“One of the many negative consequences of America’s defeat in The Vietnam War has been the uncontrolled proliferation of Vietnams since then.”
quote from AINA’s Why Iraq is Not Like Vietnam: A Primer for the Geopolitically Challenged
here in this blog, we try to squash ridiculous hyperbole such as comparing iraq to vietnam (in case you weren’t aware, john kerry served there). the above article points out some blindingly obvious differences between the two conflicts. i’ll add my two cents here, because this is an important distinction to make in trying to argue the case for staying in iraq for the present time.
fighting against communism was an important part of our foreign policy. communists have wrong ideas that keep those under a strict interpretation of their system oppressed and poor. we should absolutely be against people being oppressed and poor, and we are.
the difference is that communists are not even a fraction as dangerous as Al-Qaeda or any other terrorist group. although communists had terrible ideas, none of those ideas included flying planes into buildings. i believe that religious fanatics, no matter what religion they are, are scarier than philosophical/political ideologues. that’s the kind of people we are dealing with here –religious fanatics.
that’s why we need to continue to be on the offensive in this war on terror. i don’t deny some mistakes were made, but leaving iraq now would be an even greater mistake. the stakes are too high for us to surrender iraq to those who oppose their move toward greater freedom and their progress toward democracy.