

Seeker of, while your points are valid, they are entirely too premature. \


For starters, the war is not over, the big invasion yes, but now its gurilla warfare. Guerilla warfare was the major fighting in Nam.

Nam didnt start out this nasty in the first few months we were there. But it escalated.

Bush says we will be in Iraq for YEARS. Thus, given that kind of timespan, we will end up with Vietnam 2. We just need years for the resistance to build up, the fighters to arrive from everywhere, ect.

We have only lost 56 to enemy ambushes thus far, but count on that to get higher. remeber, no one was expecting the Tet offensive.

We dont have the draft YET. But Rumsfeld has been toying with the idea. All this talk about not enough troops is just foreplay. If this mess continues, count on the draft coming back, because already, America's youth has become disiniterested in the military, given the amount of bull#, the steady decline of quality of life and benefits, and the fact that they simply have no inclination of going to other countries fighting wars that are pointless. if Americas military was soly for its own defense and kept here at home, and only used when we are directly threatened, then we would have no problems recruiting.

But military num,bers have gone down, and so has the quality, even without a drafteee army.

The numbers of deaths will increase, the numbers of parents and wives and husbands who recieve thier loved ones in black plastic bags will increase.

And what of the Balkans? Another mini Nam. Tho it has been relatively silent, again, Clinton the # who sent troops there on Christmas day while he was getting sucked off by Monica left us with no exit strategy there either. We are still there. And we want the # out.

Iraq is bigger, hostilities rising. And according to Bush and his goons, we will be there YEARS.

Just like nam.

I think Iraq could well become a Vietnam scaled war. I mean when America began moving troops out to vietnam in the 60's they were acting as peace "keepers" and just overseeing things there. It was an escalation from there and became such a long war. The situation in Iraq has the potential to be just a volatile especially with the current world climate. .

Iraq has oil, Vietnam had squat. We should have let those twits learn to hate communism like NK.

Vietnam had communists..
A victory in Vietnam wouldnt have been for resources, but for 'hearts and minds', showing capitalism is better than communism....

capitalism and communism are both failures dudes. communism is way better though.

Even though this started out with Junior, in the steps of his daddy, wanting to gain a substantial source of petrol, and a generous foothold in the Mid-East, to assist the transplanted Europeans. I honestly think that the motivational drive was the inlaid characterization of Junior with the statement that he is a criminal. That is another subject altogether. Only the ones whom have possessed the power know as to what extent it can be utilized. I honestly believe that until the US backs out and allows the UN to intervene it will continue as it has. I do not know if you know or remember the "militia" uprising in Texas during the 70's, actually it was a group of lower middle income ranchers being overrun and controlled into extinction by the more well to do or those whom gave into conformity easily. (Am I off topic.) They were making "terrorist" so they could achieve their desired ends. I had sent out several attempts of communication prior to the invasion to no avail. It was not in their agenda.

[Edited on 1-10-2003 by lonedaddy]