A question about the Iraq and Vietnam wars?

Question

I know many people were against the Vietnam war, the country did not want that war. That war was was lost.
Many people did not want the Iraq war, many people are against it, and that war is as good as lost.

Is having a lot of people against the war a major factor in winning or losing a war?

Was there another war where a lot people were against it, yet the USA won anyway?

Answer 1

It amazes me how many people still aren't paying attention. Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11. Had the US been using the bushit doctrine when Japan attacked the US in 1942, the US should have retaliated by attacking China, or Mongolia, or Tibet - probably China since they may have oil.

I don't think there were any weapons of mass distraction in 1942, so can't toss that red herring in.

Answer 2

We really never lost a war before Nam. I heard my dad talking about how many times he would come home from leave after helping fight the war, he would have trash thrown on him and be spit on. I think that really demoralized the men. They didn't have much support. The thing about the Iraqi war is that it started out almost the same as WW2 started for us. America was attacked. We weren't prepared. I don't want to hear about that some people knew about it, that is not the point. Most people didn't know about it. People were all for stopping the Taliban and getting the warlords out there. We got one, but now no one seems to care. Everyone seems to have forgotten. WW2 had one of the biggest enlistments ever. There was support throughout the entire war. That is probably one of the reasons we won. I fear that if Americans don't stand together during this war, we will lose.

Answer 3

The insurgents in Iraq are using the same play book that was designed by the architects of the Viet Nam war, Moa and Ho Chi Minh. In assymetric warfare (where a small group is fighting an larger, better equipped group) small hit and rtun tactics are used almost exclusively. There were no real set-piece battled in Viet Nam until the North Vietnamese Aremy began to regularly enter into the fray.

In Iraq, the regular Iraqi forces were defeated at the beginning of the war, but the insurgency has kept fighting, using classic guerilla tactics, and mixing that with ethnic cleansing/religious cleansing, what have you.

North Viet Nam and the Viet Cong realized that the center of gravity, (that which must defeated- read Von Clausewitz) was not the American armed forces, but the American at home. The average person sitting in front of the TV. Public opinion was manipulated by skillfull timing of peace talk activities, journalistic and public-relations campaigns such as Jane Fonda, and the support of China and the Soviet Union, allowed North Vietnam to capitalize upon the political fallout from what was perceived as a lost cause.

The same has happened in Iraq. And to a greater degree. We began with shock and awe and attempted to defeat the Iraqi center of gravity, their armed forces. We did, but it was not enough to force the Iraqis to sue for peace. The isnurgency has made every effort to reach the politically explosive venues of disaffected youth, religious zealots and remnants of the Baathist regime, to keep the conflagration going. And their mastery of the p[olitical arts is shown by their timing of anouncements by the vasrious leaders, graphic brtality in beheading civilians, and hostage taking.

Answer 4

Yes WWII, Americans had just finished WWI and were trying to get on with their lives...no one wanted to get into any war in Europe...or Japan...but after the bombing in Pearl Harbor...and the finding of the "Death Camps" Americans went to war with a vengence...kicked butt...and yet we there was a win...
on the surface war seems to be lost in Nam....but he poor people who were being slaughtered by the kong were not sorry that the US came to help...just that we were in the middle of our 60s rebellion and had no business making anything worse if we did...if you ask the GIs who came back from there...you would be insulting them for sure...
now in Iraq...there is no info of loss or win...just yet...and dont believe everything you hear about it...the terrorist who created the reason for the war are certainly losing...for sure

Answer 5

I think a war can be won if there is something to be won. In either case there was/is nothing to be won. Vietnam illustrated we cannot force democracy on those who do not want it, yet we are doing it again.

But even when a war is "won", the losses are always too much. There is no such thing as acceptable loss in war.

Answer 6

Sure, many Americans, especially in the New England states, were bitterly opposed to the War of 1812 (they called it "Mr. Madison's War", Madison being the president). But the US at least fought to a draw.

Answer 7

The soldiers morale is a huge factor in determining how hard they fight. If they feel like their own country is against them they don't fight as hard.