What war will history view as the bigger foreign policy blunder for America.: Iraq or Vietnam?

Question

I'm thinking it will be Iraq.

While Vietnam should never have happened, the pretenses foe the Iraq War were totally false.

Answer 1

It can not be determined yet because the Iraq war is still on going. History can't judge a current event. Wait until the outcome and then you can let the spin machine begin.

Answer 2

Vietnam depending on when you believe the war started lasted at least 11 years and killed over 50,000 people. Iraq is still going on so we will have to let history decide. Right now my vote was putting Saddam Hussein in power and giving him weapons.

Regerugg you must give a definition of victory, because I still see the President making surprise visits to Iraq and now a Foreign Service Officer has said that going to Iraq to work in the embassy is tantamount to a death sentence. If this is victory I really hate to see your definition of losing.

As for Vietnam, we had a enemy that was shooting behind rocks and trees while we were marching in a straight line. We had an enemy that had nothing to lose and were fighting for what they saw was right. Seems I remember this in another war. Sure we could have turned Vietnam into a parking garage, but what was the point in that.

Answer 3

Iraq. The US entered Vietnam citing the domino theory, i.e., if the US didn’t stop the communist takeover of Vietnam, then communism would spread to the rest of Southeast Asia. The theory was wrong but understandable, given the climate of the times.

The invasion of Iraq, on the other hand, was described as part of the attempt to combat terrorism. As such, it has, predictably, had the opposite effect. This was an obviously wrong aggressive move to create American influence in a sovereign secular nation in a highly volatile area where Islamic extremists had been trying to make gains. Iraq had not been involved in the terrorist activities that we were supposedly combating and various specious reasons were given for the invasion. The worldwide resentment that this invasion has created is also unparalleled in American history.

Instead of attempting to contain a threat, the invasion of Iraq has helped spread chaos, not only inside Iraq but outside, and has helped Islamic terrorist groups to gain recruits. In addition these actions have given Iran undue power and influence in the Middle East.

Our involvement in both wars was started based on ignorance of the local and regional situations but the actions in Iraq have ramifications that will affect many nations for decades to come. It was a horrendously bad approach to combating Islamic terrorism.

Answer 4

You are wrong on both counts. Both wars had a purpose. The war in Iraq has been won. The left wing liberal loonies sabotaged the war effort in Vietnam, just when the enemy was ready to fold.
The people in Iraq are better off. Those in Vietnam have been living under communism.

Answer 5

Duh! Vietnam! As was stated over 55,000 American dead. We bombed truck parks and empty fields because the Dem in the White House at that time didn't have the balls to fight a war to win. When it was over the Dems de-funded the South Vietnamese Army, thus insuring their defeat and the subsequent slaughter of hundreds of thousands of people. In Iraq we have liberated millions of people from under the boot of a ruthless dictator who repeated violated international laws and sanctions. Of course this will all mean nothing to you since you're already on to your second cup of Kool-Aid by now!

Answer 6

Talking about history you have to wait on that one.

I know it is popular and you are wrong about totally false.

1. saddam was in violation of UN resolutions
2. he was a awful dicator

I know you love the WMD line as the only one but there were other reasons.

The Democrats agree that he had WMDs even Bill Clinton.

Again when it comes to how history will judge an event you don't do it tell it is done and the emtions of the time have past.

Answer 7

if u are talking abt casualties of american soldiers only then it is veitnam

if u are considering all factors including impact on iraqi people iraq as a country oil prices and total loss then certainly iraq

Answer 8

Iraq.

Since Reagan swaggered into office, America has been committing genocide against the Iraqi people in multiple ways. Bear in mind that these "evil" Iraqis never attacked the United States or its citizens. Their crime? Ostensibly it was that their tyrannical leader, Saddam Hussein, needed to be deposed, they possessed weapons of mass destruction, they were a threat to the United States, and eventually were complicit in 9/11. But for those who live in reality, the Iraqis’ true "sins" were possessing vast quantities of oil, daring to sell their oil for Euros instead of the almighty Dollar, and posing a "threat" to poor little Israel, a nation bristling with military firepower and enjoying the unflinching support of the most powerful military in the history of humanity.

As an aside, if the “infinitely benevolent” United States bore the responsibility of removing Hussein to “liberate the Iraqis”, a question naturally arises. Which nation will liberate the world from Bush and his team of despicable Neocons?

Once the Bush Regime seized power, the "slow motion holocaust" was no longer satisfactory. In enabling or causing 9/11, they had the Pearl Harbor they needed to launch ”full speed genocide". Spinning incredibly absurd yarns linking Saddam Hussein to Osama bin Laden while "proving" that Hussein had weapons of mass destruction (and the means to unleash them), the nefarious ones whipped the American public into a "patriotic" fervor. Driven by fear of the "terrorists" and the lies of the mainstream media, the American public zealously supported the "Shock and Awe" campaign.

Conveniently, the Neocons and their media handmaidens neglected to inform the American public that as a former ally, the US had a degree of complicity in Saddam's crimes against humanity. They also failed to mention that our government had committed similar offenses during the Gulf War and had engaged in the passive mass murder of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis by strong-arming the UN into maintaining the economic sanctions for 12 years. Or perhaps by Neocon moral reckoning, two wrongs do make a right and they decided it would be frivolous to rehash America's "heroic efforts" to end Hussein's tyranny.

In December 2005, George Bush himself publicly admitted that his Regime bears responsibility for at least 30,000 Iraqi civilian deaths since the start of the illegal Occupation in 2003. The Lancet Journal released a study in October 2004 which concluded that the number was close to 100,000 at that time. A more recent study referenced in an article in The Canadian places the number at 250,000. The Neocons certainly have accelerated the pace of the Iraqi genocide.

Answer 9

Iraq. Lies were concocted and told to the world. International laws were defied. Thousands of Iraqis have died. Corporate corruptions like Halliburton profiteering in Iraq. Human Rights abuses. Gross violation of American privacy by Bush and Company. And so on

Answer 10

Vietnam. The death toll was much higher. Not to mention the draft.