15 similarities between the Vietnam War and Iraq:

[Pirate Smile]

I found this in Dan Froomkin's WH Briefing in the Wash. Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2005/06/21/BL2005062100755.html

He states: "But the Cunning Realist blog recently listed 15 similarities between the Vietnam War and the war in Iraq, among them:

· "The justification for massive military escalation in Vietnam was based largely on a false pretense. . . .

· "The Vietnam War was conceived by a supposedly elite group of thinkers and geopolitical strategists. . . .

· "In Vietnam, the enemy's firepower was utterly inferior to ours. . . .

· "As the casualties increased year after year in Vietnam, defenders of the war protested that pulling out would 'dishonor the sacrifice' of those troops who had already died."

Here is the blog with the full list: The Cunning Realist http://cunningrealist.blogspot.com/2005/06/historys-rhyme.html

A few more of the 15:

- There was no "front line" in Vietnam; There is no front line in Iraq

- Year after year, our political leaders cited "Vietnamization" as an open-ended goal. Similarly, we're assured that just as soon as those Iraqi troops are able to "fight for their own freedom" our own troops will begin to withdraw.

- When Vietnam started going badly, desperation led to expansion of the war into Cambodia and Laos. Frustration is also leading some to call for military action in Iran and Syria.

- To cushion reports of American deaths with the public and to create the impression of progress in Vietnam, the military began to include estimates of enemy deaths, know as the "body count." A few months ago, our military began to aggressively report the enemy body count after each operation in Iraq.

[fryguy]

1. and the difference - - - Bush had a plan to get out of Vietnam

an old'e but a good'e

:rofl:

[Gothmog]

2. Great article.

The similarities are striking.

[TahitiNut]

3. While it's just fine for political rhetoric ...

... the similarities "on the ground" are illusory. The 'average' infantryman in Viet Nam might saw 230-240 days of actual combat. Not so in Iraq. We faced a very large, conventional, uniformed military force from the north (NVA) as well as the organized and armed insurgency (VC). Not so in Iraq. Their armaments were a LOT more than small mortars and improvised roadside bombs and included armor and artillery.

What most don't appreciate is that Viet Nam was the most intense war in terms of combat than any in U.S. history. American troops had a 14% chance of being a casualty - 58,169 were killed and 304,000 wounded out of 2.59 million who served - highest rate of any war, particularly high when one understands service wasn't "for the duration." (If the rate were figured in terms of man-years of service in the war zone, it surpasses all other wars.)

[Pirate Smile]

4. kick