In what respect can the Vietnamese War be compared to the war in Iraq?

Answer 1

ok, how they say gorilla war fair, means no uniforms, no organize military man.

the only difference was and is, in Vietnam the weather was hot,
humid, and there where in jungles most of the time.

in Iraq, the weather is hot as hell, sand, dusts and very dry.

Answer 2

Both were not straight-up fights, army vs. army. Both were US military against an unseen and unknown local force.
Both were undeclared wars.
Both involved an advanced military vs. an insurgent local military, with backing from outside the country.
Both lacked the support of the media in the USA.
Both saw an attempt by the politicians to determine how to fight a war.
Both were effectively started by the Democrat administration but it brought down the following Republican administration.

But, there are many, many crucial differences as well ...

Answer 3

IN the fact: that both actions rapidly became political games rather than the solutions against evil they were intended to be.

In the fact: both lack(ed) the support of the media, especially televised media, and therefor, lack(ed) the support of the public.

In the fact: sadly, the VOCAL American public seems to lack the ability or desire to think through difficult events on their own, without succumbing to the not-so-subtle guidance of the politically motivated, well publicized, few and as such, abuses their power.

In the fact: the squeaky wheel gets the grease, regardless of whether the other wheels could use some! That is, to re-state, that the vocal few get the attention, while the more thoughtful, quiet, respectful, and supportive majority get none. Consider here the ONE soldier who speaks out and states his opinion that the war is wrong or we shouldn't be there and gets his opinion televised all over the world, in every living room or kitchen. Or the celebrity (like Hanoi Jane) who does the same with the same result. Now consider the thousands of soldiers who quietly and with little complaint go about their business of making the world a better and safer place, even knowing that they may pay with their lives. Our safety and the need to see that all peoples are treated humanely is just THAT IMPORTANT TO THESE DECENT AMERICANS. Where is the instantly televised or championed report of that behavior of a majority? I haven't seen it, have you?? How often??

In the fact: due to the televised news with it's carefully selected pictures (meant to shock and upset, of course, to get the best ratings) and the political machine which has erroneously determined that the noisy American is the only American, there has evolved a policy of being antagonistic and oppositional to ANY policy put forth by the current Commander-in-Chief. This based on the kindergarten level concept that to topple the king of the hill you have to say bad things about him, even if you don't have a clue whether the stuff you are saying is true or more importantly, morally right!

In the fact: even though in a minority, against world-wide-politics, our country chose to display it's backbone and do the right thing and attempt to protect not only our country's people but another country's people against a regime which threatened to advance a terribly anti-freedom, anti-human rights policy. Kinda like putting up the sand bags and then tearing down the broken dam and trying to rebuild it properly. Sadly, somewhere along the way the ideology of taking care of the downtrodden and oppressed, and protecting ourselves from the evolution to power of a heinous mentality, we lost out to the reality of the news machine needing something colorful, obnoxious and totally oppositional to the chosen course, to report. Ratings.

In the fact: that in attempting to do the afore mentioned, our leadership forgot just how much power the politicians have given the fickle and uncaring minority of the vocal Americans and failed to factor in a strategy that would counter that wave against it, resulting in a military force with low morale and not enough logistical support from a country now afraid to commit the resources necessary to complete the original protective and humanitarian mission.

In the fact: that once again, as a country, we have fallen victim to allowing ourselves to be run by another "Royal Family" or "Monarchy" otherwise know as the "press" and/or "politics". Too many Americans have mistakenly chosen to believe that if it is on the news, in the newspaper, or a celebrity says it, it must be true. Look at all the years we let Dan Rather report the news in his terribly slanted and non-fact based way! So much easier than actually utilizing our own brains, isn't it? Sadly, this has resulted in another unfinished attempt to rid the world of a serious threat to humanity as a whole.

In the fact: that the decision makers in this country have forgotten that to NOT stand against evil anywhere is to perpetuate it and provide a safe nest in which it will become bigger and stronger and gather it's resources until on a given day in the future, the world pays oh so dearly for that chosen blindness. Consider how Hitler and Nazi Germany came to all their power. Had we but stood against THAT in the beginning, instead of trying to appease it, we would have stopped it AND all the atrocities it ultimately committed against man. How do we forget this???

In the fact: that there were lessons learned in previous situations that our political and televised arena are choosing to forget. Again, how do we forget this??? Sadly, this determines our future to be a repeat of past mistakes.

In the fact: that we don't have to lose this war and we didn't have to lose Vietnam. As a politically driven machine, the politicians given the power to lead this country in a way that brings about good for the majority have chosen instead to lead only the choices that promote their own selfish agendas. Sadly, they aren't standing for US (the quiet majority) they are standing for themselves.

In the fact: THAT IF the political foes of the Bush Administration would SHUT UP long enough to THINK and REASON they could get together and develop a strategy for completing the mission that spoke to the good of our country, rather than to the good of themselves. Our policy as a country should not be pro-Bush or anti-Bush, but it should be PRO-American, PRO-Human Decency and ANTI-evil and/or terrorism! The Vietnam era politicians could have done the same, sadly, they also chose not to.

IN THE FACT: we (the silent majority) didn't protest the protesters loudly enough THEN and we haven't managed to be loud enough NOW.

Answer 4

Neither were declared "a war" by Congress. They are Military actions.
Most importantly both seem to divide the AMerican people.

Answer 5

In the respect that it seems endless with no discernible signs of progress, regardless of how many men die or the astronomical amount of money spent. Also in the fact that many Americans just don't understand what we are doing there in the first place.

Answer 6

well for starters both wars are with out a frontline, both involve guerilla fighters as the opposition. Both wars have split the country

Answer 7

The most important similarity and difficulty is that American soldiers don't know what they are fighting for, don't understand the local culture and worst of all, they can not identity their enemy because it could be a civilian, a woman and even a child.

Answer 8

Both wars had Americans polarized against whether they should be there or not.