You cannot compare the Iraqi war to the Vietnam war in
any way, shape or form. This also applys in total casualties. It's like comparing cannonballs to coconuts.
The military dimensions of the two conflicts bear little
comparison. The sheer scale of the Vietnam war in terms
of forces committed and losses incurred dwarfs that of
the Iraq war.
The North Vietnamese army combined with the Viet Cong,
were a strong military force, fighting a war in a larger
theater of battle, thus explaining the loss of more
American lives.
The insurgent enemy in Iraq is smaller in numbers and are
ideologically and organizationally in-cohesive.
The Viernamese communists were fighting for their country,
as well as their principles, while the U.S. had only
principles at stake- and as the antiwar case became steadily more persuasive, even those principles were discredited.
The insurgents in Iraq are not an army, but rather a rag
tag bunch of suicide bombers who no how to use I.E.D.s
The only possibility for decisive victory for the U.S. lay
in complete obiteration of North Vietnam, an alternative
unthinkably barbaric, unimaginably dangerous, and pointless.
Hanoi bent but never broke because it preferred endless war to defeat. Washington bent and finally did break because the public preferred defeat to an endless war.
This appears to be the only similarities between Vietnam and Iraq. Defeat vs. an endless war
Ratios
Vietnam 1969- Troops in country 500,000
Iraq 2007- Troops in country 135,000
Vietnam 1968- U.S. Troops killed 16,589
Iraq present- U.S. Troops killed since "victory'
was proclaimed 2,873.
Do the math and add ten years to the Iraqi war...
Like I said Cannonballs compared to Coconuts.
Cannonball And Coconuts
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The people of Iraq need our help. We are facing a common enemy, the Baathist remnants and Al Queda in Iraq. If we cut and run, Al Queda, which is spoiling for a fight in any event, will follow us to the US and the chaos will move here.
If we stay and fight it out we'll have a strong Iraq, which will be our ally, and Al Queda will be enormously damaged. Don't bring up that bromide that Al Queda weren't allied with Saddam; they are certainly allied with his ex-forces today, and the future they have to offer the country is a return to Taliban-style rule, with the torture chambers and stark evil that implies.
What would you like to see happen in Iraq?
D