Is Iraq Another Vietnam?

Military Review,  Nov-Dec, 2007  by Paul B. Gardner

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IS IRAQ ANOTHER VIETNAM? Robert K. Brigham, PublicAffairs Books, New York, 2006, $24.00.

In comparing the war in Iraq to the Vietnam War, Robert Brigham's Is Iraq Another Vietnam? concludes that three similarities overwhelm the differences between the two wars: the initial reasons for waging the wars have been discredited; stable societies had or have to be rebuilt out of chaos; and U.S. public support for the wars declined, thereby limiting future foreign policy options.

Brigham argues that America has forgotten one of the lessons of the war in Vietnam: U.S. power does have limits. He asserts that not achieving rapid victory has a domestic and international impact and warns that an "Iraq syndrome" may replace the "Vietnam syndrome." U.S. military power alone, he claims, cannot solve political problems.

In the past, America went to war to fight for its ideals; for example, to export democracy. Unfortunately, this idealistic tendency has led to emotional rhetoric that sometimes blinded the nation and precluded comprehensive debate on a war's objectives. In support of his point, Brigham notes that it took Congress longer to make Martin Luther King's birthday a holiday than it did to authorize military action in Vietnam or Iraq. One result of this haste is that when the U.S. does not achieve a quick victory, opponents appear who rush to question the motives behind the war. In the ensuing clamor, little real discussion takes place. This has occurred during both conflicts and has contributed to the decline in public support for them.

Is Iraq Another Vietnam? gives military professionals insight into one of today's major debates about Iraq. Brigham shows us where the U.S. effectively considered history and where it dismissed it--and in the case of the latter, the grave results that followed. The book is well written and gets one thinking, and 1 recommend it for the general reader.

LTC Paul B. Gardner, USA, Retired, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

COPYRIGHT 2007 U.S. Army CGSC
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning