Is Iraq Another Vietnam?

Is Iraq Another Vietnam? PDF Author: Robert K. Brigham
Publisher: PublicAffairs
ISBN: 9781586484132
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
Since the first days of the Iraqi invasion, supporters of the war have cautioned the public not to view this conflict as another Vietnam. They rightfully point to many important distinctions. There is no unified resistance in Iraq. No political or religious leader has been able to galvanize opposition to U.S. intervention the way that Ho Chi Minh did in Vietnam. And it is not likely that 580,000 American troops will find their way to Iraq. However, there are two similarities that may dwarf the thousands of differences. First, in Iraq, like Vietnam, the original rationale for going to war has been discredited and public support has dwindled. Second, in both cases the new justification became building stable societies. There are enormous pitfalls in America's nation building efforts in Iraq as there were in Vietnam. But it is the business we now find ourselves in, and there is no easy retreat from it morally. As American frustration increases, some policy makers are making the deadly mistake of approaching problems in Iraq as if we are facing them for the first time. It is crucial that we apply the lessons of Vietnam wisely and selectively.

Is Iraq Another Vietnam?

Is Iraq Another Vietnam? PDF Author: Robert K. Brigham
Publisher: PublicAffairs
ISBN: 9781586484132
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
Since the first days of the Iraqi invasion, supporters of the war have cautioned the public not to view this conflict as another Vietnam. They rightfully point to many important distinctions. There is no unified resistance in Iraq. No political or religious leader has been able to galvanize opposition to U.S. intervention the way that Ho Chi Minh did in Vietnam. And it is not likely that 580,000 American troops will find their way to Iraq. However, there are two similarities that may dwarf the thousands of differences. First, in Iraq, like Vietnam, the original rationale for going to war has been discredited and public support has dwindled. Second, in both cases the new justification became building stable societies. There are enormous pitfalls in America's nation building efforts in Iraq as there were in Vietnam. But it is the business we now find ourselves in, and there is no easy retreat from it morally. As American frustration increases, some policy makers are making the deadly mistake of approaching problems in Iraq as if we are facing them for the first time. It is crucial that we apply the lessons of Vietnam wisely and selectively.

Iraq and Vietnam

Iraq and Vietnam PDF Author: Jeffrey Record
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
ISBN: 1428910387
Category : Iraq War, 2003-2011
Languages : en
Pages : 76

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Book Description


Tale of Two Quagmires

Tale of Two Quagmires PDF Author: Kenneth J. Campbell
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317251032
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 137

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Book Description
Is Iraq becoming another Vietnam? Author Kenneth Campbell received a Purple Heart after serving 13 months in Vietnam. He then spent years campaigning to get the US out of the war. Here, Campbell lays out the political similarities of both wars. He traces the chief lessons of Vietnam, which helped America successfully avoid quagmires for thirty years, and explains how neoconservatives within the Bush administration cynically used the tragedy of 9/11 to override the "Vietnam syndrome" and drag America into a new quagmire in Iraq. In view of where the U.S. finds itself today -- unable to stay but unable to leave -- Campbell recommends that America re-dedicate itself to the essential lessons of Vietnam: the danger of imperial arrogance, the limits of military force, the importance of international and constitutional law, and the power of morality.

Iraq, Vietnam, and the Limits of American Power

Iraq, Vietnam, and the Limits of American Power PDF Author: Robert K. Brigham
Publisher: PublicAffairs
ISBN: 0786731737
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
Since the first days of the Iraqi invasion, supporters of the war have cautioned the public not to view this conflict as another Vietnam. They rightfully point to many important distinctions. There is no unified resistance in Iraq. No political or religious leader has been able to galvanize opposition to U.S. intervention the way that Ho Chi Minh did in Vietnam. And it is not likely that 580,000 American troops will find their way to Iraq. However, there are two similarities that may dwarf the thousands of differences. First, in Iraq, like Vietnam, the original rationale for going to war has been discredited and public support has dwindled. Second, in both cases the new justification became building stable societies. There are enormous pitfalls in America's nation building efforts in Iraq as there were in Vietnam. But it is the business we now find ourselves in, and there is no easy retreat from it morally. As American frustration increases, some policy makers are making the deadly mistake of approaching problems in Iraq as if we are facing them for the first time. It is crucial that we apply the lessons of Vietnam wisely and selectively.

Is Iraq Another Vietnam? Not for U.S. Troop Levels

Is Iraq Another Vietnam? Not for U.S. Troop Levels PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Iraq is not Vietnam. There are far fewer U.S. troops in Iraq today than there were in Vietnam in the late 1960s, and there are far fewer casualties. Additionally, troop levels are more stable in Iraq, and American strategy in Iraq is less reliant on military muscle and more focused on the political and economic aspects of fighting a counterinsurgency.

Iraq and Vietnam

Iraq and Vietnam PDF Author: Jeffrey Record
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781423516033
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 78

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Book Description
Unfolding events in Iraq have prompted some observers to make analogies to the American experience in the Vietnam War. The United States has, they argue, stumbled into another overseas "quagmire" from which there is no easy or cheap exit. Reasoning by historical analogy is an inherently risky business because no two historical events are completely alike and because policymakers' knowledge and use of history are often distorted by ignorance and political bias. In the case of Iraq and Vietnam, extreme caution should be exercised in comparing two wars so far apart in time, locus, and historical circumstances. In fact, a careful examination of the evidence reveals that the differences between the two conflicts greatly outnumber the similarities. This is especially true in the strategic and military dimensions of the two wars. There is simply no comparison between the strategic environment, the scale of military operations, the scale of losses incurred, the quality of enemy resistance, the role of enemy allies, and the duration of combat. Such an emphatic judgment, however, may not apply to at least two aspects of the political dimensions of the Iraq and Vietnam wars: attempts at state-building in an alien culture, and sustaining domestic political support in a protracted war against an irregular enemy. It is, of course, far too early predict whether the United States will accomplish its policy objectives in Iraq and whether public support will "stay the course" on Iraq. But policymakers should be mindful of the reasons for U.S. failure to create a politically legitimate and militarily viable state in South Vietnam, as well as for the Johnson and Nixon administrations' failure to sustain sufficient domestic political support for the accomplishment of U.S. political objectives in Indochina. Repetition of those failures in Iraq could have disastrous consequences for U.S. foreign policy.

Is Iraq Another Vietnam?

Is Iraq Another Vietnam? PDF Author: Charles B. Salvo
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Iraq War, 2003-2011
Languages : en
Pages : 16

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Book Description
Vietnam, our nation's longest war, and only major military defeat left many strategic leaders to adopt the slogan "never again" with respect to U.S. strategy and politics during the Vietnam conflict. Many are comparing the protracted, insurgent, and proxy nature of the current conflict in Iraq with Vietnam. Are comparisons between the two conflicts relevant and politically applicable? Are there still valuable lessons learned from Vietnam that are applicable to Iraq? This project focuses on comparing the two conflicts across insurgent, globalization lines of operation, civilian military relations, cost (national treasure), strategy, and U.S. forces in terms of effects. This strategic research project reveals the two conflicts are comparable and have more in common than not. We can learn, and in many instances, re-learn strategic lessons from Vietnam which apply to the current fight in Iraq and future conflicts.

Vietnam in Iraq

Vietnam in Iraq PDF Author: David Ryan
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134135270
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 458

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Book Description
More than most post-1970 conflicts involving US forces, the conflict in Iraq has been fought out against a background of frequently invoked memories from the era of the Vietnam War. The essays in this book offer a series of perspectives on connections and parallels between the Vietnam War and the 2003 invasion of, and conflict in, Iraq. The contributors particularly examine the impact of the Vietnam analogy on the War in Iraq, assessing the military tactical lessons learned from the Vietnam War and exploring the influence and persistence of its legacy in US politics, culture and diplomacy. The volume holds up to original interrogation some commonly held assumptions about historical analogy, and several distinguished authorities on the Vietnam War era, in particular, offer their thoughts on the value and applicability of Vietnam-Iraq parallels. If most contributions point out some obvious dissimilarities between the two eras, notably the transformed post-Cold War international environment, the similarities, particularly those relating to the problems of cultural misunderstanding, are also apparent. Vietnam in Iraq will be of great interest for all students and researchers of the Iraq War, strategic studies, international relations and American politics.

Iraq and the Lessons of Vietnam

Iraq and the Lessons of Vietnam PDF Author: Lloyd C. Gardner
Publisher: The New Press
ISBN: 1595587373
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 479

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Book Description
Essays by Christian G. Appy, Andrew J. Bacevich, John Prados, and others offer “history at its best, meaning, at its most useful.” —Howard Zinn From the launch of the “Shock and Awe” invasion in March 2003 through President George W. Bush’s declaration of “Mission Accomplished” two months later, the war in Iraq was meant to demonstrate definitively that the United States had learned the lessons of Vietnam. This new book makes clear that something closer to the opposite is true—that US foreign policy makers have learned little from the past, even as they have been obsessed with the “Vietnam Syndrome.” Iraq and the Lessons of Vietnam brings together the country’s leading historians of the Vietnam experience. Examining the profound changes that have occurred in the country and the military since the Vietnam War, this book assembles a distinguished group to consider how America found itself once again in the midst of a quagmire—and the continuing debate about the purpose and exercise of American power. Also includes contributions from: Alex Danchev * David Elliott * Elizabeth L. Hillman * Gabriel Kolko * Walter LaFeber * Wilfried Mausbach * Alfred W. McCoy * Gareth Porter “Essential.” —Bill Moyers

Unreconstructed

Unreconstructed PDF Author: Teddy Bitner
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 1411656369
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 228

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Book Description
This book reviews America's journey from Vietnam to the War on Terror. Bitner assesses the myths of Vietnam and Iraq, the impact of the "Reagan Doctrine" on the end of the Cold War, and surveys America's wars of the 1990's.