Do you think current war in Iraq is another "Vietnam War"?

Question

I support our troops. They protect us in many ways and i value their sacrifice to end terrorism. But do you think this can lead to another disaster like "Vietnam War" where we gained nothing?

Answer 1

The purpose of the military is to destroy the enemies ability to wage war, Bush has consistently refused to commit the resources to accomplish that. Like Viet Nam we face an enemy that can't be distinguished from the general population that we are supposedly there to help, there are no uniformed troops in conventional arms against us. In Viet Nam the enemy had no need to defeat our troops or meet us in pitched battle, all they had to do was prolong the pain until the U.S. voters got sick of it, which they did. If our current leadership has forgotten that, as I believe they have, the Iraqis most certainly haven't, they are using the same tactic. Unless there is a massive change in the way we conduct the campaign, all we are doing is sending our best and bravest to Iraq so that the Sunnis and Shiites can kill us instead of each other. As a Nam era vet who retired after Desert Storm, I, for one, don't see how it supports our troops to support Bush's failed policy.

Answer 2

I said in the beginning that this was going to be another Vietnam. It has a lot of the same traits: Vietnam had Jungle warfare Iraq has Urban warfare. Both the same with one difference one was in the jungle and not the city. Iraq has the potential to gain as long as we remember why we are there and that is the people. I think that the one thing that we don't realize is that we in the USA are a lot more at risk then people realize and that is because all of the military bases are running on skeleton crews. I can speak on this as I am a USMC Vet. When talking to my friends that are still in talk about the bases that I was at like MCAS Cherry Pt, they say that all it would take would be one good calculated simultaneous act of terrorism and the USA would have a serious problem. The Military as a whole is serious depleted and it is having a hard time meeting the recruiting numbers. So when that happens we get the involuntary extensions and recalls. So yes in a sense this is the new Vietnam.

Answer 3

for starters, i don't think people realize how demoralizing it is to our troops to even refer to OIF/OEF as "another Vietnam" if you want something to compare it to, i ask that you at least choose a war, not a police action and preferably something that isn't synonymous with how poorly soldiers were treated during and after. (i mean no disrespect to anyone who fought in vietnam, but it was never ratified by congress and therefore a police action and not a war - which makes for a huge difference betweent he two)
as for gaining nothing - there is always a profit for the winner of a war. whether or not it outweighs the losses is a whole different story. up until i heard from my husband that he was having trouble sleeping because of the multiple explosions and sporadic gunfire i would have said the gain was more than the loss, but at this point i'm not as sure. yes, soldiers are dying & those that aren't are often coming home with nightmares - but that is true of EVERY war. i don't think this is one we can make assumptions about; i don't think we will know the full extent of what was gained and what was lost until we pull most of our forces out. i do not think we are fighting a losing battle, but i do not know that the gains will be worth the loss.

Answer 4

No. President Kennedy sent troops to Vietnam without the consent or even knowledge of the American people. He called them advisers and slow escalated into a full scale war.
The Iraq invasion war vote on by congress and the senate and the American people were aloud to voice their opinion. It could have been stopped if the Democrates feel strongly about it.
Even if you are against the war we had the chance to voice are opinion and maybe stop it but the people in the sixties did not have that chance. That is why there was no support for the that war.

Answer 5

When it hits 6,000+ plus dead a year I will say its another Vietnam. But I do think it's a useless war and the real one is in Afastigian and hunting down Osama Bin Ladin, killing him and as much Taliban and Al Queada as possible. All this is doing is distracting us from that purpose. Three good combat Divisions around Tora Bora a few years ago and this war would already been over. Iraq is an expensive and distracting sideshow.

Answer 6

Talk to any marine. To start with the media is EXTREMELY bias and show countless American deaths making you think we loos all our battles. In reality, the marines have not lost 1 battle since we entered Iraq.

The one similarity is the public and politics are turning on the military. Other than that its completely different. I mean in Vietnam no one understood why we were there. Iraq too.

People say we are not fighting the war on terror. Well in Iraq we are finding, killing and capturing more terrorists and a larger verity than in Afghanistan.

Answer 7

Iraq is not comparable to Vietnam. I wish people would study history a bit. The only similarity is the backstabbing of the politicians and the Yahoo! Libs on Answers. Other than that there is no comparison. The Philippine Insurrection is the more accurate comparison.

Answer 8

It's beginning to look that way. The insurgents look like they are just waiting for the elections in 2008. They are most interested in what happens this November. If they see the liberals taking conservative jobs, this will tell them that the US citizens are ready to surrender aand withdraw our troops, like we did in Vietnam.

The insurgent tactics are starting to look the same as they did in Vietnam. There's no doubt about it, the Islamic playbook is looking more and more like tactics employed by General Giap.

Answer 9

NO I see them as entirely different wars. This is no Vietnam despite the liberals want of locking into the past.

Answer 10

yes absolutely,and they are totally similiar wars in the sense that there is absolutely no way that we can win,we will end up splitting the country in two and running.im sorry to say that some of the younger republicans answering may not know there history to well,but ill save it for a different time.i can guarentee you that we will not leave this war as the triumphant heroes and victors,whether the media says it or not pure logic dictates that when you put a stick in a bees nest and shake it around your just going to keep agitating more and more angry bees,not scaring them into submission,as are arrogant republican friends and government would like us to believe,oh how history repeats itself