How similar is the Vietnam war and the Iraq war?

[Clintonista2]

[sailor65]

1. I've had many, many, many

conversations about Vietnam over the years with my Father, who spent a very long time there. For all its own faults, Iraq is nowhere near Vietnam yet. A very unpopular position, I'm aware, but that's the deal.

[MichiganVote]

2. Depends on what you're comparing doesn't it?

[sailor65]

4. I think you're right

it depends on what you compare, but on most fronts that is my opinion based on what i've learned from my Father and my own experiences (Which do not include this go-around, admittedly).

[Cleita]

10. There was a lot we didn't know about Vietnam until years

after the fact and this was when we had a press that tried to get to the bottom of things. I imagine we don't have a clue about the worst of Iraq yet, and we don't even have an honest press trying to find things out this time. I have a horrible feeling Iraq is going to make Vietnam look like a picnic when all the facts come to light.

[Faygo Kid]

3. Which is worst? I have to say Iraq, despite the body count.

I believe there were sincere ignoramuses at work in Vietnam. Stupid, with no sense of history. But Iraq was far more intentional. Vietnam destroyed LBJ; W. revels in Iraq - he loves it, it's his video game war. There is genuine evil at play with Iraq. There was genuine tragedy involving Vietnam.

Also, the lessons of Vietnam were never supposed to be forgotten. Until Cowboy George and his neocon sidekicks took power - the worst political tragedy in the history of the United States, with more than a year to go.

God help us. Or some deity, anyway.

[Basileus Basileon]

5. Worlds apart.

Vietnam was done to fight the spread of a system of government. Iraq wasn't. Vietnam was fought against a state employing guerilla tactics. There is no state enemy in Iraq. There were peace negotiations in Vietnam. There are none possible in Iraq. Vietnam had a popular resistance movement against America and South Vietnam. In Iraq, there are many local militias, tribes, and terror networks, each of which with its own goals and own enemies. Vietnam was a war of conscripts, Iraq a war of volunteers. Vietnam had large-scale strategic bombing, whereas Iraq does not.

Both involve unconventional warfare, and in both any "victory" could not possibly outweigh the costs, but the contexts and implementations of both are extremely different.

[BobRossi]

6. Very different.

If you mean the war itself, in Nam for the most part we fought against a well organized government sponsored military.
If you mean how America has responded to the war, there is a huge difference, primarily in how apathetic most people are today likely due to the absence of a draft.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

7. There is no draft. End of discussion.

As a union sheet metal worker, I have personally removed HVAC ductwork from WWII made from coffee cans because steel was being used for the war effort. I have watched my stepbrothers, one who died from a Heroin overdose after running from the draft board for several years in an attempt to be classified 4F, another who went to Viet Nam who now lives in the jungles in Hawaii because he is so fucked up after that experience. The difference is that the American public has not been asked to do anything but go shopping for Bush's war.

What bullshit!

[FightingIrish]

8. Vietnam was a war against an ideology that an entire

generation had been conditioned to hate. Iraq is a war against a religion that we have only recently chosen to see only in its most radical form. Both wars were about oil. As a crew member of a US Navy patrol plane, I remember the daily flyovers of the Spratly Islands where Standard Oil was competing with other "countries" for control of South China Sea oil. Both wars were about wasting our kids for the needs of our sacred corporations.

[IndianaGreen]

9. The one thing in common between Vietnam and Iraq is that they ended in US defeat

and that the Congress and political leadership in the country were afraid to admit defeat, so they continued to fund and prosecute the war.

[benddem]

11. aside from the weather and terrain

there are significant similarities and differences. The injuries are far worse and will have really long term societal effects. The TBI which also occurred in Nam..which they had but didn't distinguish it from concussions occurred with much less frequency. Triple amputees rarely survived in Nam. The PTSD is also similar but it seems although fewer soldiers are serving in Iraq, they are going back for multiple tours. But the major similarity is the way we fight. We take territory, both the Viet Cong & NVA and Iraq insurgents create havoc and then move off in the night. They don't care about taking objectives. We tried to clean up Fallujah the Iraqis left. Then they came back. Even though they've studied insurgencies...we just don't know how to fight them.

[ellisonz]

12. Somewhat different.

[XemaSab]

13. The casualty numbers (for our side) are nothing like 'Nam.

Yet. :(

[MrSlayer]

15. In the first five years of Vietnam we lost less than half of what we've lost in Iraq.

It will be five years in Iraq this coming March and we're already over 3,800 soldiers KIA. In the first five years of Vietnam 1961-65 we lost 1864 soldiers KIA. In 1966 it started going crazy with 4000+ KIA in consecutive years until 1971, topping out in 1968 with 14,549 KIA. Hopefully, we get the hell out of there before it becomes a war where the pigs can institute a draft and get the numbers they'd like to use as fodder. A bigger army means more weapons and equipment needed and thus more government money in the coffers of the contractors. The whole thing is sickening.

http://www.rjsmith.com/kia_tbl.html

http://icasualties.org/oif/

[Thothmes]

16. Your Time Line

1964 was the first time that American troops were employed in larged combat units (company and larger) against the VC and the NVA. Before 64 American military personnel were advisors to units of the South Viet Namese aremy. Your kill statistics should start with 1964 when the Americans took over the majority of responsibility for fighing the North Vietnamese forces. This is much more like the fighting in Iraq than our pre 64 involvement. JMO

[MrSlayer]

14. The only real difference is that there was a draft for Vietnam.

Both were unnecessary wars fought against the boogeyman of the day for the purpose of profitteering. Vietnam wasn't a war against communism any more than Iraq is against terrorism.