what lessons learnt from vietnam have helped us in Iraq?
608940
Oh, come on, guys! We learned plenty! \n\n1. Manage the news better. You have to "embed" the reporters. That means you have to have the reporters in bed with you. No free press. None of these embarassing My Lai pictures if you please. Have Fox "News" keep saying that we have reached a turning point. Keep that point turning.\n\n2. Never again the Draft! Make it look like an all volunteer Army and Marine Corp over there. Stoploss them so they cannot get away from the war. Make working two and three jobs at home for less than a living wage finally look worse than joining up. Waive all sorts of requirements about schooling, IQ, and drug use and medications. Just meet the quotas. Recruit intensively at captive audiences in high schools. No child left out of the slaughter or behind. \n\n3. Music beat the war last time. This time let's get some jingoistic C&W folks to sing about how proud they are of fightin' folks. Anybody say they are not for the war, well last time it sorta worked we can tar them as cowards and aiding the enemy.\n\n4. That Gulf of Tonkien thing sort of worked (although we better lock that away now so nobody gets wind of how badly we faked that). Now we have to have our own kind of link to being attacked by Iraq. Saddam was talking with terrorists! That will do. Keep on talking that up. That and nuclear weapons. Better than what the Vietnamese had! Bring that war on like it was over here. (Sadly, many soldiers think Iraqiis had something to do with 9-11).\n\n5. War is good business. We learned that in every war. Look how great it is for Haliburton. Was for Dow and Bank of America. \n\nSo don't tell me we did not learn. We learned. Unfortunately.\n\nBTW, to all of us vets out there, welcome home, Bros.
818731
Its what needs to be down to secure Iraq, but it wont happen because the American people as a whole don't want to be in Iraq.  Americans see Iraq as another Vietnam, but Iraq can't be won unless we see the middle east as we once saw the wild west.
436055
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/vm.html\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam\n\nTry these..Hope it helps..
896611
THANK YOU!\ni hated the people in my history class last year that refused to believe that, and that history was pointless! you're so right about the fact that iraq is a completely the same as vietnam!
224660
You might find this web site useful: "The Vietnam Conflict: Coming Home, by Bill Hunt."
945989
How to spit on our US soldiers.  Kerry taught us.
242056
In Vietnam, the politician's back home 'lost' the war, in Iraq, the tactical operations were left to the military and victory was achieved in days.  The current violence, insurgency and more soldiers dying are the result of an occupation force trying to install a democracy over a people that don't seem to want it. A civil war is brewing and were caught in the quigmire.  \n\nIn Vietnam, tactics of conventional warfare were used to fight non-conventional enemies.  The US Armed Forces relied too much on their great fire power and modern weaponry and equipment. American leaders seemed to be overconfident in their "know-how" in fighting a war that required the more know-how on psychological strategy than just on modern technology\n\nThe Vietnam Communist Party and its regime were strongly supported by the whole Communist bloc. Immense military aids came from Beijing and Moscow. Unofficial sources estimated that aids from Red China and the Soviet Union had been in tens of billion dollars, not far lower than US aids to South Vietnam and American military expenses in the Vietnam War. \n\nMoreover, the Soviet Union, China, North Korea and possibly Cuba joined North Vietnamese Communist forces in direct fighting the Americans in North Vietnam with their combat pilots, and air defense SAM-6 surface-to-air battalions (Soviet). Beijing also sent some infantry divisions to safeguard the northern mountainous area of North Vietnam and many engineer regiments to repair bombed bridges and road in North Vietnam\n\nWe were defeated in Vietnam by the communist bloc at the time, sent packing from the rooftops of the American Embassy.  I don't see a similarity with Vietnam except maybe the discontent among the liberals back home.
156565
The US was afraid of the "domino" effect.  They felt it necessary to stop the spread of communism because they felt if they did not stop it in Vietnam, the rest of the countries would be taken over by the communists.  I believe they took over from France.
990628
Iraq is the arabic word for Vietnam.
886796
I think it was the other way around.  The United States got involved in Vietnam's political situation by supporting a puppet regieme and taking its side in a civil war , which ultimately determined who the legitimate government was - when the US backed side lost.  We had no business being there in the first place.
