vietnam comparisons are not justified in the war with iraq, and shame on anybody who draws false comparisons to a much more severe war for political gain.
Iraq War Is Not Like Vietnam....
"As a Vietnam infantry vet, I saw firsthand the impact that war had on civilians and soldiers. I went to Vietnam as an impressionable 20-year-old to serve my country and to make a difference in the lives of the people of Vietnam.
I quickly discovered that we were not fighting the evils of communism as much as we were taking sides in a civil war, not unlike the British and French in the U.S. Civil War. The truth of the matter was that our dog in the fight was as corrupt as the dog he replaced.
The farmer in the rice paddy was caught between an ideology that we Americans abhorred and a corrupt government that we perceived as the lesser of two evils.
In retrospect, politicians and soldiers alike should agree that we were wrong in our approach and our war was fought at great expense to the people of Vietnam and to ourselves.
The war in Iraq, on the other hand, was intended to remove from power a person who was ready, willing and able to export terrorism to America. Establishing a democratic form of government to replace the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein is the right and moral thing to do. To state that this is immoral is to ignore clear facts.
We will replace an evil, sadistic tyrant with an interim governing body that will provide the people of Iraq a freedom they have not experienced for more than 30 years. At the same time we will eliminate a significant threat of terrorism to ourselves.
As a veteran of the war in Vietnam I have no illusions about our failure in Vietnam. However, I fully support the action we have taken in Iraq to protect Americans and to liberate an oppressed people.
We are not and should not become the policing state of the world, unless a conflict has an immediate or foreseeable impact on our own security. We have sent a clear message to tyrants around the world that as a nation we will not sit on the sidelines and wait, but will engage our enemies wherever they exist and whenever they present a clear and present danger to the lives of Americans.
We have a moral obligation to stand up to tyranny and to use our extensive resources to make the world a safer place for future generations."
http://www.nctimes.net/news/2003/20030411/60727.html
and....
http://www.military.com/NewContent/0...ietnam,00.html