Are the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan bearing any resemblance to Vietnam?

Question

Well?...
Poor treatment of returning vets
Poor equipment to the troops in the field.
Occupying a country whose inhabitants dont really want us.

I could go on, but i'll let you...

Answer 1

Very similar. Interestign that your first respondent said they left Vietnam with their heads held high...hmmm interesting view of history given that actually both the French and the US got kicked and were beaten overwhelmingly depsite badly armed peasant foe - but back to the present...similarities are all there but primarly in the way geo-politics overtook realpolitik - in Vietnam it was about defeating an envisaged dominio effect for Communism in Asia in the Middle East it is about oil and the needs and requirements of the invading states. Both wars feature uninvited liberators. Both feature poorly armed oppossing forces inflicting significant damage on a technologically superior force. Vietnam led to an embittered and prtracted war that could not be won, Iraq is already heading the same way. Both were poorly thougth through and badly executed. Both were unnecessary. Both were illegal. Just surprised that the butcher boy Kissinger hasn't been drafted in to help "resolve" the dispute - hell he could bomb every neutral country as he did with Cambodia that in turn led to the rise of Pol Pot and the massacre of millions..oh damn that could still happen...

Answer 2

We left Vietnam and Congress cut off funding for the South Vietnamese and they were butchered en mass. Also Laos and Cambodia fell to some of the worst conditions on Earth at that time! It happened because the media kept telling the people that we shouldn't be there, we were losing, the Vietnamese hated us, etc, until pretty much everyone believed those lies.

If we back out of Iraq before things are squared away there, let's see, Iraq will become a client state of Iran, and then Afghanistan, which is on the other side of Iran will be over run too.

The Sunni populations will be targeted. The Kurds will be eradicated (Turkey is dying to rid the world of the Kurds, they haven't committed genocide since the Armenians, over a hundred years ago), let alone the other smaller sects, which are numerous over there. But you won't miss them will you, because you have never heard of them anyway!

And we'll look like candy-*** weaklings, ripe for the terrorists' picking. But, gee, as long as the people get what they are told they want, who could complain?

Answer 3

I dont think so. I am in the Army. I think Vietnam was much worse. The way it was fought, the brutality, the after affects.

There are a lot of measures in place to assist veterans today. Believe it, the military learned a lot from Vietnam. It is true that many people have a hard time after returning from deployments, but it is part of life, WAR is part of the the world, its the way it has always been. There will be Wars forever.

BTW the equipment today is the best ever, like really, imagine Wars 200 years ago, no tents, no ready to eat meals, no night vision googles, no internet, no krispy kreme in kuwait.

There will always be people that can't deal with the after affects of the war, but there are some people that love it get a kick out of defending this country.

Answer 4

The tactics used are different. The Vietnamese adopted guerilla tactics, this ment that they would lay down traps such as spikes with urine and feces smeared on them, along with poison. They did this so that an American would stumble across the trap without noticing it and the wound would obviously be very infected and could cause death. The situation in Iraq is different. The terrorists and the community tend to capture people from the American or British army, or innocent British or Americans and torture them and mutilate them, normally beheading them afterwards.

In Vietnam, the Americans were supposed to have treated the Vietnamese people without respect. The Americans shot the farm animals, raped young girls ect.

In Iraq, the American and British soldiers have been accused of treating citizens in a bad way.

So to answer your questions, there are similarities between the two wars.

Answer 5

I have often believed that wars are fought on many levels...We lost the war in Viet Nam on a military basis...

But, we have since won the peace as many of that nations resorts, hotels and tourist attractions are owned and operated by Americans. Entertainers have been known to go there and perform.

There are more than one way to win a war or achieve a desired peace initiative. Militarily in the Middle East there are many causalities as there were in Viet Nam, but, eventually, the rich corporations in the United States will be invited in and in a free market economy we will win in the Middle East as we are winning the 'war' in Viet Nam without the Viet Namesse realizing whats going on.

The similarities are the military operations that are being conducted in the Middle East, the difference, and it is a big difference, the military objectives is being done without the draft. The minute the U.S. government starts to draft its citizens, young people, is when the war in the Middle East will begin to be fought on protest lines and picket signs throughout the world to end the draft.

Hopefully, the war in the Middle East win come to a satisfying conclusion and the troops will come home safely....

And, as I stated in my blog, politics is not a healthy solution or objective for many candidates for public office.

Answer 6

The protests should not be as enormous as Vietnam for following motives:you're ultimate about the draft because it delivered protection stress service to those who did not purchase into that equipment contained in the first position and understand a thanks to artwork it enormous time; next the very huge volume of your tax money going without delay and in a roundabout way into public kin so the records media gained't kill that golden goose; Strike 3 there's a starting to be recognition Capitalism desires wars to exist. regularly solders aren't to any extent further getting used yet reservists so for each product they make even as no longer at warfare it now takes 3 workers.

Answer 7

One main difference: In Vietnam, the troops eventually withdrew from a non-hostile area in the south. The could leave with a shred of dignity.

In Iraq there is no such non-hostile areas for the Americans anywhere near Baghdad.

Things are far worse than the Government or media dare accept. Hence the very scant coverage to the Camp Falcon attack. over 300 troops and more than a Billion dollars of damage in one attack.

Also the death toll for American is rising far faster in this war than it did at the equivalent moment (3 years in) in the Vietnem conflict.

Remember "Mission Accomplished"?, then "Bring 'em on"? then stay the course, followed by stay the course, followed by stay the course, followed by stay the course, followed by stay the course, followed by "opps I never really meant bring 'em on", followed by stay the course, followed by stay the course, followed by stay the course followed by, "We've never been 'stay the course"

How many more lies are you willing to swallow America?

Vote against an incombent and Against Republicans in November.
Vote for a pro peace candidate.

Answer 8

Something big is going down in the middle east and it is more than just oil. Who in there right mind wants a war over there !!!
If they did have the same WMD like the western population do you think they want to be nuked. I don't think so and the perfect example is RUSSIA did they fire there WMD NO SO WHY should the middle east ......ISRAEL wants to live as well as cause trouble !!

Answer 9

No. Iraq and Afghanistan are MIDDLE EASTERN countries without a history of democracy so the people don't want us there.
Vietnam was a SOUTHEAST ASIAN country without a history of democracy so the people didn't want us there.

Answer 10

No, they left Vietnam with their heads held high.

This is unlikely to be the case on this occasion. They gonna get egg on their face and America will once again be ridiculed.

It's a shame becaue they really do MEAN well, it just always turns out wrong. You can't solve arguments with big guns, -unfortunately for them.