1146901
I've got a feeling that rather than "beating the crap out of Iraq", the US is eventually going to have to shamefully retreat with their tails between their legs after another corperate war they have completely F%£$ed up! Vietnam was the lesson 101, they didn't pay attention and had to repeat class....\nShame, bet all those mothers are real proud......\nOil is not worth it, we are DESTROYING THE PLANET! Go Green Energy.....\nAnd for anyone who thinks I am some stupid anti-war hippy, you are dead wrong. I am very patriotic to my country (Australia) and will always support our diggers wherever they go, I work in a war museum, and understand the political and social reasons for military conflict. However I feel that the vets who died valiantly in the name of a morally good cause (preventing Hitler's evil) would be very ashamed of how we utilise our strength now. Having studied politics, history and international law, I have to say the USA got it dead wrong  this time, and dragged us and the Brits in too. Now Iraq is a shambles, their is no obvious way out, the country is about to fall into the hands of extremists like Al-qaeda, an outcome not previously possible, and so many people have been killed for nothing. What positives have come from it for the west? Really? Truthfully? Cheaper oil? NOPE - it's MORE expensive than previously. A few greedy men have gotten richer, and a lot of kids have been blown up or shot. \nWell done USA, you should be proud.
729469
Apparently our current one.  Remark about the lessons of Vietnam: \n\n'WE WILL WIN UNLESS WE QUIT.'
585438
Interview a couple of veterans.  I was six or seven years old when hostilities started, but was involved in the evacuation of Saigon in 1975.\n  Go to Google.\n  Go to your local library.\n  Keep an open mind and realize that there are no truly unbiased opinions.  It was a war.  Don't let anybody white-wash it or demean those of us who went over there by referring to it as a 'conflict'.
327116
It wasn't all that different from Iraq.  The US decided that we wanted to prevent communist domination, in this case of S. Vietnam.  We said it was to help freedom and democracy, but it was really about a power struggle.  So like the freedom fighters we are, we stuck or noses in to prevent S. Vietnam from Northern invasion.  However, the North had their own supporters like Russia.  As the war lingered on and the draft was forcing young men to fight a war that wasn't directly threatening our national security, a lot of people disagreed...many innocent victims, us and them.  War heros returned to an unpopular welcoming.  The famous boxer Mohammed Ali refused to go and they took his title away from him.  The whole thing sucked.  Not too many guys really wanted to go and many moved to Canada, if their number was picked.  Hippies protested with peace signs while the smoked grass and dropped acid.  I missed a lot of this...a bit young, but I know other guys that were there.  It was no picnic.  One buddy of mine was so ready to fight.  He was #1 in boot camp, ready to storm the beach.  He got his wish, first off the boat, stepped on a mine, blew his face off, lost an eye, half a nose, half a mouth, a bunch of hair, and a little brains, while Nixon and Kissinger watched this whole thing go down the toilet.  It was a stalemate.  Rambo couldn't do it justice.  We finally bailed out.
1008329
Anyone can correct me if I'm wrong here - but I think one of the major differences is that the Iraqi people ARE indeed willing to change their way of life, adopting democracy, whereas the Vietnamese actually wanted to keep their communist government in tact so there was no will on their part to change. That's why we lost then. I mean, going back to the basics, in order for things to change, the will must come from both parties, otherwise it'll just be communist and dictatorship all over again. If we come in Iraq forcing our democratic ways on them, that wouldn't make us any different from Hitler. I think the Iraqis are actually willing to adjust.
931174
You did not indicate if you are an Iraqi.  Assuming that you are - I encourage you to hang in there.  I was in Korea in 1958 and also in Vietnam in 1965-66.  I saw how desparate the situation was for Koreans and Vietnamese.  I know that at this point it looks as if there is no future for you.  But, look at Korea and Vietnam today.  Korea is a prosperous nation and Vietnam is at the take-off point of becoming prosperous.  In spite of your situation and the insanity that the US has created in Iraq, this will all pass in due time.  Iraqis are cultured, educated people and the time will come when the occupiers are gone and Iraqis will again determine their own future.  You probably have a family who loves and cares for you.  There are also people here in the US who care for you and your countrymen.  Hang in there - your country needs you and someday you will make a significant contribution to your people!  Let us know how you are doing.
106646
We will come home from Iraq when the Iraqis are ready to take control of their own country and will not slip back into the way things used to be.  Anyone who thinks that as soon as a democrat becomes president, they will just end our efforts in Iraq is very mistaken.  So you people think that after the progress that we have made, we should just pull out now without completing the job?  Anyone ever heard of Vietnam?  The one war we weren't completely committed to?  And how does it compare with the other wars that we have been in and did the right way?  Which war do we look back on now with the most regret?  Vietnam, because we went in half-assed and lost thousands of soldiers for nothing.  Compare that with WW2 where we lost many more soldiers, but finished the job.