Vietnam 30 Years After Fall of Saigon

Fire of Liberty

This is a great Op/Ed by Jonah Goldberg in today's USA Today on the upcoming 30th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War. With the thirty year mark of the end of this war in Southeast Asia, Goldberg notes how the columnists and reporters have salt and peppered their columns and articles on the current fighting in Iraq with their zany "Vietnam Again" theory. Just read below how Jonah laid these inane theories to rest:

Regardless, Vietnam is part of our cultural DNA now, and it will probably never be fully erased anymore than the Civil War or WWII will be. Right or wrong, silly or legitimate, that's the reality. And that's fine. If people want to argue about the Tet Offensive forever, so be it. But it is history.

But it's not particularly useful history. Ask military experts about the similarities between Vietnam and Iraq (or Afghanistan), and their eyes roll. Vietnam was a state-to-state war and had vastly more support from its Communist benefactors than Iraqi “insurgents” could ever receive from Syria and Iran. Indeed, in Vietnam, the insurgency phase of the war was largely over by 1965.

In Iraq, meanwhile, it's nothing but insurgency now. But, unlike the Viet Cong, Iraq's insurgency is ideologically diverse. Some are terrorists seeking to impose a pan-Arab theocracy, some are looking to restore the secular bacchanalia of fear they enjoyed under Saddam Hussein, and others are just gangsters. Vietnam was a jungle war that started against the French in the 1950s. Iraq was a desert war that permanently toppled Saddam's regime in a month. The technologies in play are incomparable. The terrain, the political will and ideologies behind the efforts, the cultures — almost every single point of comparison doesn't add up — save the common bravery of America's military. Perhaps most important: Casualty rates are vastly different.

Well done Jonah. I'd also like to give a hearty thanks to the Soldiers who defend us against the various jackals who mean us harm and the Vietnam Vets who gave their blood, sweat, and life in the jungles of Vietnam. As the son of a Vietnam vet and the nephew of two other Vietnam Vets I truly understand the saying, "All gave some and some gave all."