Iraq vs Vietnam?

Question

No matter what you believe about the war, that Bush is a war monger or great leader, whether the war in Iraq is noble or about oil and money. The question is, do you think it will end like Vietnam. Do you think the US will retreat and cut their losses. Remember Saigon fell within hours of the US leaving, do you think the Iraqui war will end the same?

Answer 1

While there are some valid parallels to be drawn between the two conflicts (such as they were both started under false pretenses), the underlying politics of the two situations are very different. In Viet Nam there was the oppressive communist North encroaching on the fledgling Democracy in the South. In Iraq there are three extremely faith-based factions vying for power (Sunnis, Shias, and Kurds) with an outside party (US) calling the shots. Our motives for being in Iraq are also very different than those for being in Viet Nam... there was no monetary gain to be had from fighting the war in Viet Nam, and there most certainly is in Iraq, and I'm not just talking about Oil either. The U.S. has a vested interest in achieving stability in Iraq because then there will be lots of oil money to be spent on lucrative contracts for the companies (Haliburton e.g.) who can rebuild the Iraqi infrastructure, and once Iraq's economy is really booming there will be myriad ways for corporations in the U.S. to exploit it for their own gain. This is a pattern which the U.S. has repeated all across South America, and the entire world for that matter. Viet Nam is small potatoes compared to Iraq... it is a tribute to our superior military technology that we have only been forced to sacrifice 2,500 men in Iraq whereas we sacrificed 52,000 men in Viet Nam.

Answer 2

IMHO, Iraq will not end like Vietnam. There wasn't much to loose in loosing the Vietnam war. Chances of the Vietnamese bringing the war to the US were non-existent. On the other hand, the terrorists already brought the war to the US, even before 9/11. The US simply decided to react to 9/11 in a different manner than it previously had.

Answer 3

Yes, it will (more or less). If you notice, there are several similarities between the two wars. Firstly, US entered both wars with a "noble" intention. Secondly, criticism of the wars started only when US soldiers started dying in large numbers. Vietnam began falling apart with increasing violence, and it's already happening in Iraq. Ultimately, Bush will realize it was a wasteful expenditure, and IF, I repeat, IF his ego doesn't come in the way, he might just withdraw. But I think that it is already being considered but no one is ready to admit it for fear of being labeled hypocrites or whatever.

So to answer your question- will it end the same? Mostly yes. (Or there might be another pack of lies to prove it's not like Vietnam).

Answer 4

There is a big difference between Iraq and Vietnam in terms of whom the U.S. is up against. In Vietnam, the U.S. had to fight the Viet Cong, an organised, unified, highly disciplined guerilla force with the sole objective of overthrowing the South Vietnamese government supported by Washington and to unify North and South. It goes without saying Hanoi backed the Viet Cong. In Iraq the U.S. and the Washington-backed Baghdad government have to fight an insurgency composed of numerous factions and interests. How I see it is the U.S. is in a deeper quagmire in Iraq than it was in Vietnam given that the majority of the U.S. public has earlier on opposed U.S.involvement in Iraq. It is more difficult for the U.S. to extricate itself from Iraq because it has to deal with so many adversaries who are also fighting against one another. Note the clash between the Shiites and Sunnis. On the other hand, in Vietnam the adversary was clearly defined. This clarity allowed Henry Kissinger to negotiate in Paris with Le Duc Tho, Hanoi's point man.

Answer 5

South Viet Nam had a specific country enemy, North Viet Nam. Iraq has al-Qaeda, a terrorist organization. that is made up of combatants from many countries. As terrorism has to be stopped or it will become a threat to all nations, a solution of just pulling out when the enemy closed in, as was done in South Viet Nam, is not an option.

Answer 6

The counter way of existence in the 60's replaced into about being adversarial to conformity. We were extraordinarily threatened through the Soviet Union and it extremely freaked them out besides to being compelled to serve in a relative lack of existence catch. there have been no tries to win the warfare because we were fearful of what the Soviets would do. It replaced into run incompetently and micromanaged from the White domicile. the most important distinction is the competition in this "warfare" in ninety 9% political partisanship so the infantrymen are not quite resented. purely an total fool ought to overlook about what Saddam replaced into. we are obviously, to all people who's rational, attempting to ascertain a strong authorities for the poeple of Iraq.

Answer 7

Saigon was also under siege at the time. I don't think it will be as quick unless the Iraqi army is still loyal to Saddom

Answer 8

The USA will get driven out eventually or a peace cndidate will get elected and withdraw

Answer 9

yes I do think so.

Answer 10

GOD knows