Final Assessment for The Things They Carried

As the United States progresses further into the current war in Iraq, the similarities between this war and the U.S involvement in Vietnam have become increasingly predominant. From our reasons for action, to the way the war is being fought, these two wars are turning out to be shockingly similar. This could prove to be very problematic for the U.S, seeing as we lost the Vietnam War. Ideally, we would find a solution to this problem, and end our involvement as soon as possible. The war in Iraq can be compared to the Vietnam War very easily and in a multitude of ways, which is the primary reason that we should remove ourselves from Iraq in the quickest way possible, so as to prevent history from repeating itself.

The similarities between the War in Iraq and the Vietnam War are vast, but one very important aspect of both wars is the strong opposition by American citizens. Throughout the Vietnam war, many large protests were held, and it was the general concensus that the U.S. should not continue to involve themselves in Vietnam. Although the opposition to the Iraq War is not as strong as it was in the Vietnam War, it is still very present. Protestors of both wars believe that the lives of both soldiers and citizens are being lost for no reason, which is an accusation that is believed by many to be correct. This is because both wars were entered by the United States under false pretenses. The Veitnam War was entered because the U.S. saught to prevent the spread of communism throughout Asia. The communist parts of Veitnam were trying to take control of the non-communist regions, and we were worried that if one country was to fall to communism, then others would fall to communism shortly after. This was called the domino effect, and we believed that it posed a threat to America. This was later proved not to be the case, yet American troops remained in Vietnam, instead of withdrawing ourselves and minding our own business. This is similar to why we entered Iraq. At the start of the war, President Bush, contrary to what experts told him, believed that Iraq was in posession of “weapons of mass destruction.” This was viewed as a threat to America because Iraq was not on friendly terms with America, and if they posessed such weapons, things could become deadly very quickly. After a short period of being in Iraq, it was determined that there were no weapons capable of harming America. At this point, it would have been ideal to just leave, but we decided to stay and try to help Iraq build a new government, similar to what we did in Vietnam. These things combined turned many other countries against America. Throughout the world, the United States had very little support from other countries regarding involvement in Vietnam, and it is very similar with the War in Iraq. They believe that we are overstepping our boundries, and that it is none of our business what goes on in other countries, as long as it isn’t a direct threat to Americans.

There are also similarities between the two wars regarding the actual fighting. In both of these wars, the United States is not fighting against a specific country, rather specific groups of people within a country. This makes it extremely difficult for U.S. soldiers to identify the enemy in certan situations. Also, the fighting style exhibited by the opposing forces are not similar to the other wars that the U.S is accustomed to fighting in. In both Vietnam and Iraq, the enemy uses guerilla warfare tactics, meaning that they do small random bouts of fighting, rather than there being a battlefield that the two opposing sides fight on. This type of warfare gives both of the enemies what could be considered a “home-team advantage” because they know the area much better than the American soldiers who have not been stationed there for long peroids of time.

Another key problem in the Veitnam War was that there was no plan to resolve the fighting. There was no resolution proposed, other than just withdrawing our troops, which is what was eventually done. Similar to this scenario, there is currently no plan for ending the War in Iraq. Ending the War as quickly as possible would be ideal, because there is no resolution in sight, and we will continue to lose American soldiers until we are out of Iraq. When looking at the similarities between these two wars, it seems unlikely that we will come out victorious, which is why we should stop the fighting sooner rather than later. But this is easier said than done, because we are far enough into the war that just pulling out all of our troops would leave the country that we are trying to help in chaos. What I propose is that we begin slowly withdrawing ourselves from the country. By gradually removing ourselves, it will be a slow transition into being a government that does not need to rely on America. By doing this we would both be able to end the war, while doing the best that we could to help another country.

As you can see, the amount of similarities between the Veitnam War and the War in Iraq is vast. Both wars had little support from both the citizens of each country, and from other countries. Both wars were entered under false pretenses, and were not ended when the opportunity arose. The fighting styles in the two wars is very similar, both giving the U.S. a strong disadvantage. When looking at all of these things, one can only conclude that if the War in Iraq is continued, the outlook can be nothing other than grim.This is why we should begin to pull out of Iraq. By doing this we are to both save our American troops, and do the best that we can to help our fellow man.