Iraq and Vietnam Nine Big Differences
By: Michael Medved Monday, Aug 22, 2005
Iraq and Vietnam: Nine Big Differences- And One Crucial Similarity
DIFFERENCES
1.THE ENEMY- “the nation of North Vietnam, with more than a million men under arms”
2.THE ENEMY'S ALLIES- “unlimited support from two of the three most powerful nations on earth: the Soviet Union and Communist China”
3.OUR ARMY—“Everyone fighting in Iraq - including National Guardsmen and reservists- at one time or another enlisted voluntarily in the military. Cindy Sheehan notwithstanding, all those who sign up for the U.S. military are clever enough to understand the very real possibility that at one point you might be required to use your expensive training in actual combat.”
4.CASUALTY RATES – “Vietnam - in which 58,000 Americans gave their lives for their country. The Iraq War has been going on for two and a half years - with a killed-in-action rate of approximately 800 per year”
5.THE MEDIA – The same with the “the mainstream media .. emphasizing bad news, and downplaying every sing of progress. The difference in media coverage remains profound, however, since the emergence of new media (talk radio, Fox News, the Internet and the blogosphere”
6.POLITICS – “In the '60's and '70?s, the Democrats remained the dominant party in the nation, enjoying uninterrupted control of both houses of Congress during both decades…..Today, by contrast, the Republicans maintain control of both houses of Congress (and the majority of state governorships) and Republicans remain almost unanimously behind Bush.”
7.SCANDAL – “the self-destruction of the Nixon administration in the most devastating scandal in U.S. political history. .. the Democrats .. preventing President Ford from re-supplying our South Vietnamese allies when the North broke its agreements under the Paris Accords and launched a massive invasion.”
8.THE PAST –“Unlike Vietnam, where Communists could claim that they represented a nationalist reaction to French (and then American) colonialism, the population of Iraq maintains clear memories of the rabidly anti-American Hussein regime which brought about the nation's economic and cultural ruin.”
9.THE STAKE – “Islamic fanatics killing more of us in that one day than the Iraqi insurgents have managed to kill in two and a half years. America's stake in defeating a ruthless enemy in Iraq isn't abstract or nebulous: it's real, immediate, urgent and palpable. Anti-war extremists may downplay the every day dangers of Islamic terrorism, but most Americans understand that it still represents a significant menace to both our lives and our way of life.”
“And this recognition brings me to the one great SIMILARITY.. Our citizens worry about the war, and long for our troops to come home, but only a very small percentage (about 20%, according to most polls) want us to run up the white flag, abandon our Iraqi allies, and strangle an infant democracy in its cradle.”
See Prior Posts:
Analysis of Military Situation in Iraq
What’s Happening in Mosul, Iraq
Facts from Iraq
World Watches as Iraq Becomes Test for Democracy
1,286 Accidental US Military Deaths Per Year Twice Iraq Combat Deaths
US Technology to Win War Against Islamofascists
Army Reenlistments Up
How do the US Armed Forces conduct their operations in Iraq?
Iraq is no Vietnam – How’s Troop Morale?
US Technology to Win War Against Islamofascists
Young Iraqi Shiite Cleric to US: Bet on Democracy in Iraq
Iraq and Vietnam: Nine Big Differences- And One Crucial Similarity
DIFFERENCES
1.THE ENEMY- “the nation of North Vietnam, with more than a million men under arms”
2.THE ENEMY'S ALLIES- “unlimited support from two of the three most powerful nations on earth: the Soviet Union and Communist China”
3.OUR ARMY—“Everyone fighting in Iraq - including National Guardsmen and reservists- at one time or another enlisted voluntarily in the military. Cindy Sheehan notwithstanding, all those who sign up for the U.S. military are clever enough to understand the very real possibility that at one point you might be required to use your expensive training in actual combat.”
4.CASUALTY RATES – “Vietnam - in which 58,000 Americans gave their lives for their country. The Iraq War has been going on for two and a half years - with a killed-in-action rate of approximately 800 per year”
5.THE MEDIA – The same with the “the mainstream media .. emphasizing bad news, and downplaying every sing of progress. The difference in media coverage remains profound, however, since the emergence of new media (talk radio, Fox News, the Internet and the blogosphere”
6.POLITICS – “In the '60's and '70?s, the Democrats remained the dominant party in the nation, enjoying uninterrupted control of both houses of Congress during both decades…..Today, by contrast, the Republicans maintain control of both houses of Congress (and the majority of state governorships) and Republicans remain almost unanimously behind Bush.”
7.SCANDAL – “the self-destruction of the Nixon administration in the most devastating scandal in U.S. political history. .. the Democrats .. preventing President Ford from re-supplying our South Vietnamese allies when the North broke its agreements under the Paris Accords and launched a massive invasion.”
8.THE PAST –“Unlike Vietnam, where Communists could claim that they represented a nationalist reaction to French (and then American) colonialism, the population of Iraq maintains clear memories of the rabidly anti-American Hussein regime which brought about the nation's economic and cultural ruin.”
9.THE STAKE – “Islamic fanatics killing more of us in that one day than the Iraqi insurgents have managed to kill in two and a half years. America's stake in defeating a ruthless enemy in Iraq isn't abstract or nebulous: it's real, immediate, urgent and palpable. Anti-war extremists may downplay the every day dangers of Islamic terrorism, but most Americans understand that it still represents a significant menace to both our lives and our way of life.”
“And this recognition brings me to the one great SIMILARITY.. Our citizens worry about the war, and long for our troops to come home, but only a very small percentage (about 20%, according to most polls) want us to run up the white flag, abandon our Iraqi allies, and strangle an infant democracy in its cradle.”
See Prior Posts:
Analysis of Military Situation in Iraq
What’s Happening in Mosul, Iraq
Facts from Iraq
World Watches as Iraq Becomes Test for Democracy
1,286 Accidental US Military Deaths Per Year Twice Iraq Combat Deaths
US Technology to Win War Against Islamofascists
Army Reenlistments Up
How do the US Armed Forces conduct their operations in Iraq?
Iraq is no Vietnam – How’s Troop Morale?
US Technology to Win War Against Islamofascists
Young Iraqi Shiite Cleric to US: Bet on Democracy in Iraq
posted by Gene Felder at 10:30 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home