Are we making the same mistakes in Iraq that we made in Vietnam?
I would like to hear from those that lived during Vietnam and can draw similarities and contrasts.
Military - 9 Answers
Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
No we're not. Our biggest mistake in Nam was sending over troops a little at a time. Instead of doing what we did in Iraq. We should have went in enmass and overwhelmed them and walked righ into Hanoi. Whats wrong now. Is the cleaning up and the outside influence. The locals arent fighting its other arabs. We also need to stop we kicked your ass but we'll pay for the damage mentality.
2 :
I dont think it is possible to compare the two. Iraq has alot more support then Vietnam did. But i just dont think you can compare the two wars at all.
3 :
Im just a kid but i took history class and i think the way we are handling iraq is very much like vietnam. We stepped in the middle of something that was none of our bussiness to step into and we are losing lifes everyday.
4 :
My father was in Nam and I've bee to Iraq twice. They are not the same. Nam was run by the "Wiz Kids" who though technology was the one thing that was needed to win a war. They also only cared about body counts. This war is about setting people free and oil. I'll admit that but we dont care as much about body counts now and the Generals run the war not some punk @ss college kid who's never seen war. and has no idea whats going on in the battlefield.
5 :
Three lessons that we DIDN'T LEARN in Vietnam.... 1) You can't win a war based on trumped up charges. 2) The United States doesn't exactly have the "guerilla" thing down very well. 3) You can't win other peoples civil wars for them. Sound Familiar.
6 :
Yes we only went into Iraq to stop the spread of Communism, we brutalized the Iraqi people and took away their only housing to set up internment camps, and we are not trying at all to set up a decent government because of the overwhelming Communist threat in Iraq. yup sure is exactly like Vietnam *sarcasm* However, people still want to pull out immediately exactly like we did in Vietnam stranding our Allies and the Free Iraqis. And the liberals seem to think the conservatives didn't learn anything from Vietnam.
7 :
No we are not. The Vietnam war was completely different from the war in Iraq. In Vietnam we were trying to defend one nation from invasion and conquest by a neighboring nation. In Iraq we are nurturing one of the world's newest democracies. The Iraqi people have voted for democracy - why don't you listen to them?
8 :
Yes! Although we are trying to 'free' them in Iraq ( and in Nam), we are looking at it trough a democracy approach, and by trying to change their gov to democracy, they probably feel as if we were trying to take their culture away. Also it was not our right nor our business in the first place to invade. If a country wants to be communist or ruled by a dictator that's there problem NOT ours. We can't fix every problem in the world, when we hardly fix our own. Now that the damage has been done it is best i think, if we leave Iraq, but give them the choice of the life they wish to live and help later if they desire. A person can not fix the world, when he himself is torn.
9 :
One person said we "had no business in Vietnam". How about the SEATO treaty? If you've read your Constitution you see "treaties" are the supreme law of this land. However here's what it all came down to: It was a war between wills, we did not equal their political will. So we Vietnamized. We trained and equipped their Army to be like ours. If you lived in those times you'll remember all the young Vietnamese officers in our airports, travelling to and fro to flight school etc. Once we had trained and equipped their Army to be like ours (a very expensive system) they did ok. The last time they encountered the North Vietnamese they kicked their ass(Easter Offensive 1972). However shortly thereafter our Congress cut their funding and renigged on promises of air support. All the while the Soviet Union and Red China stepped up their financial support of North Vietnam. In this phase ,1975 the ARVN collasped. I've talked to several Vietnamese officers who survived 1975, it was impossible to even get their choppers in the air without getting knocked down by SAM's. Many people like to believe that the ARVN didn't want to fight. However the ARVN lost over 500,000 men (twice our WWII losses). I guess that's not good enough for some chickenhawks.Guess what? I served in Vietnam in the Infantry and what I see talked about regarding Vietnam is a mixture of myth and BS.Is Iraq like Vietnam? Fortunately for todays youth they'll never find out. There is no draft anymore and little desire to serve.
10 :
The only similarity is that the media are working against the troops
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