Before going further, let me emphasize that I am 100% against the war in Iraq. I sympathize with the Cindy Sheehans of the United States and feel they have more moral fiber than do the beer-bellied counter-demonstrators whose contribution to rational discourse is to bellow out “God Bless America!” and wave the flag.
Now that I’ve established my progressive credentials on the war, however, let me criticize my liberal friends who make an analogy with Vietnam. We’ve all seen bumper stickers which read “Iraq Is Arabic for Vietnam” and the like. There are at least three reasons why the two conflicts are not comparable.
First, whatever the faults of the military, this time the U.S. is making an attempt to minimize civilian suffering and several U.S. soldiers have even faced trial for brutality against the Iraqis. There have been no My Lai’s in Vietnam (the cold-blooded murder of hundreds of innocent Vietnamese civilians in 1968 by the U.S. Army) and there are none of the infamous free-fire zones of Vietnam. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the term “free-fire zones,” these were areas of Vietnam with a heavy concentration of guerrillas. The U.S. would drop leaflets into these areas warning the villagers to leave within a short period of time. After the deadline, any villager remaining could be shot on sight as a suspected member of the Viet Cong.
Second, there are no Iraqis who have the moral stature of Ho Chi Minh, whom historians call the George Washington of Vietnam. Former President Dwight Eisenhower admitted that in a free election, Ho Chi Minh (“Uncle Ho” as the Vietnamese affectionately called him) would have won in a landslide. I remember American students demonstrating in the late 60s with chants of “Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh! NLF [National Liberation Front] is gonna’ win!” It’s hard to imagine students today chanting something similar about Saddam Hussein.
Finally, the war in Vietnam was fought disproportionately by the poor, especially by soldiers of color. In those days of the draft, African-Americans, Latinos, and poor whites constituted most of the enlisted personnel. One remembers Stokely Carmichael’s (Kwame Ture) famous statement as to why African-Americans should avoid serving in Vietnam: “No Viet Cong ever called me [the n-word].” The U.S. military today, although still far from perfect, is far more egalitarian than in the days of the Vietnam war.
As a professor of English, I try to teach my students to engage in logical thinking. Oppose the war, but be sure you don’t fall victim to fallacious historical analogies.
Dr. Charles Wukasch has taught in the Middle East on several occasions and writes and lectures on Middle Eastern affairs.