In recent political debate there have been many comparisons between the Iraq war and the Vietnam war<ref>http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/08/18/hagel.iraq/</ref> <ref>http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,225911,00.html</ref>.

Causes

Both Wars began with decisions from the President of the United States of America.<ref>http://www.globalwebpost.com/farooqm/writings/contemp/tonkin.htm</ref> Before involvement in the Vietnam War began, the North Vietnamese were falsely accused of having attacked an American Naval vessel in the Gulf of Tonkin,<ref>http://www.nsa.gov/vietnam/</ref> and before the Iraq War, Iraq was claimed to have possessed weapons of mass destruction capable of striking British targets within 45 minutes. Documents indicating that Iraq was trying to source Yellowcake or Uranium ore from Niger turned out to be forgeries. (The 'outing' of former CIA operative - Valerie Plame, is a direct result of her husband - fmr. ambassador Joe Wilson's release of the real Yellowcake information). An intercepted shipment of high strength aluminium tubing from a Jordanian company was said to be for use in a centrifuge for the enrichment of uranium gas into weapons grade uranium. This too turned out to be false as it was later found that the tubes most likely use was that in conventional 81mm rockets. On March 30, 11 days into the war, Rumsfeld said in an ABC News interview when asked about WMDs: "We know where they are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat."<ref>http://www.commondreams.org/cgi-bin/print.cgi?file=/headlines03/1109-11.htm</ref>
The Iraqi regime was misleadingly labeled by members of the Administration of George W. Bush as being associated with Al Qaeda and the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City, USA on 11 September, 2001.<ref> http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3119676.stm </ref>

The use for such false information was for the sole purpose of obtaining the support of the American Media and Public.

During The War

The Vietnam War was a gradual escalation of violence over several years, with increasing U.S. involvement to enforce a U.N mandated division of the country. The Iraq War began when the U.S.-led coalition launched an invasion of the country to remove Saddam Hussein from power for violations of U.N. Security Council resolutions concerning Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programs. NO, THE US CLAIMED THEY HAD PROOF OF WMD!

The Vietnam War was an insurgency from the start, and remained mainly a guerilla war for its duration. The Iraq War started as a conventional war during the initial invasion. It evolved into a guerilla war in the months following the Fall of Baghdad in April 2003.

The Vietnam War was a war of two political ideologies: nationalist forces supporting communism, and forces opposed to communism. The Iraq War is a war among numerous ethnic, religious, and political factions fighting for control of the country.

Countries hostile to the United States and its allies sent money, weapons, and military advisors to both war zones. During Vietnam, the North Vietnamese were supported by China, the Soviet Union, and North Korea. Anti-coalition forces in Iraq are being supported and supplied both directly and indirectly by various countries around the world, notably Syria, Iran, Russia, and China.

Both wars became unpopular in the mainstream media. During the Vietnam War media coverage caused widespread resentment of the war; the same has happened during the war in Iraq.<ref>"Iraq War" by Al Jazeera, talks about how an unpopular war became more unpopular http://www.aljazeera.com/me.asp?service_ID=9964</ref> Opposition to the Vietnam war escalated into political turmoil, rioting, and widespread violent protests. There have been occasional protests against the Iraq War, and these rallies have largely been peaceful.

During the Vietnam war congress began withdrawing funding for the war. During the Iraq War Congress is threatening to withdraw funds<ref>"Kennedy plan would block Iraq funds", MSNBC, talks about how we may be cutting funding for Iraq war. Also, in both the Vietnam War and the Iraq War the U.S. Congress has not specifically declared war on the enemy. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16547303/</ref>

Unlike Vietnam, there have not been any reports of mass resistance to the Iraq war among U.S. soldiers, though there have been several individual refusals to ship (e.g., Pablo Paredes, and 1st Lt. Ehren Watada) or to carry out missions (e.g. 343rd Quartermasters).[863]. This is probably because conscription has not been used to supply manpower for the Iraq war.

At a Press conference on the 7 July 2007 the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus compared the current intensification of the insurgency to the Tet Offensive in Vietnam [864].

The media output regarding the War in Iraq has been carefully controlled. Notably, journalists have been embedded with US "coalition" units and the American public have been banned from seeing pictures as innocuous as flag-draped coffins. This is the general rule concerning all wars and was no different to what it was during the Vietnam conflict.

Both wars saw young American forces in situations where it was very difficult to distinguish between 'friend' and 'foe'. This, along with the already high stress conditions of war and extended tours led to forces committing crimes against the local population. In Vietnam, notably the My Lai Massacre and in Iraq, Haditha Massacre.

In both conflicts the majority of the casualties and fatalities inflicted on American soldiers were attributed to anti-personnel devices placed away from the combat areas, or booby traps. [865]

President Bush on the comparison between Iraq and Vietnam

On August 22 2007 President Bush gave a speech before the Veterans of Foreign wars national convention where he compared cost of withdrawing from Vietnam with the cost of withdrawing from Iraq. "Then as now, people argued the real problem was America's presence and that if we would just withdraw, the killing would end". Bush alleged that America's withdrawal from Vietnam was the reason for the Khmer Rouge taking power in Cambodia and the Viet Cong in Vietnam<ref>a transcript of Bushes speech where Bush alleged withdrawing from Vietnam caused the Khmer Rouge to come to power may be found here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/08/20070822-3.html</ref> Reaction to Bush's comparison range from Gary Kamiya of Salon magazine claiming that the argument is bogus saying it "was a gross distortion of history. In fact, almost all historians agree that it was not the U.S. withdrawal that was responsible for the Khmer Rouge's rise to power and subsequent genocidal campaign, but the Vietnam War itself, and in particular President Nixon's massive bombing of Cambodia"<ref>Salon Magazines rebuff of President Bush's speech http://www.salon.com/opinion/kamiya/2007/08/28/war_myth/ </ref> to William Shawcross, a former Vietnam correspondent who witnessed the aftermath of the war, writing on The Sunday Times warning of "a bloodbath even worse than happened in Indochina" if the Americans withdrew from Iraq.<ref> </ref>

Bush further claimed that Osama Bin Laden had made the comparison between Iraq and Vietnam as well: "In an interview with a Pakistani newspaper after the 9/11 attacks, Osama bin Laden declared that "the American people had risen against their government's war in Vietnam. And they must do the same today." His number two man, Zawahiri, has also invoked Vietnam. In a letter to al Qaeda's chief of operations in Iraq, Zawahiri pointed to "the aftermath of the collapse of the American power in Vietnam and how they ran and left their agents.""<ref> please see http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/08/20070822-3.html again for Bush's speech</ref>

In their article "the "Waning Power of the War Myth", Salon claimed that "The implication of Bush's speech is that there is no real difference between Iraq and Vietnam." and that Bush "is implicitly arguing that we should have stayed in Vietnam, and should stay in Iraq, indefinitely."

Bush acknowledged that after the Vietnam war neither the Viet Cong nor the Khmer Rouge followed the Americans home to continue the war, but said that this time would be different. "Unlike in Vietnam, if we withdraw before the job is done, this enemy will follow us home. And that is why, for the security of the United States of America, we must defeat them overseas so we do not face them in the United States of America.<ref> please see http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/08/20070822-3.html again for Bush's speech</ref>

War Nerd

On April 16 2004, the Exile published an article by Gary Brecher, the War Nerd, entitled "It's Not Nam, But It'll Do" that criticizes the comparisons between Iraq and Vietnam. Brecher suggests that a far better comparison would be between the Iraq War and the 1982 Lebanon War.<ref> </ref>

See also

Comparison of Iraq war to the Algerian War of Independence

==References==