The Irreplaceable Mistakes

Vicky Hatakeyama

ASA 002 - A02

Response #5: From Saigon to Baghdad

Reading this article about the influence of both the Vietnam War and the Iraq War, I am not surprised to see how these wars that took place many years ago still affect us, Americans, and American Foreign Policy in many ways.  After the Vietnam War, the US government became very aware of when they should use military intervention and those were that: “the commitment should be wholehearted…, aims and objectives should be clearly defined, …there should be ‘reasonable assurance’ of support of the American public, and the commitment of troops should be considered as last resort.”  This would allow US to not act immediately toward an attack from a foreign country.  If the US acts upon an attack immediately without thinking, they will be defeated once again.  The author emphasizes how we should focus “upon learning lessons so as not to repeat the supposed mistakes of the Vietnam era.” 

As Mark Twain said, “History doesn’t repeat itself; at best it rhymes.”  I cannot agree more to see this statement, especially after reading this article.  Although the Vietnam War and the Iraq War are not the same, what the government supposedly does and the outcome of the war is quite the same.  Although we have gone through both wars, there is still much to learn of “nation building and civil protection.” And even though the war happened quite a while ago, there is still going to be the analogy of Vietnam that may emerge into Iraq syndrome according to the author, and “will not easily be replaced.  We still have much to learn from the mistakes that US has made in order for us to become more successful in the future.