final Cody Horton Final paper Middle east mistakes not learned in Vietnam Com/220

As most Americans, one could find themselves asking questions like, why are we still at war in the middle east? Is there a successful way to get out? Haven’t we been in a war like this before? These questions are reasonable, but the answer can be extremely debatable. A common question that is asked is, are we making some of the same mistakes in the Iraq war that we had made in the Vietnam War? War is almost always controversial and there will be undoubtedly two sides of an argument. The Military and Democratic system usually will be fired in a rain of claims in the actions that have been taken and put in place. These claims can take a heavy toll on the people in charge of making these decisions to what Military actions will be taken. L.B. Johnson once said, “A president who is burdened with a failed and unpopular war, and who has lost the trust of the country, simply can no longer govern. He is destined to become as much a failure as his war.” There senselessly can be no winner when involved with wars like the current Iraq/Afghanistan war. A very ironic quote for this topic is “study your past, know your history, so you are not damned to repeat you future”. So what is the right path to a successful withdraw for war, it should start with not making the same mistakes that our strategies made in the past. The United States is repeating the same mistakes in foreign military actions like the ones in Afghanistan and Iraq that were made forty years ago in Vietnam. The war in Vietnam was also known as the American War in Vietnam, Vietnam Conflict, Second Indochina War, and War Against the Americans to Save the Nation. Before we even put boots on the ground into Vietnam, the country was already riddled with a recent past of conflicts. From the rule of the French to the 1930’s era invasion of the Japanese’s there has been a constant conflict in the Vietnam history. In 1941 the country started to forge two foreign powers, one labels as the nationalist and the other being the communist revolution lead by Ho Chi Minh. The country split apart into a north and a south side (much like Korea’s divide currently). Soon the country was at a full-blown civil war. In 1959 America reached out with self-defense coordinators. With conflicts coming to their boiling point at this point Americas democratic plan was to aid Military Force against the Communist Viet Kong. With the first time Fight an Enemy that could not be determined there were many of unknown conflicts with the hopeful expectations of quick success of bringing democracy to the split country of Vietnam. This war took a very controversial turn when on December 1st 1969 Americans lost there right to join the Military by volunteering, a draft was started and men where being shipped to war faster than ever before. On April 30th 1975 the last ten American Marines flew out of Saigon. The North Vietnamese troops poured into the city with little to no confrontation. There are opinions that come from Vietnam vietrans that we will not be able to have success in the Middle East much like Vietnam. Kristen Scharnberg of the Chicago Tribute quoted John Valdez as saying “The story of the Vietnam War--its battles and its conclusion-- continues, in men like Valdez and Broussard. Their mixed feelings over the conflict mirror a nation still so divided that Vietnam became an issue in a tight presidential race last year. Their struggles to recover from combat mirror the struggle so many troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are experiencing today.”