So we pulled out of Vietnam, and they're doing alright now, is Iraq diferent?

Question

I'm only young so don't know enough about the Vietnam war as i probably should. But we pulled out of there without winning the war, and not stopping/fixing what we went there to stop/fix. I never hear of the fate of the vietnamese people after the US's withdrawal, but as a country it seems to be doing alright nowadays.

I'm not for pulling out of Iraq, but if we did, in 30 years, would the Iraqi people be as happy as the Vietnamese people now.

Excuse my ignorance on the topics, i'm very proud of my countrymen and women who served in Vietnam, i am trying to educate myself on it all, and trying to compare it to todays situations throughout the world.

Thanks wise Y!A people.

Wow, they're some pretty crazy numbers. Why have i never heard about this.

The withdrawal from Vietnam was a massive human catastrophe. I know there were bigger political issues involved, but gee, that's insane having to let that happen.

I wonder how the anti-war protestors in the US felt after influencing their government to pull out, and then witnessing such things. It really puts things in a diferent perspective.

Thanks for the answers, keep 'em coming.

Answer 1

Vietnam was once called the French Riviera of the Orient. Today it is a third world nation on the verge of bankruptcy. As others have mentioned literally millions died immediately after the US pullout and the war was theoretically "won" by the North Vietnamese. Today, the nation is still suffering under desperate poverty and poor education. Consider that the cities in Vietnam still regularly suffer brown outs because the power systems are neither modern enough nor robust enough to meet the demands of the populace. When was the last time that brown outs were so common across the country that people just accepted them and ceased to even notice when they occurred? Graft and corruption are rampant. Foreign visitors are warned to avoid local police during Tet each year and to take any problems to the national police. Why? Because the local police officers regularly shake down foreigners for some extra spending cash during the holiday because the foreigners don't realize that only the national police can arrest a foreigner. Vietnam was once one of the world's largest producers of exotic hardwoods but today the lumber industry in Vietnam has virtually ground to a halt. Why? Because all the shrapnel in the trees make it too dangerous. Their economy is a shambles from poor management, the pressures of the US embargo (which was really just sour grapes on our part), and lack of investment by the Vietnamese themselves.

The communist takeover did not free the people from oppressive and corrupt dictators, it only exchanged one set of tyrants for another. Power is still consolidated to a select few elite government officials who live like medieval dukes while the most of the rest of the populace live like serfs. Children are still sold to brothels throughout the country - not just in the "corrupt" big cities - and the level of medical care is haphazard at best. This was a nation that had such tremendous promise. Corrupt, selfish, and incompetent leadership (Imperialist, Capitalist, and Communist) have driven it straight into the toilet. One can hope that we can prevent the same thing from happening in Iraq that we let happen in Vietnam.

Answer 2

The Americans, instead of realizing that this is as bad as World War Two, or even worse, are going to pull out of Iraq, handing it over to Iran on a silver platter. Next may come the Saudis and the rest of the Gulf states. When dirty bombs go off all over Western towns, who is going to stop the Iranians?..

I think Hizbullah will attack again as soon as they are fully re-equipped and I think it will be during the summer, while Israel is still in a military and political turmoil. This time you will have to destroy Hizbullah no matter what the cost may be…

I think there are two ways to avoid this Armageddon. One can be a major war which the West can win… Eventually, the West will have to tackle the Iranians, it is better that they do it now to avert a world catastrophe later. With Iran defeated the Islamic onslaught will lose its base, and it may be the turning point in history to defeat the menace of extreme Islam. The majority of the Moslems don’t want this confrontation anyway…

Alternatively, all the West has to do is follow Putin’s ways. He assassinates his enemies without blinking an eye. Assassinate the four or five Mullahs who run the show, Ahmadinejad and a few more Iranian fanatics, and the War can be avoided. It may be difficult to do, but not impossible. With today’s hi-tech technology I am sure that new weapons against individuals are being prepared right now. I think it would be a better way of handling the matter than an all-out war against Islam.”

Source: http://sokol-blog.com/

Answer 3

The only real genocide happened in cambodia. At least 1.5 million Cambodians died from execution, forced hardships, or starvation during the Khmer Rouge regime under POL POT. A December 1978 Vietnamese invasion drove the Khmer Rouge into the countryside, began a 10-year Vietnamese occupation, and touched off almost 13 years of civil war. About VN. It's fine these days. I've been here for years. One of the fastest growing countries today. For the war. It was about attempted profit for the US.

Answer 4

When we left Vietnam by the skin of our teeth, the North Vietnamese rounded up and killed over 3 million people. They sent millions more to concentration/slave camps. They burned all books, tore down all the radio and TV stations, closed all the businesses, confiscated all property.

If you want to know what happened....rent the film "The Killing Fields"......it is an excellent movie and will give you and idea of the aftermath of our involvement in that country.

The same thing will happen when we leave Iraq. Saddam and his Republican Guard were the only things preventing massive religious wars and wholesale murder....

We cannot stop it...it will happen if we leave today, next year or 10 years from now.

We should have left well-enough alone. We had no business invading that country.

Answer 5

Here is your education.

It is estimated that 300,000 South Vietnamese Civilians died during the American phase of the Vietnam War and 300,000 in the related Cambodian Civil War! That is the total for 8 years of conflict!

In the five years after 1975, an estimated 1,000,000 in Vietnam and 2,000,000 in Cambodia died at the hands of their respective 'demonized and misunderstood' Communist Regimes.

They are still considered a 3rd World Country to this day.

Answer 6

The fact that the vietnam war ended the way it did is the reason why there is a North Korean government there doing the things they are. See Iraq and Korea are different countries. The areas within Iraq that are supposed to be the relatively safe areas arent secure.

Answer 7

There is no way for us to know whether the people in Iraq will be happy in 30 years' time.

I do think that it would be irresponsible for us to assume that everything will be fine if we pull out right now.

Answer 8

Let Iraq collapse. Moslem fanatics should not be given a democracy turned theocracy.

Answer 9

THERE WAS A MASS SLAUGHTER IMMEDIATELY AFTER PULL OUT( 150,000+ WITHIN 48 HOURS) AND NOW THE HAVE TO PROSTITUTE THEIR CHILDREN TO EAT. YEH, THEIR DOING JUST FINE.

Answer 10

Vietnam didn't have a civil war