Iraq Is Not Vietnam
The very Greek-sounding General Petraeus has been making headlines this week because he’s finally reporting to Congress, with what was expect: military action is going well, setting up a government not so well. The news hasn’t been that noteworthy, since everyone is hearing what they expected to hear, but one thing did bother me.
On congressman compared Petraeus’ report to being similar to a 1967 report that said the war in Vietnam was going well. Since it’s the 5,000th time we’ve heard “Iraq = Vietnam,” let’s set a few things straight:
- We didn’t take down Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam, but we captured the dictator of Iraq and toppled his government. There is zero possibility that Saddam Hussein ever wins this war because he’s dead.
- That 1967 Vietnam report was given before the Tet Offensive and the horrible year in 1968. Just because there was a positive report in Vietnam doesn’t mean a positive report in Iraq is meaningless. (Of course, Democrats could just interpret this as meaning “we’re due” in Iraq for some bad news. I can actually hear them saying that.)
- Democrats started Vietnam and Republicans ended it (at least as the Presidency is concerned).
Number one was the major difference. However, there are one or two similarities that might be mentioned:
- People say you can’t win wars against “isms,” even though the 20th Century essentially saw the defeat of Fascism and Communism. Now we’re fighting the “unwinnable war” against terrorism.
- John Kerry said that communism couldn’t be stopped back in Vietnam. In Iraq, he’s basically saying that terrorism can’t be stopped.
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September 15th, 2007 at 1:11 pm
I would debate the difference between ‘isms’ like Fascism/Communism and Terrorism. Whereas political movements have clearly defined leaders, terrorism is a tactic for which there is also no agreed upon definition even between US agencies. And while we did defeat Russian Communism, I would not necessarily call communism gone and done for.
However, overall I do agree with the article. Iraq does not equal Vietnam. If anything such comparisons will only create more problems for any military or political action there.